Strengthen interdisciplinary ties by incorporating books into your tangram lessons. For example, have second and third grade students read "Three Pigs, One Wolf and Seven Magic Shapes," as they recreate the tangrams they find in the story. For younger learners, incorporate "The Tangram ABC Book." This book has puzzles for each letter of the alphabet. The letter A shows an airplane, for example. Use this book to teach students about both tangrams and the letters of the alphabet.
Have students apply their current and new knowledge of tangrams in WebQuest projects. In the Tangram Treasure, appropriate for high schoolers, students piece together the parts of a tangram treasure to uncover the location of a hidden treasure. In the Green/Franzo Tangram WebQuest, for elementary school individuals, the students construct their own tangram puzzles in the classroom. The WebQuest offers two choices of sites for students to utilize, so have them complete one or both.
Bring middle school students to the computer lab so that they will learn about tangrams in a less structured, though still academically relevant, manner. In the Cyberchase Tangram Game, students create the shape shown in the upper right corner of the screen by using all seven pieces. In the Tangram House game, the students select from a variety of different shapes on the left hand side of the screen and then work to construct them in the tangram style.
Before students start working on more elaborate projects with tangrams, give them worksheets to evaluate how they are doing with this new subject matter. Distribute handouts with directions as to how to make a tangram, so that they can keep this page in their folders. Another worksheet idea is to have questions about how to make a tangram that the students need to answer. Include worksheets with already made tangrams on them, and see if the students are able to figure out the seven shapes. Vary the difficulty of the worksheet questions by grade level.