World of Tan 10 - Butterflies
Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outline of the butterfly?
Problem
This activity follows on from World of Tan 9 - Animals.
Little Ming had walked briskly to the zoo and, as instructed, had not turned round once (except for one tiny peek when going round the corner of Yuemei Street). He saw nothing unusual - just a handful of people scurrying home for dinner. At the zoo, he pushed the side gate and it swung open noiselessly. He paused, then crept through the gate and into the zoo.
By this time, the animals had already eaten and were mostly dozing in the bottom of their cages and enclosures. Only the monkeys shrieked as he walked by. Not daring to turn around, Little Ming felt that a thousand eyes were watching and following his every move.
Little Ming walked past the penguins' pool, glancing in at the birds who were swimming and diving, before proceeding on to the elephant house. There the baby elephants were rolling in the dust while the larger ones sprayed water on each other and had begun to bellow, gently at first but getting louder all the time.
Were they bellowing at each other or at Little Ming? Or at something else?
The giraffe house was the enclosure furthest away from the gate. Little Ming could see it in the distance. He noticed it was getting dark and the security lights were only just warming up and beginning to glow. For the first time he felt uneasy. Butterflies, big butterflies, were to beginning to gather in his stomach.
Suddenly, Little Ming felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder. He slowly turned around, and saw... Granma T!
Granma T quickly explained that the robbers had been caught making their way to the zoo. The plaque hadn't yet been recovered, but the thieves had given the following directions to the plaque:
Go to the light maze in the International Gardens.
Solve the problem and retrieve the plaque!
In the meantime, complete the silhouette of one of the butterflies found in Little Ming's tummy.
Extra activity:
- Investigate the map and try to solve the problem of releasing the plaque.
The story continues in World of Tan 11 - The Past, Present and Future.
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.