Northeast Nodaway’s third graders in Heidi Beatty’s class are learning how to sew and quilt.

Beatty began the annual project six years ago when she was teaching at Horace Mann. The class began by reading Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. In the book, family is highly valued. The students dove into genealogy and researching their family histories to make a family tree.

Students had to interview three family members asking them about their childhood, what school was like for them and interesting family facts. Then, they took the information they learned and created a unique presentation for the class. Some students chose poster board presentations while others chose PowerPoint documents and other ways to present.

“I feel genealogy isn’t something many people still do, so getting kids to learn about their history before loved ones pass or move away is important. This is something they can keep forever. Every kid always learns at least a little something about their family,” Beatty stated.

After the presentations, the students chose two images to represent their family history. One image was made into a quilted square for the class quilt and the second symbol was quilted into a keepsake pillow for the student.

Some of the unique ideas included a cross to represent a family’s religion, dogs because everyone in the child’s family owned a dog, Hurricane Hugo because family members were in the storm, a clock because the family is always late, corn because a child’s family farms, a chocolate candy bar because the family loves chocolate, heritage country flags and many others.

Once the designs were completed, students chose fabric to convey their family symbol. Beatty explained how to choose fabric that “speaks for the piece,” helping them to think about texture and patterns. The pieces were attached to the quilt squares using iron-on adhesive.

“I love doing this project and especially this time of year. It’s hands on and fun. It lets kids be creative, work outside of the lines, so to say. It asks kids to do things they’ve never done before, pick out fabric, use an iron and sew. Kids, both boys and girls, enjoy working with fabric and seeing the end result,” Beatty said.

The pieced quilt is quilted over the summer and Beatty visits the fourth grade class each year to show them their quilt. Volunteers come to the classroom and teach students how to use a sewing machine. The volunteers help the students sew their keepsake pillow together.

“The quilts leave me with a memory of the family we’ve had for the last 180 days. Kids in your classroom become your family. We work together eight hours a day. We have successes and challenges like any other family and these quilts remind me of each special child. I can only hope the pillow that each child takes home brings them fond memories of third grade as well,” Beatty stated.