Assignment:

Use the links below to complete the following challenges. Create a final report using Google Docs and email to me. Have fun and be creative!

• Research and define tessellations in your own words.
• Tessellations are all around us! See if you can find three examples found in nature.  Make it fun by including pictures.
• Explore the work of M.C. Escher.  Include your favorite works of art.
• There are lots of online tools to help you create your own works of art.  Create and share!

Fun Links to Explore:

Tessellate!

Tessellation Town

Tessellation.org

Tessellation Lessons and Supplies

Totally Tessellated! 

M.C. Escher

Grade Level: 2-4 grade

Main Goal: Use prior knowledge about multiplication to develop the concepts of area and perimeter.

Introduction:

Congratulations!  You have been selected to join an elite team of engineers to build a fortress for our great city. There is rising conflict in the Republic and we need to protect this outpost from invasion.  We are fortunate in that we have recently discovered a new material that appears to be stronger than steel. Hopefully, it will hold against the Empire's latest weapons.  You will use this as your building material.  Good luck!

Math Background:

• addition
• multiplcation

Mission: 

(printable version)

1. Using Legos, create a model of your rectangular fortress.
2. Determine in units of Legos, the measurements of your fortress.
3. How many Legos are needed to "fill" your figure?
4. If you were to patrol the outside of your fortress, how many Lego bricks would you pass?
5. Create a mathematical model for your responses to questions 3 and 4.
6. Let's test your model for another figure and see if it works.  Repeat steps 1-5 and record your responses.

Conclusions:

Using the evidence from your investigation, generalize your findings to write a formula for area and perimeter.

Area:

Perimeter:

What do you notice about the difference in area and perimeter between the two fortresses you designed?  You should see that the more spread out the fortress, the larger the area and perimeter.

Additional Online Games and Resources:

• Perimeter Explorer
• Shape Surveyor
• Bucky's Blueprints
• House Design Webquest
  

Introduction:

After viewing the BrainPOP movie on kinetic energy as well as completing a lab during our science class, we have discovered several things.

• Kinetic Energy is associated with objects in motion.
• Mass and speed can affect the amount of kinetic energy released.
• Energy can be transferred and stored, but never created or destroyed.
• Kinetic energy can be transferred fromone object to another when the objects collide.

Math Background:

• Order of Operations'
• Exponents
• Multiplication and Division
• Fractions

Mission

Which gives off more kinetic energy:  a cheetah or an elephant? 

• Take a guess!  Which animal do you think?
• Research the average mass of each animal and average speed. Record on your investigation sheet.
  
  • Cheetahs
  • Elephants and More Elephants
• Using the fomula to calculate kinetic energy, KE= 1/2(mass * velocity²), determine the kinetic energy released for each animal.  Record your findings on your investigation sheet.
• Now, assume that 2 cheetahs of the same mass are moving at different speeds.  Which cheetah releases more kinetic energy?

Conclusions

Was your initial guess correct?  What have you discovered through this investigation?

The amount of kinetic energy an object has depends on its mass and speed.  A fast moving object with a lot of mass wil have a lot of kinetic energy.  If two objects have the same mass, the one moving faster will have more kinetic energy.

Quiz 1 in Google Docs

Quiz 1 in Google Docs