The quilt you see below hangs in our Central Office. It’s fitting to share during Graduation Week, as it was created by members of the Class of 2020 when they were in 3rd grade. As you’ll see in one picture, the Class of 2020 were in fact the last 3rd-grade class to go through our Martin Van Buren School before the building closed in 2011.
A bit more history and context about the quilt was helpfully provided to us from Ichabod Teacher, Ms. Meyers.
In spring 2011 the 3rd grade students at Martin Van Buren Elementary School had their annual museum. The theme of the museum that year was the history of the village of Kinderhook and President Martin Van Buren. Students took a trip to the Columbia County Museum to learn about what museums look like and how to present information about artifacts. They also took a walking tour of Kinderhook Village to learn more about the buildings and people who lived there long ago. Students then each picked a fact to write about, created a quilt square, then with the help of parent volunteers, learned how to sew a fabric border to their square. The squares were then sewn together, hand-tied by students, then displayed at the museum. The museum also featured miniature versions of buildings in Kinderhook with historical facts, reports on occupations from that time period and facts about President Martin Van Buren. The museum was a great way to celebrate the history of Kinderhook and Martin Van Buren before MVB School closed that June. This year’s graduating class were those last third graders of Martin Van Buren Elementary School.