November Quilt

I'm really late posting this due to family issues this fall that took precedence of course. But it's never to late to post. I hope you find some great ideas for next year.

I simply love the fall and all the wonderful activities that go along with it. This November we made our wall quilt using pilgrims and the infamous turkey hand print. The pilgrims reflected the gender of each student as well as their skin tone. We are all pilgrims, right? I love to see how the students create their self-portrait as a pilgrim. I've done this for several years now and they really love making these. This year we put the boys' on a red background and the girls' on an orange background. With all of the turkeys on yellow, the end result was very eye catching. It helped to have an even number of boys and girls too so it would work out perfectly. But I also have two more students than what I have space for on the pre-made quilt so I feature those on our classroom door. Each month, I rotate who is on the door so everyone gets an opportunity to shine.

Here is what the finished quilt looks like, along with some close ups...

Hope you get some great ideas from this! Happy creating!

October Quilt

We are just "fall"-ing for our October Quilt! Each student made a tissue paper pumpkin and a hand print spider.

 The pumpkins were made with small paper plates and tissue paper. One thing we have learned about using paper plates, especially for the quilt, is to flatten them out prior to using.  The students were given orange and yellow tissue squares to make the pumpkin. The students put the yellow squares on first, then added the orange squares. I really like how the yellow shows through. In the close-up below, it looks like the pumpkin has eyebrows! Brown tissue squares were used for the face. The stems were made from green construction paper and glued on. The completed pumpkin was then mounted on purple construction paper.

For the spider, we drew webs on black construction paper using a white crayon. Purple paint, with a little glitter added, was used for the hand print spider. The thumb was not painted and the hand stamped twice, in two directions to make the body and eight legs. The palm on the second print was laid on top of the palm from the first print. Wiggly eyes were added for a final touch!

At the end of the year, all quilt pieces made by a student will be put together for an end of the year keepsake book. Each month features a hand print and seasonal craft.

Wall Quilt - Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

I have been using this quilt now for 3 years! It's made with gallon size ziplock type bags and taped together using decorative duck tape. Each month, I include two works by each student based on the month. At the end of the year, I combine all of the quilt pieces together in a combed binder and give to parents as and end of the year gift from their child.

The quilt below is for the beginning of school. It's a Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Quilt.