Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt

Author: Deborah Hopkinson

Publisher/Date: Alfred A. Knoph, 1993

ISBN: 0-679-82311-5

Grade Levels Recommended for Use: 6-8

Brief Summary: A young slave girl dreams of freedom. She hears others talking about the Underground Railroad and freedom. She decides to sew a map of the land in a quilt to guide others to freedom. Someday when her quilt is complete she will use it herself and follow the path to freedom.

Topics: permutations, combinations, probability, square numbers, symmetry, tessellations

Suggested Activities:

1. Give the students small squares of pink, gray, white, orange and blue. To begin have the students use only pink, blue and white. Have them generate as many color combinations as they can use only two of the colors. How many different ways can they arrange the colors and do the order of the colors matter. (problem solving using a plan).
2. Do the same activity again, this time have the students use four colors. Encourage them to look for a pattern to organize their data to see what was missing.
3. A probability lesson could include having the students put the five colors in a bag and draw out two colors to use without looking. What are the chances of choosing a pink-blue combination.
4. Give the students several squares. Have them make a 2x2 square and sketch it on paper or color it in on graph paper and write a math problem for it. Do the same for a 3x3, 4x4, 5x5 etc. As students discover that this square pattern, have them complete a chart with the number of squares on each side and the total number of squares.
5. Give the students a blank quilt square pattern. Have them use two colors to fill in different triangles to make a square that is symmetrical using different fractions.
6. Using the same quilt square, have students design as many different quilt squares as they can using just one fractional amount. To begin the activities, you may want to show the students examples of different patterns using various fractions. After their paper quilt is complete you may want the class to put all of their quilt patterns together to make a class quilt for the wall.
7. Give groups of students various geometric shapes. Have them put the shapes together in different patterns to create tessellations. Once they have created a design they are satisfied with, have them transfer the design onto grid paper.