tessellations, adverbs, triangles and fitness

I am one week down in my education field experience, with only three weeks left in this block. Observation is over and the following week is time to teach.
I have the loveliest year 5 class, no behavioural problems in the class, and such great diversity for a students teacher with three learning support students, four ESL students, two with very limited English, an even mix of boys and girls, and peoples of all ethnicities.

I have a unit planned to review quadrilaterals (four sided polygons), we will explore triangle types and their angles, flip slide and turn and finish that section on line and shape with tessellations. The tessellation lesson will be the best in my opinion, because although it has the line and shape maths outcomes, I have combined art and made visual arts the focus. Students will design their own mosaic patterns using coloured triangles of paper. These are some samples to get them started. A few of the students in the class are really into mosaic, so I can't wait to see what they come up with.

(Taken from www.tessellations.org)

For the accelerated students in the class (the clever kids), they can have a go at designing their own tessellating shape. Doesn't matter at the end of the lesson if it doesn't work completely, but in attempting it, they will be reaching outcomes above the other average learners in the class. I hope it challenges them enough to keep them busy. And who better than the Master of Tessellation himself, M.C. Escher, to provide examples for students to think about tessellating shapes other than polygons.
Here are some great Escher tessellations, and you can see more here.

This one is my favourite but isn't a traditional mathematical tessellation because of the gaps, but shows students a visual and conceptual arts application of tessellation.