Each student should make a 4-inch square and a 2-by-4-inch rectangle out of tag board. Tell them to locate and mark the center of a piece of graph paper with four squares per inch. They should place the square so one corner touches the center mark and trace around the square. Tell them to move the square so another corner touches the center mark and trace around it. They should continue moving the square outward from the center mark until the graph paper is full. On another piece of graph paper, have them repeat the process with the rectangle.
Give each student one of each of the following shapes cut from tag board: circle, hexagon, kite, oval, parallelogram/rhombus, pentagon, rectangle, semicircle and triangle. Make the shapes in the same scale. Tell the students to experiment with the shapes individually, or in combination to see which ones will tessellate. Ask them to come up with a list of requirements for shapes that will tessellate.
Students should take a handful of pattern block shapes that will tessellate and make various designs from them. Have them trace the shapes, starting in the center of a piece of paper and working outward. They should color each shape the same color as the pattern block they used to trace the shape.
Your students should cut a 4-inch square out of tag board. Tell them to draw a simple shape on the right half of the square using the straight edge of the right side of the square as part of the shape, and cut it out. Tell them to move the shape to the left side of the square, and with straight edges together, tape the shape to the left edge of the square. Have them draw, cut and tape another shape from either the top or bottom of the square. It should resemble a puzzle piece. Your students should trace around the pattern, starting in the middle of a piece of paper and working outward from there. When the paper is covered, they should color or decorate the traced shapes.