OK here's the outline for my rainbow lapbooks...we obviously did 2 - one for X-man and one for DJ. A video of a similar lapbook can be found at Lapbook Lessons. On both lapbooks I also cut out small rainbows on colored construction paper making small flaps. On the inside flaps I wrote the name of the color in Spanish and French, on the outside the kids each wrote the color in English.
You can check out the vid of the lapbook here...
Common Printables:
Rainbow Circle Fold: this is so the boys (or me, for X-man) can write how a rainbow forms.
ROY G. BIV: An easy way to learn the order of the colors for the rainbow. I actually cut off the second column of colors and cut them into individual squares. I then wrote the word for each color on each square. The other column was colored by the boys to go with the first initial...I just made it into a game - they take out the cards and shuffle them then match them to the correct color. (For DJ I wrote the colors in Latin on one side, Spanish on the other).
Color Songs: This page (you have to scroll about3/4 of the way down the page) takes each color and turned them into childrens songs - great for learning how to spell each color!
Color Wheel: Easy to identify the colors and how they mix!
Makeing A Rainbow Coloring Sheet: We cut out the center square and the boys colored the rainbow, sun and cloud. This is a great graphic for the front cover or inside the lapbook!
DJ's Lapbook:
Color Spectrum: I attatched this to the following booklet.
How Rainbows Are Made: I printed the pages from this and assembled it into a Minibook (with the previous Spectrum) it's a cute way of explaining light theory.
Prisms: A little flip booklet, attatched with brass fastners, that explains a little about what happens to light when it hits a prism - a raindrop is a prism too!
Newton Mini-Booklet & Complementary Colors Mini-Booklet: We just them out then gave a brief synopsis on how Newton affected Light Theory and we colored the flowers with complementary colors.
Layered Book: We filled this with the Japanese Names for the colors along with their symbols.
Venn-Diagram FlapBooks: these were used for DJ to show color mixing.
Pocket: This pocket was used to hold the Latin words for the colors. I cut a square of every color of construction paper and wrote the name in Latin on it.
X-Man's Lapbook:
Letter "R" Rainbow Traceable: This is to help him learn to write the letter R in upper and lower case.
Color Mixing: learn a little about Primary Colors mixing to make Secondary Colors.
Rainbow Site Words: I just joined these with a brass fastener...they don't really have anything to do with rainbows (other than being on the pic of an umbrella) but can't have too many site words!
Word Color Sheet: This was a great traceable for the Primary Colors.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Winter Holidays
Winter Celebrations - well, seriously this is about Christmas, Hanakkuh, Yule and Kwanzaa. Since they are all very similar and I'm trying to teach my kids about the major religions in the world I decided to make a Lap book containing them all - which means it's a huge lapbook (it took 5 file folders as it was essentially 4 lapbooks combined into one..lol). Again there was no real pre=packaged lapbook that included them all so here's what I came up with...
*We had a KWL Printable for each Holiday: "what I Know, what I Want to know, what I Learned"
Christmas - Facts about the holiday. We focused on "The Night Before Christmas" book as well as "The 12 Days of Christmas Song" (as this ties in with Yule.) -- Origin of the 12 Days song ; Christian Associations for each of the 12 items in the 12 Days of Christmas ; 12 Days Clip Art; 12 Days activity sheets (we used page 6 to draw and write about the origins of the song); The Night Before Christmas lap book.
Hanukkah - Facts & Explanations. we learned about the 8 nights with 8 lights, then we read the book "The Trees fo the Dancing Goats" where a Jewish family helps their Christian neighbors have a happy Christmas (showing diveristy is wonderful!) the lapbook to go with the story is here. Songs worksheets(Dreidel, Spin, Spin, Spin; Hanukkah) Hanakkuh research printable/Hanakkuh Writing Prompt ; OH we made the background with white plain paper and did potato prints on them.
Kwanzaa - Facts about the holiday. printables ; explanation of the symbols; clip art; Kwanzaa Poem ; Poem; peom 3; kwanzaa song; We also read the "My First Kwanzaa Book"
Yule - For a history we used an article I had written for associated content...Yule Symbols explained; some yule (as well as some Christmas) clipart, clipart2, Yule Prayers 1, 2, 3, 4, Yule Carols, a yule story I wrote was also put into the lap book.
*We had a KWL Printable for each Holiday: "what I Know, what I Want to know, what I Learned"
Christmas - Facts about the holiday. We focused on "The Night Before Christmas" book as well as "The 12 Days of Christmas Song" (as this ties in with Yule.) -- Origin of the 12 Days song ; Christian Associations for each of the 12 items in the 12 Days of Christmas ; 12 Days Clip Art; 12 Days activity sheets (we used page 6 to draw and write about the origins of the song); The Night Before Christmas lap book.
