Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt
Title: Sam Johnson and the Blue Ribbon Quilt (Lexile® measure: AD790L) Author: Lisa Campbell Ernst ISBN: 9780688115050 Description: While mending the awning over the pig pen, Sam discovers that he enjoys sewing the various patches together but meets with scorn and ridicule when he asks his wife if he could join her quilting club.
Identify and make congruent figures (Quantile® measure: EM120Q)
After reading the book with your child note that each page has a quilt border. In each quilt design, patterns are repeated using pieces that are the same shape and the same size. These pieces are congruent. As you turn the page, ask your child to identify as many congruent shapes as possible (look at the border as well as within the pictures). Be sure to emphasize that “congruent” means that two or more shapes have the same shape and the same size. (Point out that, inside the barn, two trowels are hanging on a rack [page 15]. Although they have the same shape, they are not congruent because they are not the same size.)
Ask your child to cut out two congruent shapes using scissors and paper. He or she can cut out one shape, trace it, and then cut out the traced shape. Then draw large congruent squares on sheets of paper. Create quilt patterns by making and coloring sections of each square. Use the squares to make a paper quilt.
Often, congruent shapes can be found in the art in a book. Notice designs in carpets or ladies’ dresses, in wagon wheels or trees. Apply some of those observations by noticing congruencies in shapes around the home (in architecture, advertising logos, wallpaper design, etc.). At the end of the book, ask your child to identify which shapes were in the men’s quilt and which were in the women’s quilt. Identify what those shapes in the quilts and borders are called - triangles, squares, trapezoids, parallelograms, or pentagons.
Identify and make congruent figures (Quantile® measure: EM120Q)
After reading the book with your child note that each page has a quilt border. In each quilt design, patterns are repeated using pieces that are the same shape and the same size. These pieces are congruent. As you turn the page, ask your child to identify as many congruent shapes as possible (look at the border as well as within the pictures). Be sure to emphasize that “congruent” means that two or more shapes have the same shape and the same size. (Point out that, inside the barn, two trowels are hanging on a rack [page 15]. Although they have the same shape, they are not congruent because they are not the same size.)
Ask your child to cut out two congruent shapes using scissors and paper. He or she can cut out one shape, trace it, and then cut out the traced shape. Then draw large congruent squares on sheets of paper. Create quilt patterns by making and coloring sections of each square. Use the squares to make a paper quilt.
Often, congruent shapes can be found in the art in a book. Notice designs in carpets or ladies’ dresses, in wagon wheels or trees. Apply some of those observations by noticing congruencies in shapes around the home (in architecture, advertising logos, wallpaper design, etc.). At the end of the book, ask your child to identify which shapes were in the men’s quilt and which were in the women’s quilt. Identify what those shapes in the quilts and borders are called - triangles, squares, trapezoids, parallelograms, or pentagons.
