By: Jessica Summer

1
Tessellations

• By Jessica Summer
• Deborah Fox

2
The History

• The word tessellation comes from the latin word
  tessera, which means a small stone cube.
• These tesseras were used to make tessellatas,
  which are mosaic pictures for the floors and
  walls.
• You might see tessellatas on your kitchen floor!!!

3
What does this all mean?

• A tessellation is a collection of shapes that fit
  together without gaps or overlaps.
• Tessellations cover a plane in a symmetrical way.

4
Tessellation Discoveries

• Moors
• Fourteenth Century, Spain.
• These people used colored tiles forming patterns
  which were symmetrical.
• Romans
• Italy
• Romans used tesselatas to cover their walls and
  floors.

5
The Men

• Koloman Moser
• 18th Century
• Created tapestries using tessellations.
• Most popular was Forellenreigen, or trout farm.

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AND.....

• M.C. Escher
• 20th Century, Holland
• Father of modern tessellations
• Included animals and plants in his designs.

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Transition
Transition

• A transition is when you slide a shape.
• You can slide the shape in any direction
• Up, down, left, right, diagonally, etc.

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Reflection

• A reflection is also called a flip.
• This is like looking at an image in a mirror.

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Rotation

• A rotation could also be called a turn.
• We see rotations when we look at a clock.

Rotation
Rotation
10
Reasons to use
tessellations in the classroom

• Tessellations can teach students about different
  cultures.
• Students can learn about the people who made
  patterns in history.
• Students can also research different
  tessellations and find their meaning.
• Certain colors used
• Different shapes

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Ideas!!!!!

• There are plenty of ways to use and create
  tessellations in your classroom.
• One activity you can use tetrominoes or
  pentominoes to make shapes and patterns and then
  trace and color them.
• Another activity is to make tessellations using
  attribute blocks. Trace the shapes and continue
  the pattern.

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In the Classroom...

• One classroom activity that could be done is
  making a classroom quilt out of all the
  tessellations.
• Another activity is to combine all of the
  tessellations into a class book.
• Which could be put in the library on display
• On display for Parent Night
• Or use all of the above!

13
References

• www.TESSELLATIONS.org
• www.tessellations.com
• Moyer, Patricia. Patterns and Symmetry
  Reflections of Culture Teaching Children
  mathematics. Reston, Virginia NCTM, November
  2001.