State Flower Quilt





My State Flower Quilt hangs in the narrow hallway leading in to my classroom.  Several years ago, Northcott came out with this collection of state flower fabrics (over a period of time.)  After the entire collection was out, I purchased enough of each fabric to make my quilt.  My local quilt owner suggested this simple pattern, along with the black fabric for the stars. 

My students enjoy looking on the chart to see the name of each state flower and then locating the flower on the quilt.  You will notice that some states share the same flower and thus have the same fabric. 

The Northcott fabric line is no longer available, but I just read that Paintbrush Studio is coming out with their own line of state flower fabrics, spread over a period of time.    

I am a part-time reading teacher, working mornings at my local elementary school.  Each morning, I work with four groups of students.  First, I read with a small group of 4th graders in my room who named themselves the Reading Panthers.  Then I work in a 5th grade classroom along with the teacher.  Next, I'm back in my room reading with a 5th grade boys bookclub known as the Domination Readers.  Finally, I work in a kindergarten classroom.  We use a wonderful curriculum called Saxon Phonics to teach decoding and spelling skills to our students.  Today, I checked that each kindie could sound out and read twelve words such as "silk," "mask," "skin," "milk," and "kiss."  It's so fun to see the progression of reading skills from kindergarten through 4th and 5th grades!

I take a quilt into the kindergarten classroom each year and briefly explain how I make a quilt and how much math is involved. 

That's my morning at school!  Can you tell by my classroom that I'm a teacher who's also a quilter? 

My students love this poem: 

                                       Banananananananana                                    

    I thought I’d win the spelling bee,

    And get right to the top.

But I started to spell “banana,"

              And I didn’t know when to stop.

                                       William Cole

My kindergarten students couldn't quite catch the meaning of my new door decoration.  

                                                                                      

Three teachers at my school are going to be grandmas for the first time this summer.  We each decorated our door like this, wore Grandma sashes (like Miss America sashes) at the staff meeting, and passed out blue and pink candy to the staff.

Homemade Chalk Recipe

Empty cardboard toilet paper tubes

Scissors

Waxed paper

Scotch tape

Plaster of Paris

Water

Bowl

Spoon

Tempera paints in various colors

1.  For each stick of chalk you wish to make, line the inside of an empty toilet paper tube with waxed paper and seal one end with tape.

2.  With a spoon, mix two parts plaster of Paris with one part warm water in a bowl and add approximately two spoonfuls of tempera paint to achieve the desired color.

3.  Pour the mixture into the prepared toilet paper tubes.  Gently tap the tubes to release air bubbles from the plaster.

4.  Repeat for each color of chalk you wish to make.

5.  Let the plaster mixture dry for 48 hours.  Peel off the cardboard tube and waxed paper.  Create some sidewalk art with your homemade chalk.

You might also enjoy the other posts about my quilty classroom: 

http://www.starwoodquilter.blogspot.com/2013/01/if-your-teacher-is-also-quilter-part-i.html

http://www.starwoodquilter.blogspot.com/2013/01/calendar-of-houses-bee-quilt.html