Hanukkah - Facts & Explanations. we learned about the 8 nights with 8 lights, then we read the book "The Trees fo the Dancing Goats" where a Jewish family helps their Christian neighbors have a happy Christmas (showing diveristy is wonderful!) the lapbook to go with the story is here. Songs worksheets(Dreidel, Spin, Spin, Spin; Hanukkah) Hanakkuh research printable/Hanakkuh Writing Prompt ; OH we made the background with white plain paper and did potato prints on them.
Kwanzaa - Facts about the holiday. printables ; explanation of the symbols; clip art; Kwanzaa Poem ; Poem; peom 3; kwanzaa song; We also read the "My First Kwanzaa Book"
Yule - For a history we used an article I had written for associated content...Yule Symbols explained; some yule (as well as some Christmas) clipart, clipart2, Yule Prayers 1, 2, 3, 4, Yule Carols, a yule story I wrote was also put into the lap book.
Lapbooking 101
I've been asked several times in the last few days about how I come about designing some the lapbooks I've designed. Here's my advice for starting lapbooking.
Step 1: Choose a specific topic - this is important, for me it's hard to remember to be really specific, I get too general then the lapbook becomes a huge encyclopedia in which I end up doing most of the work.
Step 2: Search for pre-made tools. For this, here is the order of my search:
Ask & Google: for the premade lapbooks (free). So I'll search for Bumble Bee Lap Books and it will list any resources (like blogs and such) that might be available.
Search for ClipArt: again I'm a cheap-o so I search for free clipart that would go with this topic....like when we did the Good Night Moon topic I searched for pics that went with he book (baloons, moons, clocks, socks, etc)
Search for Worksheets, Printables and Mini-Books in this topic.
Search for Coloring Sheets in this topic (we use these to decorate the lapbook.)
Step 3: Plan the flow of the book. Generally speaking there are 2 main lapbooks then a mini-office.
Preschool, or short lapbook: this uses only 1 file folder. I've folded them a couple of ways but the most popular is to open the folder wide, then fold in each side toward the middle making the book open in the center.
Double Lapbook: this uses 2 file folders. You could again glue this a few different ways. I've:
Made a Mini-Book: in this I used a stripe of glue down the spine of a folder and just placed another folder within, so that you have a few pages to work with. I think this gives you the most sq. inches to work with.
Just a bit less of a mini-book: in this one you leave the folders just as they are and apply glue to the back side of one folder and stick the front side of the other folder to it, this makes a 3 sheet booklet.
Extra Flaps: This allows you to see more info at once. You fold the folder like you would for a single flapbook (open it wide then fold in the ends). Then you do the same with folder #2. Glue the back side of one of the little flaps to the front side of one of the little flaps of the second folder.
Mini-Office: This is the King of Lapbooks. Its a lapbook that requires 3 or more folders glued back to back, when unfolded you child can set it around their workstation like a cubicle.
Step 4: Plan of Action. Now you need to think about the flow of your story - your book. The front page can be reserved like a title page - I usually do this with the larger lapbooks. Then you place all your tidbits inside. Or you can use the front cover as the intro - I usually do this for the smaller lapbooks, like individual states. I'll place the state flag, flower, etc on the front cover as these are good identifiers of the state so a title page isn't needed.
Then I open the folder and just look for a moment. Do I want to add a flip-book of worksheets? Are there mini-books (small worksheets) in this topic available so I don't need to take up as much space? etc....
This is where creativity comes in...try to think of things they can come back and use - like hand made games and such....I've even made a shoot's and ladders type of game for my preschooler on the topic of the elections..lol..
Step 5: Are there any books available in this topic that you hope to use? Any short stories or poems? If so then this is another means of filling the lapbook. For instance, when learning about Christmas we used "The 12 Days of Christmas" song and "The Night Before Christmas" book and filled the lapbook with these.
Step 6: Cut out all your little tid-bits that you found in your searches. I usually do all the cutting and like 99% of the gluing just for sake of time - my kids tend to make a lapbook in a day as they are already mostly put together the kids just have to fill them in....but I know many mom's who have the kids work on one little piece a day...I would lose the pieces or forget what I was hoping to do..lol..
Step 7: HAVE FUN!! Lapbooking is a way for your child to learn and teach....my son LOVES teaching his dad when he gets home from work. My DH sits on the couch and my son goes over the lapbook with him.
Step 1: Choose a specific topic - this is important, for me it's hard to remember to be really specific, I get too general then the lapbook becomes a huge encyclopedia in which I end up doing most of the work.
Step 2: Search for pre-made tools. For this, here is the order of my search:
Ask & Google: for the premade lapbooks (free). So I'll search for Bumble Bee Lap Books and it will list any resources (like blogs and such) that might be available.
Search for ClipArt: again I'm a cheap-o so I search for free clipart that would go with this topic....like when we did the Good Night Moon topic I searched for pics that went with he book (baloons, moons, clocks, socks, etc)
Search for Worksheets, Printables and Mini-Books in this topic.
Search for Coloring Sheets in this topic (we use these to decorate the lapbook.)
