Description of the Project

In the second quarter of Grade Five we did a unit on Geometry. Students have been exploring tessellations and the work of Dutch artist M.C. Escher. On November 30, 1998 we made a class trip to the Escher Exhibition in Rotterdam.

M.C. Escher was born 100 years ago, and yet his woodcut prints and lithographs look so very modern that they almost seem to have been created using computer technology instead of traditional tools. Escher did not consider himself an artist or a scientist, though his work has been a great inspiration to students here who have used his ideas in both maths and art lessons to produce their own tessellation designs and linoleum prints.

Escher used the natural world - especially birds, fish (2), insects and reptiles (2) - as well as his training in architecture (2) to visualise and create his designs. Note: Check out the animated graphics in the links above to see how Escher created his tessellations.

Our students have used a computer software program Tessellmania developed by Kevin Lee to create their own designs and produce their pictures. Click on the links in the menu to see some examples of tessellations which our grade 5 class has created.

  Maths Forum Project Award : In addition to our Tessellation Projects, our grade 5 students regularly participate in the Maths Forum Project "Elementary Problem of the Week". The class of 98-99 placed in the top 50 groups (out of 7000 entries) and was awarded this certificate from the organizers of the project.