Five in a Row: The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills

five in a row

Nov 9

Minna wants to go to school but she doesn’t have a coat. Her father dies before he can get her one so the Quilting Mothers decide to make her a coat out of scraps of fabric. She is so excited about her new coat but is saddened when her classmates are mean to her about it. She gets the courage to explain her jacket to her friends. They are surprised when they realize the scraps are from their favorite, old belongings.

Day 1

We created our own compass. I quickly drew up some triangles in a Word document. After they decorated their compass, the girls cut out their triangles and we glued the directions. I showed them where the Appalachian Mountains were on a map and we looked at pictures of the mountains on the computer. We colored in a map and marked the mountains with upside down Vs.

Day 2

We love doodling! We went through the book and doodled things we found in the pictures that might show what it is like living in the Appalachian Mountains. They came up with

log houses

horse wagons

warm boots

wood burning stoves

quilting

carding cotton

instruments

dolls

Day 3

I found this free printable of a rag coat. I used scraps to represent different pieces of fabric. The thicker material is wool, the thinner material is linen, and the paper is cotton.

Day 4

We looked at pictures of quilts on the computer. I asked the girls which shapes they saw in the quilts. We looked at the colors and patterns too. I explained to the girls how quilts are often used to tell stories. I found printable quilt blocks. You’ll need two copies of whichever block you choose. One block we cut out the pieces to trace on colored paper. Then glued the pieces onto the other quilt block.

OTHER FIVE IN A ROW LESSONS

Lentil by Robert McCloskey (Why I only do four days mentioned in this post.)

The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese

Night of the Moonjellies by Mark Shasha

Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills

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References:

“Printable Map of The USA.” Mr. Printables, https://mrprintables.com/printable-map-of-the-united-states.html. Accessed 17 August 23.

“Crafting with Jessica: Paper Quilt".” Eerdlings.com, https://eerdlings.com/2016/02/04/crafting-with-jessica-paper-quilt/?blogsub=confirming#subscribe-blog. Accessed 29 September 2023.

“Free Lapbook: The Rag Coat.” Aussie Pumpkin Patch, http://blog.aussiepumpkinpatch.com/2010/08/free-lapbook-rag-coat-girl.html. Accessed 26 September 2023.