You are about to embark on a tessellation adventure.
Follow along this path to become a tessellation expert!

First, can you answer these questions?

1. What kind of pattern can be used to cover a space without leaving any gaps?
2. What is a vertex?
3. Can you list three ways math matters to an artist?
4. What is the 'magic tessellation number' you must have to be able to tessellate?
5. What 3 regular polygons can be tessellated?

Confused? You won't be after you finish reading through Cool Math's Tessellation Explanation. Remember to click the BACK button to return to this page.

Second. Oh, before we go on, look back at that list of questions from the first box. On your handout, write down the answers to the questions. Hopefully you can answer more questions than you could before Cool Math!

Now that you know a bit about the math behind a tessellation, take a few minutes to feast your eyes on this collection of tessellations.

Ask yourself this question: Am I looking at a regular tessellation or a semi-regular tessellation? Visit the student examples and the historical gallery.

Third.

You should be well on the way toward understanding about tessellations!

Now you can practice making some tessellations using fun shapes in Tessellation Town. Have a nice trip!

Fourth.

Create your very own tessellation at Boxer Math. Be sure you cover the entire space without any gaps!

Fifth, experiment with regular and semi-regular tessalations at Project Interactivate. How creative can you be??

Finally! Reflection time.

Well what do you know now that you didn't know way back at the top of this page?

Still want to learn more? Visit a Fifth Grade Tessellations page.