Tesselation!

     I think the "tesselation" unit is my favorite so far of any math I have taught my children.  Maybe because I never learned anything like it while in school.  I love the way it makes your brain think! 

Here, my son is tesselating shapes in his Singapore 5 math book. 

Some shapes can tesselate; some cannot.  ("Tesselate" basically means that a shape can

fit together over and over again with no gaps in between.) Sometimes, there is more than one way to tesselate--that is what he's discovering here. 

Now to the REALLY fun part: When math and art collide!

My son started with a rectangle, cut a part from the back, added it to the front; then the same for the bottom and top.  Do you see the fish?

They tesselate!

He made each fish unique.

Colorful Tesselation!

This was the assignment suggested in our Singapore Math book. (Which we just love!)

It is meant to resemble M.C. Escher's art.