A Cloak for the Dreamer

A tailor issues each of his three sons with a challenge to create a cloak for the archduke. Each son works to meet the criteria for colour and strength. The role of tessellating shapes becomes important as the brothers each work on designs that connect small pieces of cloth. When the youngest son presents his cloak made of circles with plenty of gaps, the family works together to save the beauty of the design by creating tessellating hexagons.

1.

Prior to reading, set the context for the book by introducing the occupation of tailor and the historical context for the story. If possible, have some examples (images or items) that show patchwork sewing techniques.

2.

Share the book with your students, drawing their attention to the geometric vocabulary. Create a word bank as you read. At the end of the story, return to the end papers and discuss the tessellations as they relate to the cloaks in the story. Focus on highlighting the vocabulary in the word bank.

3.

Next, use a set of attribute blocks and discuss the characteristics of the different shapes that enable you to cover an area without gaps. Ask students to experiment in pairs or small groups with simple patterns of two or more shapes and see if they can make the whole pattern tessellate.

4.

Support students to discover that the angles of the corners and the lengths of the edges are important factors. Create a set of shared success criteria for a tessellation.

5.

Next, ask students to create a banner for a country, a team, or their family that uses more than one shape and meets the criteria of a tessellation. They should choose colours that have significance to them, just as the characters in the story did. The banner can be created on paper by tracing attribute blocks or digitally by using the DLO.

6.

Ask students to evaluate each other’s work by referring to the set of success criteria and giving feedback to their peers.