South Carolina ETV

South Carolina ETV
1101 George Rogers Boulevard
Columbia, SC 29201-4761
Phone: 803-737-3545

Quilts Galore! (Grades 1-2)

Master Teacher

Linda Stickles

Time Allotment

Two 50-minute class periods

Overview

Combining video and the Internet, these lessons are intended to be the culminating lessons for a study of patterns. These lessons will provide the students with the opportunity to observe patterns in quilts. It will also give students the opportunity to produce their own quilt patterns.

Subject Matter

Mathematics (Patterns)

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

Identify and extend a pattern;
Create a pattern;
Use letters to represent a pattern.

South Carolina Standards

(These Standards can be found at http://www.myscschools.com/offices/cso.)

Mathematics: Algebra—1st Grade

I. Understand patterns, relations, and functions.

B. Recognize, describe, and extend patterns such a sequences of sounds and shapes or simple numeric patterns and translate from one representation to another.

1a. Using symbols and objects, identify and create and extend a wide variety of patterns.

1b. Use letters to represent a created pattern (e.g., ABC, ABC).

Mathematics: Algebra—2nd Grade

1. Understand patterns, relations, and functions.

B. Recognize, describe, and extend patterns such as sequences of sounds and shapes or simple numeric patterns and translate from one representation to another.

1. Create, extend, and label a wide variety of patterns, orally and in writing, by using symbols and objects.

Media Components

Video

Math Monsters, Lesson 10: “Patterns.” This program shows Split painting a border around her room. She receives a phone call and the other monsters attempt to follow the pattern Split was creating.

Web Sites

What Comes Next?
This Web site provides practice for students to complete repeating and growing patterns. It is not used in this lesson, but would be an excellent center or review activity.

Quilter’s Cache
This Web site shows over a hundred quilt patterns and provides the name for each pattern. The music at this site can be very distracting. You might want to turn the sound off.

Design a Quilt
This Web site by the Long Island Children’s Museum gives the students the opportunity to design their own quilt patterns. They can choose the color and the pattern for their quilt.

Materials

Book: Eight Hands Round: A Patchwork Alphabet by Ann Whitford Paul (HarperCollins Children’s Books, 1996) This book describes 26 different patchwork quilts, their importance in depicting American history, and how the quilt patterns got their names.

Per student:

Activity Sheets 1 and 2
construction paper shapes
crayons
glue

Other Books:

(Note to Teacher: These are not used in this lesson, but would make great reading as follow up and increase the understanding of quilts as part of our heritage.)

The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy (Dial, 1985)

The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco (Simon & Schuster Children’s Books, 2001)

Equipment

computers with Internet access
VCR
TV

Prep for Teachers

Preview the video Math Monsters, Lesson 10: “Patterns,” and review for Focus for Media Interaction points in the Introductory Activity.

Cue video to the first segment: Audio—The theme song has just ended with “Math’s our favorite thing.” Visual—The parachute falls over their heads. Stop the video.

Preview and bookmark the following Web sites:

What Comes Next?
Quilter’s Cache
Click on “The Patterns” located about half way down the page. This will take you to Quilts Galore where you can view 35 pages of quilt patterns along with their names.
Design a Quilt

Gather all materials.

Copy Activity Sheets 1 and 2 for each student.

Cut shapes for students to use in designing quilts (see the directions on Activity Sheet 3).

Mark the pages to be read in Eight Hands Round. (Note to Teacher: The quilts I chose to read about are “Churn Dash,” “Eight Hands Round,” and “Queen Charlotte’s Crown.” I chose these quilts because they have patterns that can be seen most easily as repeated patterns and they represent very important times is American history.)

When using media, provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction, a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites or other multimedia elements.

Introductory Activity

Step 1: Tell the students that they will be viewing the video, Math Monsters. The program will be a review of patterns, which they have previously studied. These lessons will be the culminating lessons for their unit on patterns.

Step 2: Provide a Focus for Media Interaction by telling the children that you want them to be able to describe Split’s pattern.

Step 3: PLAY the video. PAUSE the video when Mina says, “I used the same four shapes that Split did. I wonder what the problem is.” The big question mark appears on the screen.

