Students will be able to:
- identify 3 regular tessellations;
- identify and use contrasting colours;
- create a portrait of themselves as an animal;
- work cooperatively to tessellate their portraits;
- demonstrate technical accomplishment and creativity.
TESSELLATE A CLASS QUILT – Shape, Colour, Contrast
Steps
Step One
- Place your paper on the desk in the portrait position. (Short side facing up.)
- Use a pencil.
- Draw the shape of your head so it fills the hexagon shape.
- Draw yourself as your favourite animal.
- Use a cartoon style.
Step Two
- Outline your pencil drawing with black marker.
- Colour the whole shape using coloured pencils.
- Build up lots of colour to make your drawing stand out.
- Use a contrasting colour for the background of your picture.
Step Three
- Carefully cut along the lines of your hexagon.
- Work together to tessellate all the hexagons into a class quilt.
- Try to arrange the shapes so that contrasting colours are beside each other.
Learning Goals
Extensions
Have students:
- use a tracer of an equilateral triangle, a square or a hexagon to draw the shape on different colours of construction paper; (Downloads - RegularPolygons.pdf)
- cut out the shapes;
- tessellate the shapes to create a pattern with a specific colour scheme;
- glue the shapes in place;
- compare their tessellation with others.
Prepare
- Download images of tessellations in nature from the Internet, e.g.,
Pineapple
Honeycomb
Fish Scales
Snake - Gather and make available books and pictures of patterns and tessellations, for example, Toads and Tessellations: A Math Adventure, by Sharon Morrisette; I See a Pattern Here, by Bruce Goldstone; Pitter Pattern, by Joyce Hesselberth; and Tessellations; Introduction to Tessellations, by Dale Seymour and Jill Britton.
- Prior to this lesson have students explore drawing cartoon animals and especially their faces using books such as How to Draw Cartoon Animals for Kids, by Julie Smith; The Step-by-Step Drawing Book for Kids: A Children's Beginners Book on How-To-Draw Animals, Cartoons, Planes and Boats, by Peanut Prodigy; and A Kid's Guide to Drawing Cartoon Animals, by Vicki Whiting, and Jeff Schinkel.
- Download and display the Repetition, Rhythm, and Contrast posters available on this website.
- Download and copy the hexagon template - one per student. (Downloads - HexagonTemplate.pdf)
- Cut 3 hexagon shapes out of construction paper to demonstrate how they fit together with no gaps and no overlaps.
Introduction
- View and discuss the images of tessellations in nature.
- Review or introduce the term tessellation.
- patterns of repeated shapes that cover a flat surface with no gaps and no overlaps - Discuss what kinds of regular shapes can tessellate and why.
- regular polygons (triangles, squares and hexagons)
- regular polygons can only tessellate if the sum of the interior angles is 360 degrees - Demonstrate how the hexagon tessellates and always has room for another hexagon.
- Explain that they are going to use the shape of a hexagon to make a class quilt. Each person's individual hexagon will fit with the others to make the whole class.
- Introduce the challenge.
Activities
The Challenge
- Create a portrait of yourself as your favourite animal.
- Use contrasting colours.
- Draw in a cartoon style.
- Cut along the lines of the hexagon.
- Work cooperatively to tessellate your portrait with those of the rest of the class.
- Demonstrate technical accomplishment and creativity.
The Process
- Make sure everyone understands the challenge.
- Establish success criteria with your students, for example,
I know I am successful when I have:
- created a portrait of myself as an animal
- used contrasting colours
- drawn in a cartoon style
- used my own ideas
- cut along the lines of the hexagon
- kept the paper is in good condition
- worked with others to tessellate my drawing with the others - Guide students through the steps outlined in this lesson plan.
- Observe students as they work.
- Provide individual assistance and encouragement.
Sharing
- Have students gather in front of their class quilt to view it with fresh eyes. Ask students to:
- Look closely at the whole quilt.
- Choose one part that interests you for some reason.
- Tell why you chose that section and what interests you about it. - During the discussion include references to:
- Contrasting Colours - How does the use of contrasting colours move your eye through the quilt?
- Portraits - What makes the portraits interesting and unique?
- Style - What do you like best about the cartoon style?
- Quilt - What does the quilt say about our class?
Assessment
- Observe students as they work – thoughtful focus, discriminating, seeking more information, elaborating, experimenting.
- Observe students as they discuss their drawings – speaks with a clear voice, looks at audience while speaking, points to areas in the drawing, provides accurate information, answers questions from the audience effectively.
- Observe students as they listen – looks at presenter, asks effective questions, supports ideas with evidence found in the artwork.
- Use a checklist to track progress. (Downloads - ClassQuilt_tracking.pdf)
- Have students use the self-assessment form to evaluate their work. (Downloads - ClassQuilt_self-assessment.pdf)
