Book inspires students to create quilt that celebrates traditions, reading

In The Keeping Quilt, a book by Patricia Polacco, the author shares how her grandmother, mother, and other family members gathered around a homemade quilt to celebrate weddings and birthdays and to welcome new family members. She explains that the quilt is part of many family traditions and is passed down from one generation to the next.

As the 2006-2007 school year began, Patricia Nestor’s third-grade reading class read The Keeping Quilt, and the Seventh District Elementary students were inspired to share their own family traditions and draw them on 6” x 6” quilt squares. The quilt squares were then sewn onto queen-sized sheets by student Andrew R., his mother, and grandmother.  After several days and many hours, the quilt was presented to the students by Andrew’s family. Andrew’s grandmother told the students that each stitch was a “labor of love,” and that she was more than happy to share in the students’ joy of reading.

The excitement of the quilt was shared by the students, the three generations of quilt makers, Principal Leslie Brooks, and Assistant Principal Hope Baier.

Now Mrs. Nestor’s students celebrate the beginning of their own class tradition – gathering on the quilt each day to read.

Story by Glenda Carman, Good News Ambassador and administrative secretary, Seventh District Elementary. Photos courtesy of Seventh District Elementary.