Inga Davis

5960.001

May 21, 2002

 

 

Multicultural Literature Activity

 

 

Elementary Level: (grades 2nd and 3rd)

 

The Patchwork Quilt

 

Written by:  Valerie Flournoy

Illustrated by:  Jerry Pinkney

 

Summary:  Tanya and her Grandma have a special relationship and a special project they are working on.  Grandma is going to make a patchwork quilt that will tell the story of their lives so that the special times will not be forgotten.  Grandma begins clipping patches of cloth from special articles of clothing such as Tanya’s Halloween costume, her mother’s gold Christmas dress, and her brother’s favorite pair of pants.  Tanya watches as Grandma and Mom work on the quilt everyday sewing the pieces together by hand.  At Christmas, Grandma gets sick and cannot work on the quilt anymore, so Tanya decides to work on it herself.  Her Mom teaches her how to cut the pieces out and sew them together.  As she is working, she notices there is something important missing.  She decides to cut a piece from Grandma’s old patchwork quilt to add to the new quilt so the whole family will be represented in the quilt.  Grandma slowly gets better and Tanya arrives home one day to find the quilt finished.  Her family decides that she deserves the quilt because of all her hard work.

 

Author Profile:  Valerie Flournoy is the author of five books for children.  She received the Christopher Award for the Best Children’s Picture Book in 1986, the IRC-CBC Children’s Choice Award and the American Library Association Notable Book for The Patchwork Quilt. 

 

Ms. Flournoy has a twin sister, Vanessa, and graduated from William Smith College in Geneva, New York with a BA in Social Studies and a teaching certification.  She currently lives in Palmyra, New Jersey and travels throughout the country visiting schools.  She stages a “show and tell” program on how she works with an editor, art director, and illustrator to turn her stories into books.

 

Some of her other books are:  The Best of Times, The Twins Strike Back, Tanya’s Reunion, and Celie and the Harvest Fiddler.

 

Illustrator Profile:  Jerry Pinkney was born in Philadelphia where growing up he would rather draw than do anything else. He won a full scholarship to art school and while attending college, he married author Gloria Jean Pinkney and had four children.  Later he opened his own studio in New York.

 

Sensitivity to and an interest in a variety of cultures has always been a dominant theme in Pinkney’s work.  He has spent a significant amount of time portraying the African American culture.  For his work, Mr. Pinkney has received four Caldecott Honor Medals, four Coretta Scott King Awards, and two Coretta Scott King Honors. 

 

Mr. Pinkney lives in Westchester County, NY where he works and is an Art Professor at University of Delaware and State University of New York at Buffalo.  Other works of his include Half a Moon and One Whole Star, The Talking Eggs, Back Home, and The Sunday Outing.

 

Before Reading Activity:  Quilt Day: The students will learn the art of quilt making and the tradition it holds.

  1. Invite someone who quilts to be a guest speaker in the classroom.  I use my grandmother because she has the knowledge of the “old ways”.
  2. Conduct a conference with the teller beforehand so both teacher and teller will know what is being presented.
  3. Have her bring some quilting supplies and some examples of quilts she has made.
  4. Let students prepare class questions in advance to be asked after the speaker has finished.  Some example questions may be:

How long does it take to complete a quilt?

Who have you given quilts to?

How often do you quilt?

Where do you quilt?

If you have sold a quilt, what was the most you got for it?

5.  Show my own patchwork quilts and tell the stories that go with them.

  1. Have students show quilts they have brought from home and tell their quilt story.

 

After Reading Activity:  Make a Quilt: The students will make a class quilt that will represent the uniqueness of each person in the class.

  1. Have each student draw and color a picture on an 8x8 piece of paper.  The picture should represent something that is unique or special about them.
  2. Each student writes one to two sentences at the bottom of the square that describes the special characteristic.
  3. Glue these pictures on a 9x9 square piece of different colored construction paper.
  4. Punch holes along the sides of the construction paper.
  5. Have students sew the pieces together using yarn.
  6. Display the quilt throughout the year in the classroom to represent the uniqueness of each person and the wholeness of the class. At the end of the year, take a class picture with the quilt, and cut the quilt apart so each person can have his square back.  Tape a copy of the class picture to the back for a keepsake.