Code to Freedom

This is the finished project that my student's did as the culminating activity for the work we did with our studies of the Underground Railroad and Freedom Quilts.

We read many stories about slaves and how they escaped using the codes in the quilts.  We make a booklet showing the quilt squares and telling what the code was per block.  The children learned what quilts are and how they are constructed.  The learned about geometric shapes and how we could put them together to create quilt blocks.  We did dot-to-dot quilt block pictures, search words and color by numbers.  After learning all of this,  each of the children made a paper quilt showing the twelve squares we studied.

The students studied the Wagon Wheel, Monkey Wrench, Crossroads, Bow Tie, Shoo Fly, Bear's Paw, Flying Geese, Carpenter's Wheel, Log Cabin, Building Blocks, North Star and Drunkard's Path blocks and can tell you the code of each block.  (Please remember some blocks are known by more than one name.  ie Monkey Wrench AKA Churn Dash)

I am very proud of my second graders.  They loved studying about the Underground Railroad and the Freedom Quilts during African American History Month.  They learned the names of the quilt blocks, the secret code, some geometry, some geography, and alot of history.

This kind of success and excitement in the classroom always boosts my enthusiasm as a teacher.

Happy Quilting,
Laurel