First Grade Quilt Patterns
First graders always get excited when you bring something new into the classroom. For this project, I bring in my huge handmade quilt! We spend a few minutes looking at all of the repeating lines and shapes and talk about how they turn into patterns. Then, we feel the quilt with our hands! I have the kids use their words to describe the texture: “bumpy” and “soft” usually come to mind. After they go back to their seats, I pass out this template for students to work on. With crayons, first graders are instructed to fill 8 rectangles with different colors. When finished, students use a pencil to fill the remaining 8 rectangles with patterns–we define a pattern as “something that repeats.” After I approve their patterns, students trace over their pencil lines with Sharpie.
Once they are done with the inside, students decorate the outside of the paper with a repeating black-and-white pattern, and then cut with scissors to add fringe.
Finally, I give the students a big surprise…after all of their hard work, I instruct them to crumple their papers! The classroom is always in uproar after this–kids are either cheering with excitement or shrieking with horror. It’s a really good time. After they’ve calmed down, I show them that carefully crumpling my own paper over and over adds that bumpy and soft texture to the paper. Their initial reaction, whatever it was, always turns into fascination.
An example of student work. No photographs in this post include students’ faces or identifying clothing.
