Page 45 - kids ebook

Published by the Bee Girl Organization
Author: India Bolding and Sarah Red-Laird
Subject: Math & Science
Season: Year Round
Place of Learning: Classroom
Grade Level: 3

Objectives:
 Students will define tessellation and explain why it’s commonly found in nature.
 Students will develop an argument for hexagons being the ideal shape for nature to tessellate using proper-
ties such as perimeter to area ratio.

Main Standard:
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.MD.D.8 Solve real world and mathematical problems involving perimeters of poly-
gons, including finding the perimeter given the side lengths, finding an unknown side length, and exhibiting rec-
tangles with the same perimeter and different areas or with the same area and different perimeters.

Supporting Standards:
Math
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.MD.C.5 Recognize area as an attribute of plane figures and understand concepts of
area measurement.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.MD.C.7 Relate area to the operations of multiplication and addition.

Science
3-5-ETS1-2 Engineering Design Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how
well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Additional Vocabulary:
 Tessellation - shapes that can be arranged so that there are no gaps between them and that do not overlap.
 Ratio - a relationship between two numbers showing how many times one value is contained within the
other.

Materials:
 Tiles, pyramid blocks or paper cut outs of regular geometric shapes (at least 6 of each shape for each stu-
dent).
 Access to magazines, nonfiction books, or the internet to do personal investigations of geometry in nature.
 Rulers

Investigate!
1. Exploring tessellation
a. Using tiles, pyramid blocks, or paper cut outs, give students a variety of shapes and have them see
which ones can be tessellated -- which ones can be put together with no gaps and without overlap-
ping
b. Students will realize that the only shapes that can do this are triangles, squares, and hexagons

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