Gee's Bend Quilts by Kindergarten

Jessie T. Pettway, ca. 1950's

Florine Smith, ca. 1975

I have an abundance of K-2 project ideas to share....and it's probably because the younger grades work so quickly and with such enthusiasm! It's been quite a whirlwind lately!! This project, based on the quilters of Gee's Bend, was completed at least a month ago and I love the results. I found a project on Artsonia that inspired me and this was what I came up with! It's a great one day lesson.

I showed examples of Gee's Bend quilts and talked to the kids about the geometric patterns.Then it was all about choice!! For each class, I offered two 9x12 construction paper choices. Once names were on the back, I offered up two new paper colors that I pre-cut to 6x12. I showed students how to cut this skinny piece in half and then how to take each half and cut them in the middle to create 4 paper strips. These were glued down.

Now, to the last of the big choices!! I laid out several colors of paper cut into 5x5 squares. I showed students how they would pick out TWO squares. One would be glued down to the quilt, while the other would be cut into strips. I demonstrated a few ideas on cutting and gluing and off they went!!