October 1999

SWEET CLARA AND THE FREEDOM QUILT

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt is FICTION.  It was written after hearing an NPR interview with African American quilter Elizabeth Scott.  Fiction can be used along with nonfiction to introduce children to the Underground Railroad.  Here are just a few of the classroom activities, lesson plans and ideas for using the book with young readers that I have found. 

Slavery and the Underground Railroad

What was the Underground Railroad?

TeacherView: Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt

Teacher Cyber Guide: Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt
A teacher guide to activities and web resources developed by Jim Walters.

Geography and Economics Lesson
An excellent lesson plan on Sweet Clara that covers economics and geography.

National Geographic: Quilting, the Story of the Underground Railroad

UGRR Social Studies Lessons
Third grade lesson plans on quilts and the underground railroad.

TeacherVision Lesson Plan on the underground railroad.

The Underground Railroad
National Geographic Magazine site.

Strong Female Characters

Bibliography of Books Featuring Strong Female Characters
http://www.oz.net/~walterh/biblio.html
A bibliography of children's picture books featuring powerful, positive female characters compiled by Mary Helen Lewis.

Patterns and Math

Patterns and Picture Books
http://www.carolhurst.com/subjects/math/patterns.html
This sample chapter from Picturing Math by Carol Otis Hurst and Rebecca Otis appears on Carol Hurst's Children's Literature site. The chapter discusses the ability to recognize, compare, and manipulate patterns as the basis for understanding much of mathematics.