Patchwork of Places and Poetry

Lorie Marchant
Developmental First Grade
Show Low Primary School
Show Low, Arizona

Books we used in our
Patchwork of Poetry and Places project:

The Boy and the Quilt by Shirley Kurtz
Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold
The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy
Quilting Through the Year by Paula Symonds

Materials:
Magnetic Quilt Tiles and pocket chart set from Teaching Resource Center

How we implemented the project in our classroom:

Our community was evacuated for a week in June due to the Rodeo-Chediski fire.  This prompted extra discussion of the forest, drought, the impact of human behavior on the environment, how our community pulled together in the face of a disaster, and pride in our community workers (police, fire, Forest Service, etc.) We chose our city, Show Low, Arizona, as our special place.

 The children looked at quilts in their homes and I brought some of my family quilts.  We discussed why quilts are made and how they are used.  Our third grade buddy class read The Boy and the Quilt to my class of first graders and I read Tar Beach aloud.  We had a local quilter come in as a guest speaker.  She brought a variety of quilts that she had made and briefly explained how she makes them.  We looked at the different patterns on the quilts and she explained how she chooses the fabrics and colors to design her quilts.  We followed this with exploring patterns and designs with math manipulatives (pattern blocks, color tiles, Magnetic quilt tiles, squares of colored paper, etc.) The children made simple tree quilts with white and green triangles to honor our forest.

We went on a field trip to the fire station, police station, library, and museum where the forest fire and the community workers who helped in saving our town talked to us.  The museum had an exhibit about the fire and also had old quilts that local pioneers had made.

We chose fall colors to use in our Show Low quilt because we were inspired by the trees we saw on our field trip.  We wrote a Show Low poem with each child contributing something they learned about Show Low on the field trip.  Our third grade buddies helped in constructing the paper quilt with a pinwheel design and we looked at pinwheel toys.  We talked about how quilt designs came from things people saw in everyday life.

Here is our poem:

 Here is our quilt!

SHOW  LOW

BY:   MRS. MARCHANT'S CLASS

Show Low has a road.
Show Low has cool computers.
Show Low has a McDonald's.
Show Low has a park and we ate there.
Show Low has books.
Show Low has cats.
Show Low has my Grandma's house.
Show Low has schools.
Show Low has a Wal-Mart.
Show Low has good lakes for fishing.
Show Low has chocolate dilly bars at Dairy Queen.
Show Low has a police station.
Show Low has elk.
Show Low has ponds with fish and insects.
Show Low has trucks.
Show Low has my best friend.
Show Low has a fire station.



marchant_quilt.jpg (46305 bytes)

Arizona State Standards addressed:

Language Arts Foundations

PO 5 Differentiate fiction/nonfiction texts
R-F5 Analyze selections of fiction, nonfiction and poetry for their literary elements such as character, setting, plot, sequence of events, and organization of text
R-F8 Recognize the historical and cultural perspectives of literary selections

Writing

W-F1 Use the writing process, including generating topics, drafting, revising ideas and editing, to complete effectively a variety of writing tasks

Science Standards

Standard 4: Life Science 4SC-F1 Describe and explain cause-and –effect relationships in living systems

Technology Education Standards

Standard 1 Fundamental Operations and Concepts
Standard 4 Technology Communication Tools
4T-F1 Communicate with others using telecommunications, with support from teachers, family or student partners

Social Studies Standards

1SS-F3 Use stories to describe past events, people, and places
3SS-F1 Construct and interpret maps and other geographic tools…

Arts Standards

Standard 1: Creating art
Standard 2: Art in context 

Mathematics Standards

Standard 3 Patterns, algebra and functions
Standard 4 Geometry

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