Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Tessellation Tuesday!

Today Mrs. Yollis' class learned that when plane figures combine to cover a surface without overlapping or leaving any space between them, those figures tessellate.

The repeating pattern formed by the figures is called a 
tessellation!



Above is a radiating tessellation. 
(The pattern tesselates from the center out.)



Here is a linear tessellation. 
(The pattern is tessellating in a straight line.)


We had fun exploring and even creating some beautiful geometric artwork!

Enjoy!
 Our Tessellations on PhotoPeach

Do you see any tessellations in your house?
What is the shape? 
(We bet you're seeing tessellating squares!)


23 comments:

  1. Dear Mrs. Yollis and class,

    I really enjoyed the video about tessellation. I thought the snowflakes were very clever.

    In our home I looked around and noticed that we have tesselations. In our bathroom we have tiles and a trim of differnt shapes that meet up to make a pattern. Just like what you did in class today.

    We also have this very cool coloring book that has all pages of "tesselations". It is very neat when you color the shapes to make designs.

    I will send it with Scarlet to share. Maybe you can make some copies out of it to take home.

    From,
    Meegan
    ( Scarlet's mom)

    ReplyDelete
  2. @ Scarlet's mom,

    Thanks for a great comment. We talked in class today about tessellations around the house. Many people had square tiles in bathrooms or kitchens. I wonder if anyone has tessellating hexagons?

    Students will really notice those tessellations now!

    Thanks for the offer of the tessellation coloring book. Have Scarlet pick out a few good ones, and I'll Xerox them for the class to enjoy.

    Thanks again!
    Mrs. Yollis

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dear Mrs. Yollis and class,

    Thank you for posting the video about tessellations. I learned a new word and thought the designs were beautiful. It is such a fancy word for something that we see all around our house! I love making patterns with tiles and shapes...the possibilities are endless!
    Oh, and I thought the background music was groovy!

    Sincerely,

    Mrs. Scott
    (Charlie's mom)

    ReplyDelete
  4. @ Mrs. Scott,

    I'm glad that you enjoyed our post and that you learned a new word!

    Yes, there are many tessellation in a home. My bathroom tile is all square tiles and so is my kitchen floor. The tiles are different sizes, but they tessellate!

    Glad you enjoyed the groovy music. We picked it out together.

    From,
    Mrs. Yollis
    P.S. Nice HTML in your comment! Good for you! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    I really like the video made on PhotoPeach. Yes, I do have some tessellation in my house, and it's in my bathroom. The shapes that make up the tessellation are squares.

    There is also another tessellation pattern in my house. It's in my mom and dad's bathroom. The shape that makes it up are squares too.


    Your friend,
    Nick

    ReplyDelete
  6. @ Nick,

    I love our PhotoPeach video too. The music was the right choice! It was a nice complement to the artwork. (That's a fancy way of saying that music made the slide show perfect.)

    So far, everyone has square tiles in their home. However, at my brother's house they have tessellating hexagon tiles in their bathroom. Interesting, no?

    :-)

    Mrs. Yollis

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    There are tessellations all around my house. In my room there`s a tessellation on our floor, it`s made of rectangles. All of our windows are made of squares and rectangles. Also, are kitchen cabinets have rectangular tesselations.

    From,
    Corey

    ReplyDelete
  8. @ Corey,

    Thanks for a wonderful comment. Rectangles! Everyone has been talking about tessellating squares, but your floor is made of tessellating rectangles. Nice!

    Tessellations are everywhere!

    :-)
    Mrs. Yollis

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    In my home I have a tessellation of squares in my kitchen and in one of my bathrooms, but in the other bathroom it has a tessellation of blue rhombi. Also, in my old house in the living room there was a tessellation of rectangles.

    Do you have any tessellations in your house?

    Your student
    Kendall

    ReplyDelete
  10. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    Now because we're learning about tessellations I really like making them. In my house, there are square tessellations in my bathroom. Also, my marble floor has square tessellations.

