As a class, we read the story of Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold. The story, although now in a book, was originally "published" as a story quilt. In the center of a story quilt is an image that depicts the summary of the story, all the way around the center image are little panels where the story is written out on the cloth. You can see that in between is full of patterned pieces of fabric to create the full quilt.
Students discussed the story they heard and tried to draw a connection to their own lives. We worked as a group to come up with stories that would make a good quilt. For the first few days of the project, students were tasked with picking out their story and illustrating it on a piece of paper. Once they covered the entire surface with color and image, they started to write out their story on paper. They used a peer to help them with spelling and grammar. When they were finished with both, they turned them in so that I could check them over.