Quilt Counting

by Lesa Cline-Ransome, James E. Ransome (Illustrator)

Beneath a patch of blue
Sits a family homestead
One farmhouse, proud and true. Come inside and join the quilting fun! Count from 1 to 10 as a child helps her mother and her grandmother gather materials for a special creative project-including 4 scissors, 6 tape measures, and 8 baskets of cloth. Then it's time to begin counting starting with 10 stitches, they sew pictures of 9 fields, 7 butterflies, 4 sunflowers, 2 dogs, and much more until they have completed 1 brilliant quilt capturing the color of life on the farm. Lesa Cline-Ransome's gently rhythmic text and James Ransome's cozy, homespun illustrations are sewn together to create the perfect companion to their acclaimed Quilt Alphabet .

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

40 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2002

Reviews

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This title illustrates the making of a quilt and the various tools one needs as it counts to ten. Four example one illustration shows four pair of scissors. Immediately after reaching ten the next illustration begins counting backwards to one which is illustrated by one complete quilt. The other backward counting numbers represent the number of objects found in the quilt as seven butterflies.
I appreciated the one page history of quilting and to learn that an appliquéd quilt was one of the first quilt techniques to gain popularity begun in the United States in 1775. There was a shortage of materials and older garments could be used as pieces in appliqués. That was an interesting fact to me.

[Y.Poston]

ode to quilt making

[Jenna Satcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

1. This book belongs to the Counting category for picture books.

2.This book allows the reader to join the quilting fun. Three generations gather all of the supplies needed to make a quilt as they count from 1 to 10. Then they stitch their quilt together depicting beautiful scenes around the farmhouse as they count from 10 back down to 1.

3. Critique:
A)The most interesting aspect of this book is the interaction between the illustrations and the design choice of wisely bolded text.

B)On each page of text, the number being talked about and the item that corresponds with that number is written in bolded text. This helps draw the readers eye to what the book is actually about-counting.If the reader misses the bold text, it is reinforced by the accompanying picture, which illustrates exactly what the bolded words are saying. As the book counts forward and backward, the number of items in the illustrations increase and then decrease. If the number of the text is 10, then the illustration will have exactly ten of those items that are mentioned. By matching the illustrations almost exactly to the text, it allows the abstract concept of counting to become more visually concrete, which will help students understand it better and make more connections. In the entire book, the illustrations are concentrated on making the focus of the picture the bolded words.

C)Every page of this book is a perfect example of the interaction and importance between the bolded words and illustrations. On one double page spread, pages 7-8, there are two examples of the interaction of the design choices. The numbers on these pages are 4 and 5. At this point in the story, the reader is still counting forwards so we are gathering the necessary items to make the quilt. Page 7 says, “Four scissors make fast work...” The words “four scissors” are bolded drawing the students attention to those words and the number four. Beneath the text on the page is a illustration which is zoomed in on four pair of scissors. On page 8, the number is 5. Some of the text on this page states, “Five thimbles standing guard...” The words “five thimbles” are bolded and and beneath there is a picture of five thimbles. In both of these illustrations as well as others throughout the book, the illustrations are concentrated on making the focus of the picture the bolded words. In both of these examples, the reader gets the sense of the illustration being “zoomed in on.” There is hardly anything else in the picture, except fragments of other items. This helps keep the focus on the numbers and the counting.

4.This book is most obviously connected to math classes. It can be used to help students learn to count both forwards and backwards. On top of this, the subject of the book could be used to help students learn both about quilting and farming. Students may not be very familiar with quilting and other similar activities so they could participate in a Webquest to learn about quilting and even the culture that is connected to it. Additionally, the book is written in rhyme, so the students could be introduced or practice rhyming by following this book. As a writing activity students could recreate this book about one of their favorite activities, instead of quilting. This would help students practice creating poetry or rhyming stanzas, they would also be practicing counting forward and backward, and they would exploring their favorite activity. If students were not ready to write out rhymes of their own, the class could create a new book as a group with teacher guidance.

[Hyeonjeong Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. Personal reflection :

2. Genre and literary element(s) that could be reinforced through independent reading
-

3. Notes about difficulty or ease for reading independently
1) Quantitative issues

- common words

- uncommon words


2) Qualitative information
-

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is for counting and rhymes as well. It can help with introducing a lesson in a different content area!

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay counting book. This wasn't among my favorite books by this pair, but as simple counting poetry, this is well done.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Count up and then back down again.

Counting up uses quilting/needlework things. Counting down uses things from the environment around them.