Backward Design Unit Plan

Unit Title: Narratives of Quilts Grade Level: 2

Subject/Topic Area(s): Literature, History, Math, Art, Social Studies

Key Words: quilt, design, symbol, pioneering, art, story

Designed By: Amelia Jennings Time Frame: Three weeks

Brief Summary of Unit:

In this unit on the narratives of quilts, students will learn about some of the historical,
cultural, and personal stories that quilts tell. After reading books set in the pioneering
movement, students will learn about the history of America at that time and reflect on how
physical materials like quilts and fabrics in quilts secured memories in uprooted families.
Along that thread, students will examine books about quilts from other periods of time,
especially focusing on multicultural books so that they will appreciate the universality of
embracing items like quilts to preserve memories. Students will design and write about their
own school or community quilt so they can consider what memories and items they would
want to preserve as a story.
To further connect this concept to student experience today, students will also learn
about the history of American block quilts, and will learn about how quilting has changed
today by researching modern quilting and interviewing a modern quilter in class.
Unit design status:
Completed Template pages Stage 1, 2 & 3

Completed Blueprint for each performance task

Directions to students & teachers

Suggested accommodations

Completed rubric

Materials & resources listed

Suggested extensions

Status: initial draft (date-______) revised draft (date-_____)

Peer reviewed Content reviewed Field tested Validated Anchored

 Stage 1: Identify desired results.

What content standards are addressed?

California English Language Arts: Literature

Key Ideas and Details:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.1
Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to
demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.3
Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.9
Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story by different authors or
from different cultures.
California English Language Arts: Writing
Research to Build and Present Knowledge:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.7
Participate in shared research and writing projects/
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.8
Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to
answer a question.
California English Language Arts: Speaking and Listening
Comprehension and Collaboration:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.1
Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics
and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.2
Recount or describe key ideas or details from a text read aloud or information
presented orally or through other media.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.3
Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to clarify comprehension,
gather additional information, or deepen understanding of a topic or issue.
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.4
Tell a story or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive
details, speaking audibly in coherent sentences.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.6
Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide
requested detail or clarification.
What enduring understandings are desired (and what misunderstandings will be addressed?)

U
Students will understand that:
Objects can represent memories.
Art can come in different forms.
One symbol can represent different stories for peoples of differing times and places.
Everyday items can have histories behind them.
Humans like to preserve memories and histories.

What essential questions will guide this unit and focus teaching/learning?

Q
How do objects function to comfort or remind us of things when we are in transitions?
What can we learn about the history behind quilt patterns in America?
How can quilts function as both a practical item and as art?
What can quilts tell us about the culture and history of the people who made them?
How have quilts functioned in the past in contrast to how they function today? How are
they the same?

What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a result of this unit?

K
Students will know:
Major times in American history where quilts had special significance (such as
pioneering/Western Expansion, Civil War/Underground Railroad)
American quilt patterns (appearance and name) and what they symbolize
Some important aesthetic and mathematical elements of quilt design.
Basic research and interview skills by observing and participating in class investigation.
Students will be able to:
Develop a symbolic key for their individual blocks and design a quilt as a class.
Explain their design and story in writing.
Use area/perimeter math skills to determine quilt block sizes.
Compare and contrast historic quilting with modern quilting.
 Stage 2: Determine acceptable evidence.

What evidence will show that students understand?

Performance Tasks:

T
Student Story Quilt Design- Students will determine images, colors, shapes, etc. to symbolize
memories or elements of their story and integrate them in creating their own quilt block for a
class quilt top design. As a class, they will determine what size to make each block. As individual
students, they will design and explain their own blocks in a written reflection. Students will
agree on a system for arranging blocks and determine how their blocks fit into that
arrangement, then present on their individual blocks in class, explaining the symbols and story.

Past/Present Research Investigation- After learning about narratives in quilts from history,
students will investigate modern quilting by researching in class to see what quilts look like
today, how they represent the artistic views and the quilters narratives. They will then put
together some interview questions as a class, guided by what they learned about quilt stories
(such as, how do you pick colors/fabrics? What do you do with your quilts after theyre done?
Where do you get pattern ideas from? What do they mean?). They will use these questions to
interview a quilter in class.

