MY QUILT

Age: Grades 1-2

Language Proficiency: ESL Intermediate

Language Background: Japanese, Cambodian, Chinese, Spanish, Russian, Swahili, Hindu, Mandarin, Portuguese, Danish, Norwegian, Ukrainian, German, Albanian

Students will draw a self-portrait and eight pictures to symbolize special things in their lives (people, events, activities, possessions, etc.). They will attach the pictures to a large sheet of butcher paper in the form of a quilt, with the self-portrait in the middle. Students will use the writing process to write paragraphs describing each picture and add them to the quilt as well.

***Note: These students have already been taught about process writing--this is a reinforcement activity.

• An age-appropriate autobiography on someone famous

• Butcher paper

Students need to bring:

• Crayons/Markers
• Shoeboxes
• Plain white paper
• objects from home that have meaning in heir lives
• Glue/tape

… Read an autobiography of a famous person to the class.

… Discuss important things in the person's life and write them on the board for reference.

Writing what the students discuss on the board helps to reinforce what the children are learning--they make a connection between what they hear and see.

… For homework, have the students bring back at least 8 objects that have meaning in their lives--put them in a shoebox.

… Have a student share the contents of their box with the class.

This helps to make the students feel loved. These things are important to them.

… Brainstorm/take notes with the class and write the main topics up on the board as an example of the prewriting stage of process writing.

This is a meaningful activity that serves as a model as to how students might prewrite.

… Since the students already know the steps of process writing, briefly go through each step (prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing), using the model student's topics as an example, and provide examples on the board for the class at each stage.

Having the examples on the board will be a good reference point throughout their project. Even though the students have already learned the phases, it's always a good idea to review.

… Break the students into small groups and have each of them share their artifacts with their group.

These objects are to provide a framework for each box of their quilt. These help stimulate their minds as to what to write about.

… The students should now brainstorm and pick eight separate topics for their quilt sheets.

(These may or may not be related to the objects they brought to class—this was simply to give them ideas about what to write about.)

… They should draw pictures representing each special thing, leaving the bottom 1/3 of each page for writing purposes. They also need to draw a self-portrait for the middle of the quilt.

… When the pictures are done, the students should write down a few notes about each topic on a separate piece of paper. This is the prewriting stage and has already been modeled in front of the class.

The students will enjoy writing because they are familiar with the topic—and every child likes talking about themselves! The topics are meaningful to them and vocabulary should be familiar as well.

… Then students begin the drafting stage, where they get down ideas quickly describing each picture.

The drafting stage is provided to let the students' ideas flow onto the page with little concern for correct grammar and punctuation. This is important so as not to hamper the students' creativity when they are concentrating too much

on the rules of writing.

… Then in the revising stage, students should revise their blurbs into a brief, coherent paragraph. The focus here is on the order of sentences. (They may use a partner for help in revision if they wish.)

**If needed practice on sentence-ordering, students can perform drills where they put cut-up sentences back in order again.

This is a wonderful mechanical activity to help students know what to look for when examining the organizational structure of their peers' papers.

… For the editing phase, break students into groups and have them critique each other's work, checking for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics errors.

… After all the changes have been made, it is time to publish their writing. They should rewrite their descriptive paragraphs onto the bottom 1/3 of each corresponding picture.

… The quilt should then be assembled with glue or tape onto a big sheet of butcher paper. The self-portrait should be in the middle of the "quilt," while the other eight pictures (with descriptive paragraphs) surround it.

… Display the "quilts" on the walls.

Because their writing is published, students generate a great deal of excitement and enthusiasm about their writings. They are proud to exhibit a "quilt" about their lives.

Throughout the writing process, be accessible for the students' questions. See to it that they understand each step in the writing process. When they are finished, have the students turn in each stage of writing, so you can make sure that they understand process writing--the focus is not to come up with a flawless paper at first, but to work on it step by step so as to not hamper creativity.

The writing process approach breaks the writing into manageable parts and uses oral language, reading, and writing skills. Process writing allows students to concentrate on one task at a time and to experience the value of peer feedback in developing their ideas.