Quilts in geometry class

School has started, and I'm once again a busy bee.  Three different classes to teach--two of them brand new.  I'm scrambling to find my groove, but I know it'll come.

Chapter 2, lesson 6: Geometric Problem Solving.  Hmm, word problems in a geometry setting... What on earth could I use for that lesson?  Oh, that's right: quilting!

Went to stitch-n-bitch this week and got started on the framing for each of the blocks for my black-red-pink baby quilt.  So I made the geometry lesson about the black and white fabrics I'll need for the frames.

 

Made a cute little worksheet illustrating how the finished quilt might look.  Didn't have them consider seam allowances at all, and let them work in pairs to figure out whether I had bought enough fabric or not.  It was surprisingly complicated for them--but I loved the different methods of finding out how much fabric was required.  Most of them worked entirely off area (square inches), with no consideration of if you could cut or sew the fabric using their method of calculating:

• Take one of the framed blocks (18" x 18"), find its area, then subtract out the area of the shaded block (12" x 12")
• For each block make 4 strips, each 3" x 15", so each corner overlaps exactly the same way
• For each block make 4 rectangles, each 3" x 12" and 4 corner squares, each 3" x 3"
• Take the area of the entire quilt (54" x 54") and subtract out the areas of the shaded blocks (12" x 12" times 9), then divide the result by nine; you will need 4 times this number for the black fabric, and 5 times this number for the white fabric

Inspiration for a lesson

I have the blue blocks hanging up in my classroom for inspiration.  For me as well as the students.

Don't know when I'll get to stitching next.  Heavy sigh.  I always forget what the beginning of the school year feels like...