February 2021, The Perfect, Pretty Rectangle Month

 February is the only month that can sometimes form the perfect rectangle. 

When it is not a leap year, February has 28 days. 28 is divisible by 7. Perfect for a rectangle.

To be a pretty rectangle, February 1st has to be on a Sunday. That will always make  for a Friday 13th, for those who are superstitious.

No other month can ever make the perfect pretty rectangle that February has made in 2021 because 30 and 31 days are not divisible by 7. So you will always have extra days left over even when the 1st day is on a Sunday.

Perfect, pretty rectangular February's happen every 6 or 11 years.       

Tessellations

We have been making tessellations, patterns that repeat and cover an area without any gaps or overlaps.

We made some by using a piece of cardboard to make a stencil block. We started with a rectangle shape and cut a piece out on one side. Translate that piece across to the opposite side and tape it on. If you want to, cut a second piece out from one of the other sides and translate that piece across.

Then use the stencil block to cover a piece of paper, repeating the pattern without any gaps or overlays.

Repeat the colours in a pattern...

We had a lot of fun on this interactive website Shodor.

Making Shapes With String

We had a lot of fun making different shapes with a loop of string. At the same time, we used the language of geometry as we explored the shapes.

• Edge (side)
• Vertex (corner)
• Vertices (Plural of vertex, more than one vertex)
• Face

We explored, labeled, and described the features of a circle, triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon, and a hexagon.

 We discovered the sun shining on the ground outside and forming a right angled triangle.

Making Hexagons And Octagons

We went outside with some chalk and a protractor. We were challenged to try and make a regular hexagon. We knew that because it was regular, it would have six equal angles and six equal length sides.
Here are our results...