Our Family Quilt
HOW I T WORKS
Our Family Quilt is an interdisciplinary
program that studies immigration. After reading
about immigration, each child researches his/her own ancestors’ journeys to America
through oral histories of family members. The
students use a student-writing program to
create an essay of their family history. Each child
completes the history by reproducing family
pictures with the use of a scanner. The essays are
compiled into a class book entitled Coming to
America. A family quilt is assembled as one of the
culminating activities. Each child decorates a piece
of material (usually felt) with his/her family
name(s). Family photos may also be scanned to
add to the quilt. The rest of the piece is
decorated with replicas of flags from their ancestors’
country of origin and representations of activities
and things, i.e., sports, foods, or symbols
important to their family and culture. The pieces are
sewn together to complete the project. Our Family Quilt further
incorporates family histories with the technology needed to
preserve it by using the scanner to recreate their
ancestor’s pictures. The students give oral
presentations about their pieces. They have a
visual representation of each of their families as
well as a representation of what it means to be
an American. They gain a greater appreciation
of what their ancestors had to endure and the
common experiences shared with their
classmates and families.
THE STUDENTS
There are 25 fourth-grade students involved in
this program. Three are in a self-contained
special education classroom for part of the day.
The students have a range of academic levels and
technical experience and usually help each
other with any technical or quilting problems.
Although the initial ancestral research is done at
home, the writing and the completion of the
quilt is usually done in the classroom over a few
weeks, depending on the level/speed of the
class. The children work individually and in small
groups. The program can easily be adapted to
other ages and achievement levels.
T HE STAFF
Sally Puma has been teaching for 16 years in
the New York City Public Schools. She started
as a Pre-K teacher in P.S. 121 and has taught
first, second, and fourth grade, and a half-bridge
class. She has also led music and
science workshops for other teachers in the
district and was named Teacher of the Year for
1994-1995. She and her class have won a Humanitarian Award for making monthly
sandwiches for the homeless. She is the recipient of
two other IMPACT II Adaptor Grants (1992 and
2000).
WHAT YOU NEED
Materials needed include computers with
software programs such as Student Writing Center
or ClarisWorks. Various art supplies are needed
for the quilt. They include felt pieces, glue,
markers, lettering, scissors, puffy paint,
beading, glitter, thread, needles, a camera, film,
and markers. A color scanner is very useful. As a
culminating activity, a trip to Ellis Island should
be scheduled. The book/computer program If
Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island by Ellen Levine and the web
site www.ellisislandrecords.org are both excellent multimedia
resources for this unit.
OVERALL VALUE
The students develop a sense of pride in their
own culture while developing an understanding
of others. They see how their own oral histories
need to be preserved using the technology of
today, and feel a sense of individual
accomplishment after producing their report and
quilt. They also work in cooperative groups and move
closer to meeting the Standards in both
Language Arts and Mathematics. The finished quilt
becomes a beautiful representation of their
family history interwoven with the histories of their
classmates.
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