March was a short month packed with great energy and activity throughout the school. Classrooms celebrated a variety of holidays such as Purim, Holi, Ramadan, St. Patrick’s Day, and Nowruz. Plus, spring officially started on March 20 as well. Here are a some highlights from March!

Leadership | Kindergartners and Lower Elementary students showcased their leadership skills.

Picture 1: a 2nd grader reads to a toddler. Picture 2: a 3rd grader visits a Toddler classroom to teach children about the Jewish holiday of Purim. She explains that the holiday is a joyful celebration that honors bravery, kindness, and standing up for others. Picture 3: a Kindergartner asked if she could join a Toddler circle time to read Peanut Butter & Cupcake by Terry Border to the class.

Spring is in the Air | Flowers, Fun & Celebrations

Outings

Kindergarten kicked off the month of March with a special trip the 76ers G League Education Day game at the Wells Fargo Center. A special thanks to the Cohen Family for making this trip possible.

They wrapped up the month by taking a trip to the Reading Terminal Market – an annual Greene Towne tradition! Children and chaperones traveled together via SEPTA trolley. Once at the market, children explored in small supervised groups and participated in a guided scavenger hunt, observing vendors and the bustle of the market.

Lower Elementary had a wonderful visit to the Penn Museum.

Art in Motion – provided by Diana Mousetis, Art Enrichment Teacher

In March, Kindergartners learned about The Quilters of Gee’s Bend. They designed their own Gee’s Bend inspired quilt square. They chose one of the three most popular patterns- Housetops, Roman Stripes, or Lazy Gal- to recreate. Students drew their designs and colored them in with colored pencils, wrote which pattern they used, and what their quilt square meant to them. Next, they pieced together their squares out of recycled paper. Just like the Gee’s Bend Quilters had to use scrap fabric from old clothes, they used scrap papers from their previous art projects. They combined the squares to form one paper quilt. All of the squares are so unique and beautiful on their own, but together they reflect the creativity and community of our kindergartners!

The Quilters of Gee’s Bend
Since the 19th century, generations of black women in Gee’s Bend (now Boykin), Alabama have been making quilts, and passing down their quilting skills to their children. The families of Gee’s Bend are descendants of enslaved people who worked on the local cotton plantation. After the abolition of slavery, the inhabitants of Gee’s Bend found themselves in extreme poverty. During this time, women were making quilts out of any scrap fabric they could find just to keep warm in the winter. Because they were reusing old materials, the quilters had to improvise patterns. They coined the term ‘my way’ quilts to reflect the unexpected stitching, colors and shapes used in their quilts. In the 1930’s, the federal government bought the land and the black families living there were able to keep their homes instead of moving to find work. The quilting tradition continued, but now the quilts were being made with creative freedom rather than necessity. The quilters started incorporating daily scenes from their lives, and making quilts in memory of loved ones who passed away. In 1966, they formed The Freedom Quilting Bee, a cooperative of women quilters working together to ensure their income. The Bee landed many major contracts with retailers like Sears and Bloomingdale’s, which led to national acclaim. These quilts would be displayed in exhibits all over the world, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 2015, Mary Lee Bendolph, Lucy Mingo, and Loretta Pettway became joint recipients of a National Heritage Fellowship, which was awarded by the National Endowment of the Arts. Since 2022, Gee’s Bend has hosted the Airing of the Quilts Festival, which celebrates the story of the Gee’s Bend quilters. As of this writing, there are 122 quilters- the earliest known being Lucy Mooney, who was born in 1880. Other notable quilters are Dinah Miller, Annie Mae Young, and Aolar Mosley. The resourcefulness of the first quilters in Gee’s Bend has left behind a legacy of community building through creativity and love.