As I've explained in my blogs, I'm using lapbooking now in some subjects with my boys. It's a neat way to accumulate information. See it's somewhat like notebooking and it's somewhat like scrapbooking. You take a file folder (or 2 or 3) and your child creates an eye catching book about that specific topic. It's such a fun way of putting together what you learn. The drawback? The blisters from all the cutting...lol...but it's also a nice way to accumulate all the worksheet information you cover, into a book your child makes and can return to for reference.
As we go along I'll put out templates here. You can find some great premade lapbooks at Homeschool Share as well.
One of the best sites for blank templates (what I use the most) can be found at Homeschool Helper Online
Gotta new site for you. Mini-Books, Flaps, and
Student Folder Websites really it's a combination site, a list of other links.
Please also check out my blog, as it's packed FULL of my lapbooks, where I might not get to list each and every one here....
For our state-by-state lapbooks, I went to homeschoolshare.com and printed some of their Choose-A-Country Lapbook From their list (which, granted, is for global geography, and we're working on state-to-state) I printed the following (which, believe it or not, was only about 1/2 of what they had offered for countries):
Then I searched on Ask.com for pictures of the state bird, state tree, state bug, and history of the state flag. I also got most of the state information from www.netstate.com/
We just made a fall lapbook last Monday. I used the following in order to make it:
http://homeschoolhelperonline.com/lapbooks.htm Was used for blank lapbooks, we did:
I also printed out:
A Leaf Color Book (for my 4 y/o kindergartner) http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/plants/leaf/colorbook/
Colors of the Season (for my 7 y/o 2nd grader) http://www.enchantedlearning.com/books/colors/fall/
As well as the Fall Word Mini-Book: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/books/mini/fall/
We decorated the lapbook with Autumn Clipart from http://holidays.kaboose.com/fall-clip.html
So I've finally gotten a PDF program, which will allow me to make my own little flapbooks and such for my boys (I'm so excited!). Now I can finally share teh files and desins I've come up with!!
Magnetism/ Electricity:
The first thing I did was set out to make an electricity lapbook since there are no good free resources out there for making such a lapbook. Here's what I've come up with...
Experiments (the 3 experiments from below)
Let me know what you thought!!
Support Links:
Ben Franklin history & impact on electricity.
Changing Circuits - see if your child can make a lightbulb glow more brightly (interactive)
Elementary Experiments on electricity & Magnetism {We will be using the simple circuit and I just made a flip book to go with it, we also used a magnet in several different experiments.}
Fabulous Static Electricity Facts {we also used a baloon to demonstrate these facts in our 3rd experiment}
The Physics of Electricity...in plain English..lol..
Veteran's Day:
Here's my Veteran's Day Labook! Enjoy!! Other Printables and support pages:
Depending on where you are Veterans day is celebrated today or tomorrow. So I thought I'd gather some printables for everyone...
What are you using?
We're making our own Early Multifplication lapbook using the following making mini-books
We used Count By..... (2's, 3's, etc) printouts at www.enchantedlearning.com cut out to make a little mini-book
To list the facts (like a table) using http://homeschoolhelperonline.com/lapbooks.htm
To decorate the lapbook we used
http://www.fotosearch.com/clip-art/multiplication.html clipart
Personally I can't stand that we celebrate Columbus day, he was not a nice man. When he landed on Hispaniola the natives swarmed the beach with offerings. He later wrote in his diary that the people were primitive and with out proper weaponry. He concluded that they'd make good slaves.
Well last week we studied Leif Ericsson and his brief time spent in North America. So this week we're compiling a Columbus day Lapbook. (Next month we're focusing on Native Americans). For the Lapbook I printed a brief synopsis from Enchanted Learning as well as all their activity sheets, Columbus day booklets, etc. These can be cut up and pasted into the Lapbook.
For DJ, I folded the manila folder toward the middle. (Lay the folder open in front of you, then take the two ends and fold them in lining them up in the middle). The inside he's painted like a globe (blue water and green continents). We've been working on map directional’s so in the top he drew a Map Star (with the N,S,E,W, directional’s). He then labeled the continents. Next he cut out 3 mini ships and drew the map of Columbus' 2 main trips to Hispaniola and Cuba, labeling the ships he pasted them on the appropriate map.
On the left front cover we printed out a pic. of Columbus. On the right hand front cover he wrote a brief outline of Columbus' history on an index card.
On the back cover we pasted the booklets from Enchanted Learning.
So, once we finished the Unit on the Election I put together a lapbook that the kids can work on hopefully while I'm standing in line waiting to vote.
DJ's Lapbook:
The Presidents: I've sectioned the presidents off into 8 catagories for my oldest to list the presidents and the years of them in office:
The Early Republic: 1789 - 1829
The Sectional Conflict: 1853 - 1881
The Gilded Age: 1881 - 1897
The Progressive Era: 1897 - 1921
The Depression and World Conflict: 1921 - 1961
Social Change & Soviet Relations: 1961 - 1989
Globalization: 1989 - present
The Parties: Essentiall this is a small flip book where DJ can give a brief description of the parties. (Democrat, Republican, Independant, and Green)
Steps To Becoming A President: Essentially explaining the 5 main stages to becoming president:
The next 3 will be flip tabs where DJ can give a brief explanation of their purpose.
The Job of the President:
The Job of the Vice Persident:
The Job of the Cabinet:
The 3 Main Branches of Government: this is a small acordian booklet where DJ can give a brief description of the 3 main Branches of the Government and who represents them. (Executive, Judicial and Legislative)
The Seal of the President: DJ can color in the seal and give a brief history of the symbol.
X-Man's Lapbook:
Much of X-mans book is coloring, as he really isn't ready to do much more.
Ben Franklin's ABC's: we cut his ABC's into a booklet abotu the government and included it in the lapbook.
Candidates: I found coloring pictures of the 3 main candidates, and printed them out, they will make a large flipbook in the center of the lapbook.
Where does the president live? X-man can color a pic of the White House
How do we choose a president? This is a small flapbook which I've written the 5 stages of to becoming a president: Declare candicy, Primary, General Election, Electoral College, and Innaguration It will have a pic of a voting box on teh front, and X-man can add a pic for each stage
The books we have to support our Colonial Times/Thanksgiving lapbook (I made a mini book for each one)..are:
To support these boooks and include them in our Thanksgiving Lapbooks, I made 2 mini books ...They can be used as research tools...or whatever; essentially one asks questions about the colonial times, one asks about the colonists...Check out Shannon's Colonial Times Minibooks...
Other great adds to your Thanksgiving Lapbooks:
We're doing our lapbook, as well as several crafts that I've listed before - like making a quill pen and felt hats and such......