Tangrams!

Today we had some exploration time with tangrams.  Each student worked with their own set of figures as seen here:
  In the beginning, we experimented with creating a wide variety of polygons by arranging and rearranging some or all of the tans.

parallelograms

pentagon

rectangle

pentagon

rectangle

rectangle

Then we were asked to construct a quadrilateral with two 135 degree angles, trace and completely label it.
Finally, we used our compass, protractor, ruler, and pencil to construct a scalene triangle which met specified dimensions.  I emphasized with the students how important it is to be precise in their measurements and markings.  It truly does make a difference in the end.