THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 24, 1996 TAG: 9605220223
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: K4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBORAH ARMSTRONG, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 75 lines
Quilting has been the thing this spring at Rosemont Forest Elementary School in Virginia Beach.
The school has taken on the atmosphere of an old-fashioned quilting bee. Not only have teachers, students and parents worked together to create a real school quilt, but a patchwork of quilt-related information has been imparted to the students through art, computer technology, history, library, literature, math and music lessons.
The idea began with reading month in January and flowed from there, said school reading specialist Diane Ross.
``It was a great multicultural, integrated-curriculum activity,'' she said.
Music teacher Kathleen Day taught folk songs and discussed multiculturalism. Librarian Barbara Imrich used a quilting-pattern computer program. Gifted education teachers Angel Massey and Valerie Frederick discussed patterning and logical thinking skills. Students read and listened to stories about quilts, and learned how quilts were often used to pass on a family's history from generation to generation.
The guidance department was involved, too, as counselors Amy Larsen and Kathy Mercker incorporated quilts into their yearly themes of friendship, peace, love and wisdom.
A paragraph written by library secretary Dottie Kidwell, displayed in a lobby showcase, explains the connection: ``Every person in our school is a piece of fabric that by the actions of each day is sewn into the quilt of Rosemont Forest.''
The quilt, more than 5 feet square, is made up of 34 blocks, representing each kindergarten though fifth-grade class. Each student created a block on paper in Sharon Clohessy's art class.
``We brainstormed ideas,'' she said. ``We talked about the theme of `What makes YOU feel good?' then, I let them go.''
Her only rules were that in their squares the students try to include balance and color, and that they not use words.
``They had to depict their ideas through pictures,'' she said.
Students came up with ideas ranging from ice cream cones to friends holding hands to McDonald's golden arches.
When the sample blocks were finished, Clohessy posted them on the board and students voted on which would represent their class.
Parent volunteer Janet Johnson, who has quilted an end-of-the-year gift for each of her son Zach's teachers at Rosemont Forest, brought the whole project together.
``This caps off my elementary school career,'' she said with a smile.
She transferred the outlines of the winning designs onto muslin, then Larsen and Mercker had the student artists color in the blocks, using permanent fabric markers.
``They did a great job,'' said Larsen.
Johnson stitched the blocks together and added colorful sashing to make the quilt top. Then, all the students - more than 800 of them - signed his or her name on the quilt's outside border.
Johnson quilted the words ``Rosemont Forest Elementary School 1996'' and the quilt's title, ``Life in the `Forest,' '' into two of the quilt's blocks. The result is a fitting culmination of the year's activities.
The quilt will be sent to Rosemont Forest's Key Pals, a sister school in Malaysia, where the children there will sign the back of the quilt.
The quilt will be returned to Rosemont Forest to be displayed in the school's foyer above the doors to the office.
``The children and teachers have been very excited'' about the project, said guidance counselor Kathy Mercker. ``We've had a good time with it. This spurs us on to do more theme-oriented activities.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
Resting on the quilt they created are, clockwise from bottom left,
Marie Armstrong, 7; Sara Frankenfield, 8; Chika Umejei, 7; Katie
Doyle, 5; Ria Santos, 10, Zach Johnson, 11; and parent volunteer
Janet Johnson. by CNB