Day 1
Today, you are going to learn about tessellations and tomorrow you will make your own tessellation.  First, PRINT THIS PAGE to record your answers on.

What IS a tessellation, you say?  I'm glad you asked!  Go here to find out about tessellations and answer the questions below.

Basically, a tessellation is a way to t_________ a floor (that goes on f____________) with shapes so that there is no o______________ and no g_______. Remember the last puzzle you put together? Well, that was a tessellation! The shapes were just really weird.

REGULAR TESSELLATIONS:

RULE #1:   The tessellation must t________ a floor (that goes on f____________) with no o_______________ or g________.
RULE #2:  The tiles must be r___________ polygons - and all the s________.
RULE #3:   Each v________ must look the same.
What's a vertex?  where all the "c__________" meet!

Keep reading down the page you are on, and answer "yes" or "no" to the below.

Will triangles tessallate? _____________

Will squares tessellate? _____________

So, we need to use regular polygons that add up to _______ degrees.

Will pentagons (5 sides) tessellate? _____________

Will hexagons (6 sides) tessellate? ____________

Will heptagons (7 sides) tessellate? ____________

Will octagons (8 sides) tessellate? ____________

In fact, all polygons with more than _____ sides will overlap! So, the only regular polygons that tessellate are t__________, s____________ and h____________!
 

SEMI-REGULAR TESSELLATIONS:

These tessellations are made by using two or more d__________ regular polygons. The rules are still the same. Every v_________ must have the exact same configuration.

Look at the pictures of the semi-regular tessellations on the rest of the page. Then, use your back arrow to return to this page you printed.

Tessellations can also be made with shapes other than polygon - anything that will fit together with no gaps can make a tessellation.

Go here to see real art made with tessellations.  Look at at least 6 tessellations on this page or the other pages on this site.  List the names of the 6 tessellations you looked at below.

1. _____________________

2. _____________________

3. _____________________

4. _____________________

5. _____________________

6. _____________________

Which tessellation was your favorite? __________________  Why? _____________________________________________________

Things that are very close to tessellations are also used in the real-world in things like tile floors.  Click here and here to see real-world tessellations. Also, fill in the blanks below.

The tilings in the Alhambra in S__________ were laid out by the M_______ in the _____th century. They are made of coloured tiles forming p_____________, many truly symmetrical. By our definition, they are not t___________________ but they did inspire the young M.C Escher, who copied them into his notebooks and later converted some into true tessellations.
 

The word 'tessera' in latin means a small s________ c________. They were used to make up 'tessellata' - the mosaic pictures forming f_________ and t__________ in Roman b_____________.

Here, the term has become more specialised and is used to refer to p__________ or t_________, mostly in the form of a___________ and other life forms, which cover the surface of a p_________ in a symmetrical way without overlapping or leaving g_________.
 

Now, click your back arrow and return to this page.
 

Day 2
You are going to make your own tessellations.  First, each of you will need a 4x4 square of posterboard, scissors, a ruler, and tape.  Then click here to start making your own tessellation pattern.

Scroll down the page, taking a look at the tessellations as you go.  At the bottom of the page, you will see a set of photos showing you how to make a tessellation pattern.  Follow the directions to create your pattern.  Once you have completed the pattern, show it to your teacher and and get a piece of posterboard to make your tessellation.  Once you have filled the page with your tessellation (remember, no gaps!!), color and decorate your tessellation as you choose.  If you finish before others,  you may come back to some of these webpages and look at more tessellations.  Remember, your tessellation and this webquest are worth 100 points (a test grade), so do your best work!!