Objective: To discover that the letters in your first name create a pattern.
Materials:
The Patchwork Quilt by Valerie Flournoy, large graph paper, crayons, unifix cubes in assorted colors, glue, scissors, 5” x 5” squares of tag board, origami paper (in assorted colors and designs) cut into 1” squares, butcher paper.
Procedure:
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1
. As a warm-up in becoming more familiar with the names of everyone in the class, begin by having the students sit in a large circle. Tell the students, “I want you to think of the beginning sound in your first name and then think of something you like that also has that same beginning sound. For example, a student named Karissa might say: ‘I am Karissa and I like cream puffs.’ They both begin with the /k/ sound.” Allow the students some thinking time before the circle game begins.
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2
. Either you begin or a student who is ready can begin. After he/she finishes, the next student in the circle must first repeat that student’s response before saying his/hers. We continue around the circle until everyone has participated. The challenge lies in trying to repeat in correct sequence all previous names and responses before adding one’s own.
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3.
Students would then return to their desks where they would be instructed to write their first name, one letter per box, horizontally across the first row of large graph paper. They would then assign a different color to each letter in their name and color it in. Following this they are to continue writing their name, leaving no box empty, over and over until they have filled the whole side of the graph paper. Repeating the initial pattern of color, they would then color in each of the remaining squares.
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4.
Students would then be asked to show the class their name-pattern paper and describe the pattern of color created by their name. Such name-patterns could also be recreated using trains of unifix cubes.
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5.
To convey what a quilt is and how it is made, read the book,
The Patchwork Quilt
and discuss it.
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6.
Students are then given a blank sheet of 5” x 5” tag board. They are instructed to select from and gather precut 1” squares of origami paper (assigning one pattern or color for each different letter in their name) and create the letter-patterns in their name, gluing down each square horizontally across the tag board.
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7.
After creating the pattern once, they determine how many more of each square they need and repeat the name-pattern with origami squares until the entire tag board square has been filled.
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8.
These name ‘quilt’ squares would then be glued on a large piece of butcher paper creating a class quilt to be hung in the classroom, displaying the unique pattern of each person’s name.
(This quilt activity was adapted from
Beyond The Book
.)
