Tessellation... What's that??

For some reason, I guess I thought everyone knew what a tessellation was. Does that mean I really am some math nerd?? Oh well. A tessellation is basically one big puzzle that is formed from the same template being tiled over and over again. That is how I would define it, but to be a little more exact this is the definition from Wikipedia:
"A tessellation or tiling of the plane is a pattern of plane figures that fills the plane with no overlaps and no gaps."

So, our project for after TAKS was to create a tessellation. This is something my school does every year, but I've done something like it with my 8th graders in Waco! I gave my students half an index card and told them whatever they cut out from one side they had to tape to the other (this creates the puzzle aspect). They did the same thing to the other side and then they had their template. They then had to trace the template all over their construction
paper. From there, they had to use their creativity and imagination to make their shape into something (this is where they get interesting... they also had to have a title to go with their project. The classes then got to vote on which ones they thought were best and I made ribbons for them all! Check out my winners from all of my classes!

1st Place - "Dancing Rainbow Monsters"
2nd Place - "Beyond the Hills" (I really liked this one!! She used the template as the hills and then drew in a whole city!)
3rd Place - "Fishy, Come Back!"


1st Place - "Night and Day"
2nd Place - "Chubby Tabbies"
3rd Place - "Flames"
3rd Place - "Follow the Leader" (very clever title!)



1st Place - "Restless Heart Syndrome"
2nd Place - "Pretty Colors"
3rd Place - "Crazy Star"
3rd Place - "Queen of Hearts"



1st Place - "Majestic Elephants"
2nd Place - "Kissie Fishie"
3rd Place - "It's Raining Men" (This is my personal favorite! This student kept wanting to start over b/c she couldn't figure out anything to make her shape into....but this is what she ended up with!! I loved it!!)


1st Place - "Turtle Parade"
2nd Place - "Shark Life"
3rd Place - "A World of Kittens"



1st Place - "Froggy Night"
2nd Place - "Swirl" (This looks awesome, the picture doesn't do it justice!)
3rd Place - "Air Force" (I was very proud of one of my lazy-er boys for turning this one in!!)

I love my kids, but 14 days left. They are drivin me nuts and I'm positive it will only get more crazy as those number of days get smaller!! :)