I admit this book is not new to me...My grandmother gave my oldest daughter a copy of The Quilt Makers Gift on her 5th birthday 12 year ago...but I thought it would qualify as a new book discovery because I just bought a digital copy on Storia. (If you've never used Storia give it a try, it is a digital book division of scholastic. I haven't been able to find all of the titles that I want, but I have been extremely happy with the books I have purchased.) This book has the most wonderful story and is beautifully illustrated. The Quilt Maker would only make quilts for the poor, but the Greedy King was desperate for one of her quilts. The Greedy King goes to great lengths try to get her to give him one of her quilts, but the Quilt Maker's one requirement is that he share his belongings with the poor. How could he ever part with his things? Will this Greedy King ever get a quilt?
With this book you could cover many subject areas...Reading, Writing, Citizenship, Social Studies/History, Math, Art, and even a little science if you wanted too.
I will give just a few general ideas that I'm hoping to use this year...
Reading, Writing, and Citizenship:
1. Compare and Contrast the characteristics of the Quilt Maker and the Greedy King
2. Brain storm things you are good at. How can you use those things to help others?
3. Can "things" really make you happy?
4. Why did giving his belongings away make the king happy?
5. Why did the Quilt Maker help others when she needed help herself (i.e. the bear and sparrow).
History of Quilts
Quilts have a very rich and full of history. The different quilt patterns have different meanings and may have even been important to the underground railroad.
National Museum of American History (National Quilt Collection)
Math/Art
The study of quilts lends itself to all kids of real life math applications like geometry, symmetry, area, measurement...
Color choice in quilts is important for showing depth and design.
Students could plan and create a paper quilt (if time was available creating a cloth quilt would be amazing)
Science could be incorporated by pulling in the bear from the story and talking about hibernation.
Other books to read might be "The Keeping Quilt" or "Sweet Clare and the Freedom Quilt".
Enjoy a good book,
Jennifer
#bookaday...Teachers for Teachers
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