Classroom Quilt Time

The end of the school year is nearing.  It's time to start working on this year's classroom quilt.  The ticket jar is nearly full.

Every year I make a quilt with the children in my classroom.  Each child will make a square for the quilt.  On the last day of school one lucky winner gets to take the quilt home "for keeps"!  The boys and girls can receive tickets for earning an A on a test, doing a good deed, handing in homework, earning a student star, bringing up grades or any other time they are "caught being good".

We start learning about quilts in September with a quilt story in our reading book.  The children learn what a quilt is, how they are made and how they are different than other blankets.  They also learn about piecing, applique and Hawaiian quilting.  We continue  working with math/quilt worksheets, a quilt block for each of the United States, and a "paper quilt" bulletin board.  During January and February we learn about Freedom Quilts and The Underground Railroad.  I also have many read aloud quilt stories I use during the year.

This year I have 28 second graders in my class so our quilt will have 30 squares (6 rows of 5 squares each).  Each child will make 1 square, 1 square will have the children's names in it, the last square will display the school, grade, teacher and year.

I cut plenty of 10½ squares so if a child makes a mistake they can try again.  The children will use Crayola Fabric Crayons to create their quilt squares.  We should have time this week to  get the squares finished.  Then I'll scurry to have the quilt finished before  the last day of school.

Happy Quilting,
Laurel