World of Tan 9 - Animals
Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outlines of the camel and giraffe?
Problem
This activity follows on from World of Tan 8 - Sports Car.
Since the arrival of the ransom note, Mr Cheung had spent most of his time getting all the money together. A million Chinese yuan is a lot of money! His restaurant, like Granma T's removals, had not closed. Business went ahead as normal.
No police had been involved as the original letter had demanded.
Every night, a 'council of war' sat around the large office table at Granma T's. Mah Ling, Granma T, Little Ming and Little Fung would meet with Mr Cheung and his cousin, Yeung Lee. They would piece together all the information gained that day. So far they had worked out that the plaque was not on the main island in the bay, it had not been melted down and none of the local people knew anything about its disappearance. Yeung Lee was typing up a list of all the facts they knew so far - which was not much!
A second note from the 'criminals' was delivered a fortnight later, by post. It contained instructions on what to do. The money was to be packed in foil containers, that were to be sealed with wax lids and placed in the usual 'take away' carrier bag. At the top of this was to be placed a stack of white napkins.
That evening at sunset Little Ming was to walk into the local zoo. The instructions said, "Go past the goat pen and place the bag in the green rubbish bin by the giraffe house."
The money was packed and the napkins were placed on top as ordered. Little Ming had put on his raincoat and hat and set off...
In the meantime, complete the silhouettes of the camel and the giraffe.
Extra activities:
- What conjunctions are used in the instructions given to Little Ming? Can you hide some treasure for a friend and give them a list of directions for how to find it?
- Investigate the different ways there are of seating three boys and three girls around a circular table.
The story continues in World of Tan 10 - Butterflies.
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.