    From,
    Charlie

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    I like the tessellation called Hexagon River because it is linear which is my favorite kind of tessellation, no offense radiating tessellation.

    My second favorite tessellation is Exploding Flower because I made it. Plus, it is radiating, big, and only uses two shapes!

    Sincerely,
    Caleb

    ReplyDelete
  12. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    My tessellations are brown rectangles on my hallway floor and squares on the carpet. That is almost impossible to believe, but it is true.

    Do you have any rhombus tessellations?

    Sincerely,
    Sam

    ReplyDelete
  13. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    I loved making the "Exploding Flower" with my group! I was so much fun. The "Fashion Show" music made me want to dance.

    My favorite sculpture is, the one I made with my group, and not just because it's the one I made.

    Yes, I do have tessellating squares in my kitchen. I also have tessellating squares in my shower. It was so much fun watching the video too!

    Sincerely,
    Kayla

    ReplyDelete
  14. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    My favorite tessellation is The Green Line of Symmetry because that was the one I made. It was interesting to learn that shapes can make a beautiful designs. What was your favorite?

    From,
    Jaxon

    ReplyDelete
  15. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    Tessellations are great, and it is very interesting to discover if the shapes that you have can tessellate.

    My tessellation was the "Hexagon River". My group made it by some rhumbii and hexagons. There is one other tessellation that I liked,and it was the "Exploding Flower".

    From,
    Gal

    ReplyDelete
  16. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    Like most people, in my house I have a tessellation of squares on my bathroom floor. In some places the squares are cut off or turned into equilateral triangles.

    Sincerely,
    Ayush

    ReplyDelete
  17. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    I thought that the music"Fashion Show" didn't really fit the movie that well, but in my opinion,it was not that bad!

    The tessellation in my house bathroom is in the shower!The tile shape used to make the tessellation is of course the square!

    I'm one of the people from "Exploding Flower". At one part I went too far and got too picky because there was a white skinny rhombus and it was time to take the picture and I wanted to take it out. To me tessellations are fun!

    From,
    Richie

    ReplyDelete
  18. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    Today at the computer lab there was a tessellation on the keyboard. Did you
    notice that? Also there was a tessellation on the ceiling.

    From,
    Corey

    ReplyDelete
  19. Dear Mrs. Yollis' class,

    The tessellations your class made are gorgeous! Just looking at them persuaded me to make my very own tessellations. Great job!

    Sincerely,
    Sadaf (Ava's sibling)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Dear Mrs. Yollis's class

    My name is Victoria and I am a student at the University of Central Oklahoma. I came across your blog while working on an assignment for one of my classes. I am soo impressed with the Tessellations that you made. Did you know that you can make tessellations with other shapes as well. For one of my classes we were asked to make a tessellation using other shapes. I found a stencil online for a lizzard. So I alternated one green lizzard and one tan lizzard to make my own lizzard tessellation.

    Sincerely,
    Victoria

    ReplyDelete
  21. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    My group had to rip apart our project about five times! Our shapes made a hexagon. It took a LONG time. We had to keep trading out. Do you like our shape?

    From
    Kate,

    P.S.If you made one will it be fun for you?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    I never even heard of the word tessellations before today. Thank you for expanding my vocabulary! Instead of giving you the example of flooring
    products that tessellate I can think of a type of toy that Richie and I recently purchased and which he put together, that is, a puzzle. It had 100 pieces of all different odd shapes. Are there any puzzles in the classroom?

    From,

    Mr. Anaya

    (Richie's Grandpa)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Mrs. Yollis' Class,
    I have always been interested in tessalations but was very surprised to see that nowadays third graders are learning about them. I remember being much older when I was introduced to them in a geometry class. I see that things have certainly changed since I was in third grade. I like being able to see into your class by way of this blog. What I can see for myself is that I like the way students are being taught today. Thank you. Jim Cooke, Kendall G's grandfather

    ReplyDelete

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