Skills Covered

How to Use This Pack

Five pages for Year 6 on tessellations. Page 1 takes six regular shapes, from the triangle to the decagon: students multiply each angle to see whether copies fill the 360° round a point, and circle whether the shape tessellates on its own. Page 2 starts tessellations of L shapes, T shapes, a nibbled square, zigzags and more on square grid paper, and students continue each one to cover the grid. Page 3 does the same on triangle dot paper with triangles, hexagons, rhombuses and trapeziums. On page 4 students look at a finished tessellation and circle the move that takes tile A to tile B: a translation (slide), a reflection (flip) or a rotation (turn). Page 5 shows regular shapes meeting at a point with a gap: students find the angle of the gap and the regular shape that fits it, if there is one.

In the Classroom

Hand out card triangles, squares, pentagons and hexagons and let groups try to fit copies round a point. Which leave a gap, and which overlap? Record the angles on the board and look for the ones that add to exactly 360°. For page 4, cut out one tile and move it onto another: did you slide it, flip it over or turn it?

At Home

Go on a tessellation hunt: floor tiles, brick walls, paving, a honeycomb, a soccer ball. Talk about which shapes are used and whether one shape or a mix of shapes covers the surface. Draw a tile on squared paper, cut it out and trace round it again and again to make your own tessellation.

Tips for Success

• A tessellation has no gaps and no overlaps
• The angles that meet at a point add to 360°
• Equilateral triangles, squares and regular hexagons are the only regular shapes that tessellate on their own
• Every triangle and every quadrilateral tessellates
• Look for the tile's slides, flips and turns to continue a pattern