Other Evidence (quizzes, tests, prompts, observations, dialogues, work samples, etc):

OE
Fact or Fiction Notes- trace verdicts on assumed quilting myths during lesson
Quiz- fill in an American quilt history timeline
Observations- teacher observation of students work in the classroom, contribution to class
discussion
Reflection prompts- what objects do you associate with memories? Why? Are there any objects
like a quilt or piece of furniture or art that your family has had for a long time? What kind of
story does that thing tell about your family and their history?
Graphic Organizer on The Keeping Quilt- map the progression of the quilt from Russian memory
materials to quilt, to wedding, to each family life event, to hopes of the future.
(Accompanying/after reading and discussing the book)
Modern quilting class/homework- read research material, do independent research (optional),
create Venn Diagram comparing elements of historical and modern quilting based on findings.
Student Self-Assessment:

SA
1. Self assess quilt block.
2. Self assess investigation findings.
3. Venn Diagram

Performance Task Blueprint

Task Title: Student Story Quilt Design Approximate time frame: 3 Sessions, 30 min. each

What desired understandings/content standards will be assessed through this task?

U CS
Objects can represent memories.
One symbol can represent different
stories for peoples of differing times
and places.
Humans like to preserve memories and
histories.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.1
Participate in collaborative conversations with
diverse partners about grade 2 topics and
texts with peers and adults in small and larger
groups.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.4
Tell a story or recount an experience with
appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive
details, speaking audibly in coherent
sentences.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.6
Produce complete sentences when
appropriate to task and situation in order to
provide requested detail or clarification.

Through what authentic performance tasks will students demonstrate understanding? T

Task Overview:

Students will collaborate to plan block sizes for a class quilt. Individually, students will create a
symbol key and quilt block to depict their favorite memory or story, and write to explain their
block to fellow students so the class can observe differences in symbols and stories. They might
also recognize common symbols. Students should collaborate on an arrangement system to fit
blocks together then determine where to pick blocks based on that system.
The blocks should fit in allotted dimensions and include at least one type of symbol. Students
should be able to explain why the symbols depict their story/memory to classmates. As a class,
they should understand how either their stories, colors, images, patterns, etc. fit together in an
arrangement. This arranging should help them determine how they organize criteria in their
minds as a group. (aesthetics, story, etc.)

What student products/performances will provide evidence of desired understanding?

Quilt block Written symbol key

Oral explanation to classmates

By what criteria will student products/performances be evaluated?

Contains a symbol Justification for symbolism

Fits allotted dimensions Consistent organization system

Performance Task Blueprint

Task Title: Past/Present Research Investigation

Approximate time frame: 2 Sessions, 45 min. each

What desired understandings/content standards will be assessed through this task?

U CS
Art can come in different forms.
One symbol can represent different
stories for peoples of differing times
and places.
Everyday items can have histories
behind them.
Humans like to preserve memories and
histories.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.7
Participate in shared research and writing
projects.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.8
Recall information from experiences or gather
information from provided sources to answer
a question.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.1
Participate in collaborative conversations with
diverse partners about grade 2 topics and
 texts with peers and adults in small and larger
groups.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.2
Recount or describe key ideas or details from a
text read aloud or information presented
orally or through other media.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.3
Ask and answer questions about what a
speaker says in order to clarify
comprehension, gather additional information,
or deepen understanding of a topic or issue.

Through what authentic performance tasks will students demonstrate understanding? T

Task Overview:

In order to connect the past with the present, students will seek to understand more about
modern day quilting to compare it with past elements of art, patterns, functionality, and story
through quilts of the past. During class, students break into small groups to conduct research in
books and internet links to gather information and observe what modern quilts look like.
Groups will brainstorm what the raw information means in comparison with what elements in
historical quilts meant. Class will reconvene for groups to share findings with each other,
discussing similar finds and noting unique finds.
Based on this information, students will compile questions to clarify and confirm comparison in
an interview with a modern quilter.

What student products/performances will provide evidence of desired understanding?

List of modern quilting elements Students can contribute in groups and

(compared with historic) share with class
List of questions for interview Students can articulate observed
similarities and differences.
By what criteria will student products/performances be evaluated?

List reflects understanding of historical Students make an effort to make

elements. connections and share.
Questions show a connection with Students give and take equal
historical elements. opportunities to speak out in
discussion.

Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction.

