Mosaic Pictures
10 min
Narrative
The purpose of this Warm-up is for students to discuss the context of mosaics and the mathematics that might be involved, which will be useful when students create their own mosaics in a later activity. While students may notice and wonder many things about this image, the different smaller shapes used to create the mosaic are the important discussion points.
Launch
- Groups of 2
- Display the image.
- “What do you notice? What do you wonder?”
- 1 minute: quiet think time
Teacher Instructions
- “Discuss your thinking with your partner.”
- 1 minute: partner discussion
- Share and record responses.
Student Task
What do you notice? What do you wonder?
Sample Response
Students may notice:
- The image shows a butterfly.
- The butterfly is made up of many smaller shapes.
- There are a lot of different colors.
Students may wonder:
- How many pieces are all together?
- How many of each color are used?
- How long did this take to make?
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
- “A mosaic is a pattern or picture created using small pieces of ceramic, stone, or glass to cover a surface.”
- “Ancient Greek and Roman artists decorated important buildings with mosaics, and Jewish and Muslim artists in the Middle East created mosaics to decorate religious buildings.”
- “The pieces that create a mosaic can be cut in different shapes. What shapes do you notice in this mosaic?”
- “In the next activity, you’ll create your own mosaics with rectangles.”
Standards
- 5.NF.4·Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication to multiply a fraction or whole number by a fraction.
- 5.NF.B.4·Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication to multiply a fraction or whole number by a fraction.
20 min
20 min
Knowledge Components
All skills for this lesson
No KCs tagged for this lesson
Mosaic Pictures
10 min
Narrative
The purpose of this Warm-up is for students to discuss the context of mosaics and the mathematics that might be involved, which will be useful when students create their own mosaics in a later activity. While students may notice and wonder many things about this image, the different smaller shapes used to create the mosaic are the important discussion points.
Launch
- Groups of 2
- Display the image.
- “What do you notice? What do you wonder?”
- 1 minute: quiet think time
Teacher Instructions
- “Discuss your thinking with your partner.”
- 1 minute: partner discussion
- Share and record responses.
Student Task
What do you notice? What do you wonder?
Sample Response
Students may notice:
- The image shows a butterfly.
- The butterfly is made up of many smaller shapes.
- There are a lot of different colors.
Students may wonder:
- How many pieces are all together?
- How many of each color are used?
- How long did this take to make?
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
- “A mosaic is a pattern or picture created using small pieces of ceramic, stone, or glass to cover a surface.”
- “Ancient Greek and Roman artists decorated important buildings with mosaics, and Jewish and Muslim artists in the Middle East created mosaics to decorate religious buildings.”
- “The pieces that create a mosaic can be cut in different shapes. What shapes do you notice in this mosaic?”
- “In the next activity, you’ll create your own mosaics with rectangles.”
Standards
- 5.NF.4·Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication to multiply a fraction or whole number by a fraction.
- 5.NF.B.4·Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication to multiply a fraction or whole number by a fraction.