Step 4: Ask the students to repeat the pattern that Split was using. (triangle, square, heart, circle)

Step 5: After they name the pattern with symbols, ask them to use letters to represent the pattern. (ABCD, ABCD) Ask the students to explain why Mina and Multiplex’s patterns didn’t look like Split’s. (Multiplex used different symbols. He used diamond, oval, dash, dot, dash. Mina used the same symbols but in a different order.)

Step 6: Ask the students to name Mina and Multiplex’s patterns using letters. (Multiplex’s was ABCDC, ABCDC. Mina’s was ABCD, ABCD.) Be sure they understand that even though Split and Mina’s letters were the same, they had different shapes for ABC and D.

Step 7: Provide your students with a Focus for Media Interaction, asking them to remember Addison’s advice for following a pattern. RESUME PLAY and PAUSE when Addison says, “Nope, that’s not my pattern, but can you figure out what it is?” and the question marks appear in the corners.

Step 8: Ask to children to tell you what Addison told Multiplex and Mina about following a pattern. (When you follow a pattern, you need to figure out where it begins and where it ends, and you need to be sure that you keep going in the exact order.)

Point out to the children that Multiplex is following a different kind of pattern. His pattern is a musical pattern. Ask the children to predict what they think Addison’s pattern is. (Answers will vary.)

Step 9: Provide your students with a Focus for Media Interaction, asking them to see if they guessed Addison’s pattern correctly.

Step 10: RESUME PLAY and PAUSE when Addison says, “So, can you figure out what comes next?” and the big question mark appears on the screen. Ask the students if anyone guessed Addison’s pattern correctly.

Step 11: Ask the students to tell what they think Addison’s pattern is. Provide a Focus for Media Interaction, asking students what does Addison say his pattern is doing.

Step 12: RESUME PLAY and PAUSE when Mina says, “I wonder if I can use this same stencil to make a different pattern on the napkins.” A big question mark appears on the screen. Ask the children what Addison said his pattern was doing. (He said it is growing.)

Step 13: Remind children that there are two kinds of patterns, repeating and growing. What kind of pattern did Addison make? (Growing). Have them use letters to represent Addison’s pattern. (ABAABBAAABBBAAAABBBB)

Step 14: Ask them what six things would come next if the pattern continued. (AAAAAB)

Step 15: Provide your students with a Focus for Media Interaction, asking them what kind of pattern Split adds to her border.

Step 16: RESUME PLAY and PAUSE when Split paints the 12 and says, “What comes after that.” Ask the students what kind of pattern did Split add to her border (numeric pattern). Ask the students what does come next in Split’s pattern. Is this pattern repeating or growing? (growing)

Step 17: Provide your students with a Focus for Media Interaction, asking them to notice what Multiplex uses to create a growing pattern. RESUME PLAY and PAUSE when Addison says, “But I wonder how many I’ll need.” Ask the students what Multiplex used to create his growing pattern. (blocks) Let them predict how many blocks he will need to make the next part of his pattern.

Step 18: Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction, asking if their predictions were correct. Watch until the end of the video because it provides many examples of patterns in everyday life. Let children look around the room to name some patterns they see.

Learning Activities

Step 1: Introduce the book Eight Hands Round by Ann Whitford Paul. Explain to the students, they will be reading sections from this book.

Step 2: Ask the students how many of them have a quilt on their bed? Tell them that a quilt is different from a blanket. Blankets are usually made from a warm soft material that is one piece and one color. A quilt is usually made from many different pieces of material and one quilt may have many different colors, but these colors usually followed a pattern. These quilts are called patchwork quilts.

The pattern in a quilt usually had a special meaning. Tell them that you are going to read about several different quilts, but they might want to look at the book later to see some more of the beautiful quilts whose patterns tell us about a period in our American history.

Step 3: Read “Churn Dash.” Discuss with the students why this pattern is called “churn dash.” (The wooded piece that churned the butter was shaped like the green triangle piece of the pattern.) Tell the students that a long time ago people made their own butter from the milk they got from their cows. They would let the milk sit a while and the cream would rise to the top. People took the cream and put it in a churn. They turned the paddle on the churn until the cream became butter. Show the children how the same pattern is used over and over on the quilt.

Step 4: Read “Eight Hands Round.” Ask the children to tell you what the people did when the caller said, “Eight hands round.” (They all joined hands in a circle.)

