World of Tan 21 - Almost there now
Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outlines of the lobster, yacht and cyclist?
Problem
This activity follows on from World of Tan 20 - Fractions.
The school year is almost at an end. The summer break is not far away, and Granma T is planning what everyone will be doing during the holidays. But Little Ming and Little Fung have other plans!
Granma T: The first job to be done this holiday is your rooms. They need a major tidying up so that Wai Ping and Wu Ming can decorate them... then there are the files at the back of Mah Ling's office. You both said that you would sort, label and store them away... then there is the yard that desperately needs clearing and sweeping, and...
Little Ming: But Granma, it's our holiday - we've worked hard all year at school.
Little Fung: It's time for us to relax, play with our friends, go into town, look around and enjoy ourselves.
Granma T: And get into mischief like last year - remember the broken window? No. This holiday, you'll work first and play later!
Little Fung: You can't blame that window on us, it was Wai Ping who hit the ball.
Granma T: What a lot of fuss it caused! No, you two will start work the day after school finishes. Catch up on all the chores and then we will all consider how to spend the holidays together.
Little Ming: But we don't want to go visiting relatives and sight seeing. We want to...
Granma T: That's quite enough! We'll discuss this further once all your chores are completed.
Little Fung: Oh dear, this isn't going to be easy!
Little Ming: You're right. Granma will get her way, she always does.
Little Fung: But we so wanted to go cycling, fishing and boating this holiday. In fact, I've put our names down to join in with the other students.
Little Ming: That won't make a shred of difference - we'd better make a start on that list of chores...
Little Fung: Only four days to go...
In the meantime, complete the silhouettes of the lobster, yacht and cyclist.
Extra activities:
- Can you work out how many days each year you spend at school? How many days a year are weekend days? How much time each year do you have for school holidays, including bank holidays?
- Ask your friends what their favourite thing to do in the holidays is. Can you draw a graph to show which response is the most popular?
The story continues in World of Tan 22 - An Appealing Stroll.
Teachers' Resources
Why do this problem?
This problem is an engaging context in which pupils can consolidate their knowledge of the properties of squares, triangles and parallelograms. By attempting this activity, children will be putting into practise their visualising skills, making guesses about where the different shapes might go before trying out their ideas. When combining the shapes to make the tangram, pupils will use their understanding of translations, reflections and rotations to decide how to transform each shape. There are also links between tangrams and fractions, and children can be encouraged to work out what fraction of the whole square is represented by each smaller shape.
Possible approach
Read this story with the whole class and look at the tangram as a group. Ask pupils to suggest where a shape might go. What transformation would be needed to move the shape into that position?
When pupils are solving the tangram, they would benefit from working in pairs with a tablet or a printed copy of the shapes to cut out and move around. Working together will lead to rich discussions about the possible options for where each shape can go. When the children have solved the tangram, they can have a go at the extra activities.
At the end of the lesson, bring all of the pupils together and model the solution on the whiteboard. How does each shape need to be transformed? What fraction of the whole picture is each shape?
Key questions
What could you put with this piece to make a square?
Are all of the pieces different?
What's the smallest square you can make?
What has to go in that space? How do you know?
Possible extension
Pupils could have a go at other tangrams in the 'World of Tan' series. Some children might like to create their own tangram from the same pieces, or make their own tangram pieces by cutting up a square.
Possible support
Some children might need encouragement to experiment and 'have a go'. Using the printable tangram pieces will help all pupils try out their ideas.