week
An excerpt from Mrs.
Cannon's Computer Lab, 5th Grade Teacher's Guide
©2004 Mrs. Cannon, All rights reserved
October
week
Fifth Grade
Paint, Copy & Paste
(Background
Information)
Paint
Most computers come with the Paint program installed. Students who have computers at home can share this Paint activity at home also.
Copy & Paste
The ability to copy and past is a helpful tool computers offer. Before copying you must let the computer know what you want copied. You can copy by using Edit, then Copy in the menu bar. Another method is to use keyboard shortcuts, a combination of keys that when pressed to something special. The keyboard shortcuts for copy are Control C, meaning press and hold one of the Control keys (labeled Ctrl) and touch the C key, then release both. Another method you can use to copy is a right click. Remember that a right click causes a menu to appear. Then click Copy on the menu. You won't see anything actually happen when the computer copies. The item you selected is copied to the computer clipboard. You won't see it until you give the command to paste the item. Again you can use any of the methods above to paste such as edit, paste in the menu bar. You could right click and then click paste in the menu that appears. The keyboard shortcut for Paste is Control V.
(Activity Steps)
Teacher, allow a few minutes of the lab session to look at some of M. C. Escher's* tessellations on the web site given below.
Paint Tessellation
Open the Paint program using the start menu. Click the start button, move your mouse up and over Programs, Accessories, and onto Paint. Click. Notice the toolbars available in the Paint program. Locate the menu bar. It begins with File, Edit… Locate the toolbar of Paint tools. Rest your mouse, without clicking, over each tool to see a popup clue telling what tool it is. Locate the Brush tool and the Free Form Select tool. Click the Line tool button. Notice the set of line thickness choices that appeared below the toolbar. Click the Brush tool and notice the set of brush shapes and sizes appearing below the toolbar. Locate the color selection bar and the two overlapping squares. The top square shows the color selected that will appear as you use the left mouse button to drag out a line or shape.
Begin creating a tessellation by clicking the Rectangle tool. Choose the bottom choice shown below the toolbar to draw a solid shape. Press and hold one of the shift keys as you drag out a shape. The shift key causes it to create a perfect square. Click edit in the menu bar and click Undo, the first item listed on the menu. Use edit, undo immediately when you want to try something again. This time as you drag out the square shape notice the numbers in the status bar at the bottom of the screen. The numbers reflect the size of your shape, something like 150X150. Draw a solid square that size or close to it, placing it near the left side of the work area but allow room all around. (Allow room above to place that same size above it.)
Next choose the Free Form Select tool at the top of the toolbar and looks like a dotted star. Notice the two choices appearing below the toolbar. What's the difference? The bottom choice is transparent. Click it. Notice your cursor looks like a tiny open circle with a cross around it. Place the circle over the bottom left corner of your square. Press and hold the mouse button down and draw the shape of shoulders and a head (or any shape) ending up at the lower right corner of the square. If you need to try it again, click on any blank area.
After selecting, notice the dotted selection lines surrounding it and your cursor looks like a thick double arrow. Click over that selected area with the double arrow cursor and drag to reposition the selected area. Move it up to the top of the square, lining it up. Click away from it when you have it placed correctly to remove the selection lines. Now click the Select tool. It looks like a dotted rectangle. Still use the transparent choice below. Use it to select the entire shape you created. After selecting the entire shape, click edit in the menu bar and copy. You won't actually see it copy. Then click edit, paste to make whatever you copied appear. Notice it has selection lines around it. Be careful not to remove them yet. (Clicking away from it will remove the selection lines.) Reposition the entire shape by clicking on it and dragging. Place it away from the original shape. Make it a different color by clicking the Fill tool and another color. Point to the copied shape and click to fill it with the new color. Now move it again, so first select it. Use the Select tool to surround it with the dotted selection lines. Place your cursor over it so that you see the thick double arrow. Click and drag to reposition it, fitting it into the original shape. Paste again. No need to copy again. The computer remembers the last thing you copied. Click edit, paste to paste another one on the screen. Drag it over to the side and fill it with another color. Select it so that you can move it, fitting it into or beside the original.
Repeat, creating a tessellation that fills the screen. You can start over to create a new tessellation by clicking file in the menu bar, then New. Click No when it asks if you want to save.
M.C. Escher, Artist or Mathematician Web Quest*
Get on the Internet and type the URL, web address, in your browser's address bar for
the M. C. Escher, Artist or Mathematician ThinkQuest web site,
http://library.thinkquest.org/11750/
Click the link on the left for "Tessellations". Call on a student to select a
sketch. Click and read about it together. Continue.
*M. C. Escher, Artist or Mathematician, http://library.thinkquest.org/11750