Black History Month Activity Collaborative African American Biographical "Quilt"
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Art with Jenny K's tessellation projects are great for building classroom community. They connect the individual with the group using tessellations and have a ton of “wow factor” when complete. This is a bundle of all of Jenny K.'s tessellation projects - 12 total - great to use one a month! All actPrice $54.40Original Price $80.38Save $25.98
Description
My Famous Faces® of African-American History "Quilt" project is the perfect whole-class activity to do during Black History Month or any time of the year! It connects the individual with the group using hexagons that will tessellate to create a large “quilt” collaboration poster featuring 40 influential African Americans and their biographies.
The final poster has a ton of “wow factor” when complete, and I hope it will make a large impact on your students as they learn about these 40 influential people (see the complete list at the end of this description).
This project is fun for kids and easy for you as the teacher. I’ve done everything I can possibly do to make this a successful project—including a teaching video about what tessellations are.
This project has a lot of room for creativity and almost endless options—I hope you and your students have a great time with it.
OTHER TESSELLATION COLLABORATION PROJECTS:
- Tessellation Christmas Tree
- "We Are All Connected" All About Me Activity
- "We Stick Together" End of the Year Reflective Activity
- Women's History Tessellation "Quilt"
- Bucket List Collaborative "Classroom" Bucket
- Thanksgiving Tessellation Project
- Speech Bubble Tessellation "We Have Something to Say" Activity
Quick Overview: Students will each work on 3 individual hexagons. One hexagon has a portrait of an influential African American, the other has this person’s name written in a “stitch” font (to keep with the quilt theme), and the third piece will be a biography of this person. I have included two options—you can use the biographies I provide, or alternatively, your students can research each of these people themselves. These options make this appropriate for any grade you teach.
Once each student completes and attaches their 3 hexagons, the attached pieces will connect with the pieces from the rest of the class to make the overall “quilt” poster design. This activity provides a meaningful demonstration that our individuality combines with others to make a greater whole.
Students will be amazed to see how their pieces all connect (tessellate) to make this “quilt" design—and they’ll be proud to show their friends and family which piece they worked on. Hopefully, you can hang the final poster in a place where other students and adults can come by and read the biographies of each of the 40 people featured on this quilt poster and enjoy the beauty of your hard work!
****Please note: I have added more people since the initial publication of this project. There are currently 40 people included. Please, adjust as necessary to either use 30 people from this set to create a poster similar in size and design to my initial poster OR use all of the people featured and make your final “quilt” poster larger!***
PROJECT DETAILS:
You will find that this project is in two parts, with part 2 having two options.
Part 1: Students will color the 2 combined hexagons that have the portrait and name of the person they are assigned. There are 40 of these pages (sample in the preview).
Part 2A: Students will color the biography hexagons that I have already created with all of the biographical information included (see sample in the preview). There are 40 of these hexagons (2 people per page that you cut apart).
OR
Part 2B: Students will do their own research on the person they have been assigned and then transfer that information to one of the biography hexagon templates I have provided. There are 6 different designs, allowing you to use these with different age groups and so you can select a design you like.
INCLUDED:
I have designed this collaboration poster to look like a “quilt” that features the portraits, names, and biographies of 40 influential African Americans. The final poster is approximately 40” x 58” (the exact size will depend on your printer settings and margin settings).
- 40 pages with portraits and names of influential African Americans.
- 20 pages with biographies—2 people per page for a total of 40 biographies.
- 6 blank biography hexagon designs where students can do their own research.
- Hexagon pieces that say, “AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY QUILT” along the top. Option for “BLACK HISTORY,” or “BLACK HISTORY MONTH” also included.
- Pieces that say, “WE ARE ALL WOVEN TOGETHER.”
- A piece that says, “CREATED BY” where your students can sign all of their names to this piece and include it in the final poster.
- Side pieces so you can finish off the poster to really look like a quilt.
TEACHING VIDEO:
Before starting this project, you can show my TESSELLATION TEACHING VIDEO to your students. In this video, I give your students a basic introduction to tessellation (so you don’t have to). I also explain to your students how this project works. Then you take it from there! Once you purchase this resource, you'll have access to this video to either stream from YouTube or download from Dropbox.
Here is a complete list of the 40 people featured on this poster.
- Thurgood Marshall
- George Washington Carver
- Jackie Robinson
- Ruby Bridges
- Rosa Parks
- Harriet Tubman
- Barack Obama
- Katherine Johnson
- Jesse Owens
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Sojourner Truth
- Maya Angelou
- Shirley Chisholm
- Frederick Douglass
- Booker T. Washington
- Mary Jackson
- Serena Williams
- Dorothy Vaughan
- Oprah Winfrey
- Rita Dove
- Michael Jordan
- John Lewis
- Langston Hughes
- Jacob Lawrence
- Faith Ringgold
- Sarah Breedlove
- Ray Charles
- Louis Armstrong
- Muhammad Ali
- Duke Ellington
- Kamala Harris
- Kobe Bryant
- Simone Biles
- Amanda Gorman
- Prince
- Mae Jemison
- Marshall "Major" Taylor
- Michelle Obama
- Patrick Mahomes
- Misty Copeland
Differentiate: I have provided many options to help you differentiate this lesson for your students. However, 40 influential African Americans are but only a scratch on the surface when it comes to influential people for your students to study. If your students would like to learn about someone not yet in this resource, please encourage them to draw a portrait of that person or create a collage from magazine images or images printed online.
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Jenny K.
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