Ask them to tell you how this pattern might look like people in a circle. (Answers will vary.) Explain to the students that square dancing was a major form of entertainment when people gathered for a celebration or just to have fun. Help them to see how the pattern is repeated on the quilt.

Step 5: Read “Maple Leaf.” Ask the children how maple syrup was made. (A notch was cut into the trunk of maple trees at the end of winter. Then the sap was collected in buckets and cooked over a fire until it became thick.) Ask the children why they think this pattern is called “Maple Leaf.” (The red part of the pattern looks like a maple leaf.)

Help the children to understand that people couldn’t go to the store to buy things as easily as they do now. Syrup making was an important event that usually took a whole community working together to complete. Then everyone took his share of the syrup. Help them to see how the pattern is repeated on the quilt.

Step 6: Read “Queen Charlotte’s Crown.” Ask the children who an immigrant is. (An immigrant is a person who comes from another country. All of our ancestors were immigrants.)

Step 7: Ask them to explain why this quilt is called “Queen Charlotte’s Crown.” (The yellow parts of the pattern look like a crown.) Help them to see how the pattern is repeated on the quilt.

Culminating Activity

Step 1: Tell the children that they are going to look at a Web site that has over a hundred quilts. Provide your students with a Focus for Media Interaction, asking them to find one quilt pattern they especially like and be ready to tell why they like that pattern. (Answers will vary.)

Step 2: Have your students log on to the Quilter’s Cache Web site at http://www.quilterscache.com. Have them scroll down and click on The Patterns. Give them an opportunity to look at some of the quilts shown here and to discuss how they think the quilts got their names. Ask, “Why do you think they named this quilt______.” Have them pick out one quilt and tell why they like that quilt. After the students have had adequate time to look at many of the quilts, tell them that they are going to get the opportunity to design a quilt online.

Step 3: Have the students log on to Long Island Children’s Museum—Quilt Maker

http://www.licm.com/noFr.f/quiltNF.html. Provide them with a Focus for Media Interaction, asking them to design a quilt using the Quilt Maker. Model how they can change colors and designs and how they can erase their work and start over. Give each child adequate time to explore this site.

(Note to Teacher: This activity could be done as an independent activity during Center Time.)

Step 4: When all students have had a chance to design a quilt, tell them that now they will create their own quilt pattern.

Assessment

Step 1: Give each child a copy of Activity Sheet 1 and a bag of construction paper triangles. Tell them that they are to use the triangles to create their own quilt pattern. They are to use the pieces to cover the grid on their Activity Sheet. They can move the pieces around until they come up with a design they like. When they create the design they want, they can get the glue and glue the pieces on the Activity Sheet. (Note to Teacher: Don’t let them have the glue until they have had the chance to try several patterns.) This activity should take about 10-12 minutes.

Step 2: When the students have created their patterns, tell them that they will extend their patterns to create a quilt. Give them Activity Sheet 2 and crayons. Show them again in Eight Hands Round how a pattern was repeated over and over to create a quilt. They are to use their crayons to copy their pattern on to the quilt. They will have to repeat their pattern until their quilt is filled.

Step 3: Ask them to think of a name for their quilt pattern and be ready to share their finished product with the class.

Step 4: When all have finished, allow time for them to share their creations.

Cross-Curricular Extensions

Language Arts: Read The Keeping Quilt by Patrica Polacco. Discuss how this quilt was an important part of this Russian family’s heritage.

Social Studies: Read about more quilts in Eight Hands Round. Use the quilt patterns to discuss our American heritage.

Science: Reread “Maple Leaf” quilt. Talk about why people had to get the sap from the trees in the late winter or early spring.

Community Connections

Ask someone from a local quilting guild or club to come and show the class some of the quilts they have made. Ask them to demonstrate how they choose fabrics and patterns.
Take a field trip to a tile store. This is a great place to see lots of different patterns.
Take a walk around the community to give the students a chance to observe patterns in real life.
Ask around to see if you can locate someone in the community who still makes syrup the old fashion way. This would make a great field trip for the class. People are usually very happy to share this experience and will usually give each child a small bottle of syrup to take home.

Student Materials

pencils
crayons
construction paper triangles
Activity Sheets 1 and 2
glue