Freedom Quilts

 

Students in the 1st Grade classes read about important figures in our nation’s history for Black History Month. Students learned about Harriet Tubman, who helped runaway slaves in the Underground Railroad. The teachers read the story, Under the Quilt of Night.  

Students learned that a simple quilt played an important part in helping slaves escape through the Underground Railroad. Certain quilt patterns would tell people what to do when they arrived at each station. Some examples of patterns are: Bowtie (this told slaves to change their clothes and disguise themselves), Monkey Wrench (this meant to gather tools they would need), Log Cabin (this pattern was used to tell slaves where safe houses were located), and North Star (to follow the Drinking Gourd constellation). 

Each classroom created their own quilt using the many patterns that they learned about.  After the classrooms made their creations, students were able to use their quilts to count and graph shapes, answer word problems and draw/design their very own quilt!