The+Keeping+Quilt+-+Reinforcing+Activity

This picture book is a perfect example of immigration and how unique cultural groups came to the United States and had to adapt to a completely different society. While immigrants faced many changes, they had to maintain a balance between the home they once knew and the new ideals they came across when traveling overseas. In this specific picture book, a quilt was used to help generation after generation of a Russian family, remember their unique background. This artifact contained pieces from a variety of different garments, each one telling a unique story. It was often hard for immigrants to be immersed in a completely different world, yet still retain their cultural roots. This book explains that understanding one’s cultural background is very important because it has a lot of influence over who you are as a person. As a reinforcing activity, the teacher will ask students several questions to help activate knowledge gained from the story. These questions are as follows: Following discussion, students are given a short assignment to interview their parents or grandparents about their heritage and where their ancestors originated. This activity involves an informal discussion such that a student can gain enough knowledge to understand their own unique background. The next day in class, students will be asked to create an artifact that describes their heritage. (They can either bring materials from home or use those provided by the instructor). The artifacts can be anything from a quilt, to a particular food, etc. After students have created their artifacts, they will write 2-3 paragraphs explaining what it describes about their heritage and what makes it unique. Students will then present their artifacts to the class and discuss their family origin. These presentations will not only create a sense of classroom community, but will also give students a better sense of what culture means and how people from unique backgrounds can interact to form societal groups. Students will understand who their ancestors are and the ways in which their different heritages impact the people around them. Not only this, but students will begin to comprehend that the United States is composed of a wide variety of cultural groups, each one with unique characteristics and perspectives.
 * Reinforcing Activity:**
 * What country are Patricia’s ancestors originally from?
 * How does the quilt help Patricia remember her Russian heritage?
 * What things did Patricia’s ancestors have to change or adapt when they came to the United States?
 * How would you feel if you were an immigrant coming over to a foreign land?

Other Social Studies Standards that this book could teach include:

History