On my first visit to Marry White's class we learned about tessellations. I discussed with the class what tessellations were and how artists have used the throughout history. We looked at Islamic tile patterning, Sol LeWitt sculptures, and M.C. Eshcer drawings.
Then I demonstrated how to make a simple shape that can tessellate. The students each then made their own tessellations. They outlined their shapes in marker and filled in their drawings with colored pencil.
One student made his abstract shape into an animal by adding detail.