What sequence of teaching and learning experiences will equip students to develop and
demonstrate the desired understandings?

o Present a portion of the story The Josephina Story Quilt by Eleanor Coerr to hook
students (Students will continue reading as homework). A young girl is traveling West
with her family and starts making quilt blocks to remember the adventures along the
way. Explain that the class will be learning about various different stories and meanings
in American quilts over the next few weeks.
o Introduce essential unit questions and quilting timeline (posted in classroom with times,
but no posted findings yet)
o Explain math involved in quilt planning, guide class in determining block sizes for various
different designs and the class size, then choose a design as a class.
o Present lesson on colonial American quilts and their background, showing influences
and true or false myths. Go over Fact and Fiction notes on quilting myths in that period.
Post period findings on timeline.
o Read The Log Cabin Quilt by Ellen Howard to show another story about pioneering era
quilting. A family newly settled in the wilderness must survive the cold using pieces of a
quilt to fill cracks in the cabin.
o Present lesson on pioneering period of quilting, dealing with myths and emphasizing the
story-telling, memory preserving aspects. Go over Fact and Fiction notes on quilting
myths in that period. Post period findings on timeline.
o Quilt block work time: have students create key for their own symbols, start planning
their story/symbols.
o Present lesson on Civil War and Underground Railroad era quilting, MAJOR focus on Fact
and Fiction portion, emphasizing the story telling properties without the assumed action
role in helping runaway slaves). Post period findings on timeline.
o Present The Quilt Story by Tony Johnston to show potential connection from pioneering
to modern day.
o Present brief lesson on WWI quilting, commercialized consumerism, then the Great
Depression that flip-flopped quilting trends for a while in the early 20th century, deal
 with Fact and Fiction, explain transition from preserving memories and art to function in
this history. Go over Fact and Fiction notes on quilting myths in that period. Post period
findings on timeline.
o Quiz 1 on Timeline of Quilts
o Investigation begins: break class into groups of 3-5 for in class research, reading
pertinent materials on modern day quilting.
o Reconvene class to discuss, then compile questions to clarify and confirm comparison in
an interview with a modern quilter.
o Present The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco to show how quilts are made in similar
ways and meanings in different cultures.
o Graphic Organizer: Map the progression of the quilt from Russian memory materials to
quilt, to wedding, to each family life event, to hopes of the future.
o Promote student reflection on connection between the meanings for Josephina and for
Anna.
o Quilt block work time: students continue designing block based on story using
computer, paper, crayons/markers/pencils/etc. Students start writing reflection for why
they chose the symbols and story elements they did.
o Interview with modern quilter.
o Venn Diagram: compare and contrast historical and modern day quilting.
o Quilt bock conclusion: students explain their blocks, plan arrangement system, and
arrange blocks.
o Concluding discussion: class reflections on essential questions.
 Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

1 2 3 4 5
1) Read The 3) Explain math 4) Present lesson 5) Read The Log 7) Quilt block
Josephina Story Quilt involved in on colonial Cabin Quilt by work time:
by Eleanor Coerr. quilt planning, American quilts, Ellen Howard. students create
2) Introduce guide class in go over Fact and 6) Present lesson key, start
essential unit determining Fiction notes, on pioneering planning their
questions and block sizes, post on timeline. period of story/symbols.
quilting timeline. choose a design quilting, go over
as a class. Fact and Fiction
notes, post on
timeline.
H W E E H E E
6 7 8 9 10
8) Present lesson on 9) Read The 10) Present 11) Quiz 1 on 14) Read The
Civil War and Quilt Story by lesson on WWI Timeline. Keeping Quilt by
Underground Tony Johnston. quilting, 12) Investigation Patricia Polacco.
Railroad era quilting, commercialized begins: group 15) Graphic
Fact and Fiction consumerism, research/reading. Organizer for
notes, post on and the Great 13) Reconvene to The Keeping
timeline. Depression Fact share, reflect, Quilt.
and Fiction and compile
notes, post on questions.
E H timeline. E E E H E
11 12 13 14 15
16) Class 18) Interview 19) Venn 20) Quilt block 21) Concluding
reflection/discussion: with modern Diagram. conclusion, discussion.
Josephine/Anna quilter. teacher gives
connection. feedback and
17) Quilt Block work students self-
time. evaluate.
E E E R E R E