As students read books in class, you can have them create a quilt square to contribute to a story book quilt to be displayed. This activity uses audio, visual and tactile aspects to reach each student effectively. This activity can be used as an independent activity for several lesson plan objectives for your language arts program.
How to Make a Story Book Quilt Square
On a piece of square paper, draw a diamond so that each long side of the square has a point of the diamond touching it. This is your quilt square template. In the middle of the quilt square, students are to write the title and author of the book that they finished reading. They should also draw a picture in the center that describes the main idea of the book.
In each of the four corners of the quilt square, students can draw a picture to represent either main events or main characters portrayed in the story. Students should also write a phrase or sentence to describe their drawing. After finishing this, students should color their quilt square and cut it out (unless you have already cut the squares out for them). If you would like, you can draw stitches around the diamond sides of the quilt square.
Lessons From the Story Book Quilt
This activity is best for younger students who are not capable of writing a lot of information. This is an excellent way to have students summarize what they read through pictures. You can also have students identify things through this activity, modifying the assignment to follow your lesson plans. For example, students can identify the main characters in a story. You can also teach sequencing with this activity, by labeling each corner of the quilt square with numbers for the order of events in the story.
Displaying the Story Book Quilt
You can use story book quilt squares in a couple of ways. One option is to have each student contribute to one large class quilt. You can connect the quilt squares together and display the quilt in the hallway. If you want to have students use this activity more than once, you can have each student put together their own story book quilt. Throughout the semester or school year, you can collect student quilt squares in folders, and put together a quilt for each student to take home as a reminder of the books they read.
Crafty ideas such as the story book quilt are very beneficial for tactile learners. The visual aspect of the quilt benefits visual learners. Through discussing the books during small group instruction time, you will benefit audio learners in your class. This activity is an example of how to teach every learning style in your classroom.
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