Faith Ringgold Story Quilts

I had been planning to create story quilts inspired by Faith Ringgold's "Tar Beach" with my homeschool students, but couldn't think of the right angle for it. I didn't want to have them spend a class writing a story--we are too limited on time. Then I saw the post for Story Quilts done by Ms. Gram. She posed this question to her students: "If you could fly anywhere in the world, real or imaginary, where would you go?" Ah-ha! Just what I needed! 

Our completed quilt (I have a much smaller class this semester,
check out Ms. Gram's site to see this on a larger scale).

Check out the specifics for her lesson, here.

Here are our quilt squares...

I'd fly to a meadow; I'd fly to Cabela's

I'd fly everywhere; I'd fly to outer space ad touch the stars

I'd fly to some random Tokyo mall; I'd fly to L.L. Bean

I'd fly to Moscow, I'd fly to Australia to see bats

And here are some other books you may find helpful for a project like...

"Cassie's Word Quilt," by Faith Ringgold (The main character of the "Tar Beach" book stars in this picture book full of words).

"Dia's Story Cloth: The Hmong People's Journey to Freedom," by Dia Cha (This is more of an embroidered quilt, but it chronicles the journey of these refugees from Southeast Asia and their search for freedom).

"Talking With Tebé: Clementine Hunter, Memory Artist," Edited by Mary E. Lyons (the quilts and paintings of this self-taught African American folk artist pair well with Ringgold's textile art).

"Tar Beach," by Faith Ringgold (this was the specific book I used for this project--the children had me read it to them twice).

"The Keeping Quilt," by Patricia Polacco (this shows a quilt moving though generations of immigrants coming to the new world).

Enjoy!