During this unit, you will complete four individual projects. The final project will be a tessellated print made with a rubber stamp. At the end of the unit, there will be a final assessment on print making terminology and steps.
Vocabulary Tessellation/Tiling: The overall concept of covering a plane with shapes. Tile: The individual shape or set of shapes that repeat in the tessellation. Vertex: A point where the corners of the tiles meet. Angle: The measure of the space between two lines or surfaces that meet at a point (vertex). In tessellations, the angles of the shapes meeting at a vertex must add up to 360 degrees. Regular Polygon: A polygon with all sides and all angles equal (e.g., square, equilateral triangle, regular hexagon). Semi-Regular Tessellation: A tessellation made using two or more regular polygons. Uniform Tessellation: A tessellation where the arrangement of shapes and angles is the same at every vertex. Transformation: Mathematical operations that manipulate shapes, including:
Reflection: A mirror image of a shape.
Rotation: Turning a shape around a fixed point.
Translation: Sliding a shape without rotating or reflecting it.
Gap: An empty space in a tessellation. Overlap: When shapes in a tessellation cover the same area. M.C. Escher: An artist famous for using tessellations in his artwork.
Square Tessellations
A square can be easily tessellated by arranging identical squares side by side, creating a grid pattern with no gaps or overlaps. This is because a square's angles are all 90 degrees, and four 90-degree angles add up to 360 degrees, allowing them to fit perfectly around a point
Materials: • square piece of card stock (approximately 3 inches by 3 inches) • large sheet of white construction paper • clear tape • scissors, pencil and crayons Step 1: Cut a notch or shape from the left-hand side of the square. Choose a unique shape for your notch. example: Step 2: Use clear tape to attach the notch to the right-hand side of the square. Be sure it is the same distance from the top and bottom as the notch on the left. Do not rotate or flip the notch
