Our Online Quilt Unit!

Since our first graders spend the months of November and December traveling back in time to the pioneer days, we continue our unit into the month of January. Rather than a pure focus on the works of Laura Ingalls Wilder, we now explore the world of quilts! Of course, we begin as always with quality literature. Here are a few of our favorites:

The Quilt Story (dePaola)
The Quilt (Jonas)
The Keeping Quilt (Polacco)
Eight Hands Round - An Alphabet Book
The Quilt Block History of the Pioneer Days
The Quiltmaker's Gift
The Josefina Story Quilt
The Boy and the Quilt
Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt
Crazy Quilt
Surprise!
The Bedspread
Bess's Log Cabin Quilt
Sunflower Sal
Selina and the Bear Claw Quilt
Log Cabin Quilt
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt
The Patchwork Quilt

We begin the unit by reading three Laura Ingalls' Wilder picture books that will help to make the transition into the new unit. "Going West", "Prairie Day" and "A Little Prairie House" tell of the family's journey by covered wagon to the Kansas prairie. We then read "The Josefina Story Quilt" which is also about traveling by covered wagon. This is an easy reader book consisting of chapters, and to practice our summarizing skills, after we read two chapters, we summarize the events in a sentence or two on a paper "patch." After we've read the book, we can put all of the paper patches together for our own story quilt.

The story of "Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt" is a slave story, where Clara creates a map to freedom in a quilt. After reading it, the children cut out five xeroxed quilt patterns. To play the memory game, the teacher displays the same (but larger) patterns in a row. The children then close their eyes while the teacher turns them over to the back. When they open their eyes, they try to recreate the pattern using their own patches. The more similar the patches are, the more challenging it can be!

For a homework assignment, each child takes home a Family Quilt Patch to complete. In the center the child writes their last name, and in each of the four boxes they write and draw about their family members, their favorite memory, their favorite family place and a way they help one another. When all patches have been returned, you can create a class quilt bulletin board.

The study of quilts lends itself to many math activities involving shapes and patterns. Pattern blocks are excellent manipulatives to use to create quilt-like patterns. Lakeshore Catalog has a quilt kit with rubber patches and templates for recreating quilt squares. Geoboards make great quilt square manipulatives! The children love the use colored rubber bands to either recreate an authentic quilt pattern or design their own! Symmetry within quilts is another math area to explore during this unit.

After reading "The Keeping Quilt" we write the definitions of some of the Russian words used in the story, such as "babushka." We look at quilts that children have brought in, and discuss what special memories they have. Mrs. Tonnessen has created a class quilt each year (thanks to parent volunteers who sew) and the children examine these and are fascinated by them. Of course, we make our own quilt too! We start with a xeroxed copy of a square with a diamond in the center. Using fabric crayons, the children illustrate the patch. The teacher then irons it onto a poplin (or other non-100% cotton fabric) square and VOILA, there is the design! Then the children behave as real pioneers did and sew a running stitch around the diamond portion of the patch. When sewn together, it's beautiful and a wonderful keepsake too!

We read the "Quilt Block History of the Pioneers" which illustrate the different quilt patterns and their names. We have fun giving our own name to quilt squares, and then designing our own, naming it and then writing the reason for choosing the name.

We read the two easy reader books "Surprise" and "Crazy Quilt" and then answer written comprehension questions. We may have to find some of our spelling words on a certain page, or tell what was happening during a certain part of the story.

We also LOVE to make our edible quilt squares! Using two different colors of paper napkins with the students' names written in the corner, we arrange them in an AB pattern. Then on a plate, the children spread vanilla frosting on a graham cracker and then decorate their "patch" with mini marshmallows, M&Ms, raisins, sprinkles, chocolate chips, etc. Then they are placed on their napkin to create an edible class quilt! Be sure to snap a picture or two before your quilt is quickly gobbled up!

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