Step 3: Plan the flow of the book. Generally speaking there are 2 main lapbooks then a mini-office.
Preschool, or short lapbook: this uses only 1 file folder. I've folded them a couple of ways but the most popular is to open the folder wide, then fold in each side toward the middle making the book open in the center.
Double Lapbook: this uses 2 file folders. You could again glue this a few different ways. I've:
Made a Mini-Book: in this I used a stripe of glue down the spine of a folder and just placed another folder within, so that you have a few pages to work with. I think this gives you the most sq. inches to work with.
Just a bit less of a mini-book: in this one you leave the folders just as they are and apply glue to the back side of one folder and stick the front side of the other folder to it, this makes a 3 sheet booklet.
Extra Flaps: This allows you to see more info at once. You fold the folder like you would for a single flapbook (open it wide then fold in the ends). Then you do the same with folder #2. Glue the back side of one of the little flaps to the front side of one of the little flaps of the second folder.
Mini-Office: This is the King of Lapbooks. Its a lapbook that requires 3 or more folders glued back to back, when unfolded you child can set it around their workstation like a cubicle.
Step 4: Plan of Action. Now you need to think about the flow of your story - your book. The front page can be reserved like a title page - I usually do this with the larger lapbooks. Then you place all your tidbits inside. Or you can use the front cover as the intro - I usually do this for the smaller lapbooks, like individual states. I'll place the state flag, flower, etc on the front cover as these are good identifiers of the state so a title page isn't needed.
Then I open the folder and just look for a moment. Do I want to add a flip-book of worksheets? Are there mini-books (small worksheets) in this topic available so I don't need to take up as much space? etc....
This is where creativity comes in...try to think of things they can come back and use - like hand made games and such....I've even made a shoot's and ladders type of game for my preschooler on the topic of the elections..lol..
Step 5: Are there any books available in this topic that you hope to use? Any short stories or poems? If so then this is another means of filling the lapbook. For instance, when learning about Christmas we used "The 12 Days of Christmas" song and "The Night Before Christmas" book and filled the lapbook with these.
Step 6: Cut out all your little tid-bits that you found in your searches. I usually do all the cutting and like 99% of the gluing just for sake of time - my kids tend to make a lapbook in a day as they are already mostly put together the kids just have to fill them in....but I know many mom's who have the kids work on one little piece a day...I would lose the pieces or forget what I was hoping to do..lol..
Step 7: HAVE FUN!! Lapbooking is a way for your child to learn and teach....my son LOVES teaching his dad when he gets home from work. My DH sits on the couch and my son goes over the lapbook with him.
Magnetism & Electricity
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 the files and designs I've come up with!!
Electricity Links:
Ben Franklin history & impact on electricity.
Thomas Edison - one of the most famous inventors in America
Nikola Tesla - one of the most awesome inventors, who wasn't very popular because of a feud with Edison.
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}
Alliant Energy has a nice kids site
One of my favorite kids electricity websites - Kids Corner
The US Dept of Energy has also put together a kids energy website
Magnetism Links:
Science for kids on Magnets
Brain POP has put together a nice magnet lesson plan
Fact Monster has an awesome site on magnetism
Here is my mini-lapbook on Electricity & Magnetism
Let me know what you thought!!
Electricity Links:
Ben Franklin history & impact on electricity.
Thomas Edison - one of the most famous inventors in America
Nikola Tesla - one of the most awesome inventors, who wasn't very popular because of a feud with Edison.
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}
Alliant Energy has a nice kids site
One of my favorite kids electricity websites - Kids Corner
The US Dept of Energy has also put together a kids energy website
Magnetism Links:
Science for kids on Magnets
Brain POP has put together a nice magnet lesson plan
Fact Monster has an awesome site on magnetism
Here is my mini-lapbook on Electricity & Magnetism
Let me know what you thought!!
Solar System
The Cool thing we did here was make a pop-up of the universe. You can find directions here. Essentially the sun pop's up then the planets are attatches with a bit of wire so that as the lap book opens they hover around the sun...(boy did the boys love doing this!)
k - I promised I'd give y'all the printables and links for our solar system lapbook...so..."Ta-Da!"
NASA's "Our Very Own Star: The Sun" this is actually a little book you can print!
Planets Coloring Page
Various Printables (there is actually a very good small coloring book I used for my preschooler, while my older son did the harder stuff!)
Clip Art
Moon Phases (action flipbook)
Live & Learn Press Lapbook
Solar System Printables (these are the more advanced word finds and such)
k - I promised I'd give y'all the printables and links for our solar system lapbook...so..."Ta-Da!"
NASA's "Our Very Own Star: The Sun" this is actually a little book you can print!
Planets Coloring Page
Various Printables (there is actually a very good small coloring book I used for my preschooler, while my older son did the harder stuff!)
Clip Art
Moon Phases (action flipbook)
Live & Learn Press Lapbook
Solar System Printables (these are the more advanced word finds and such)
Veterans Day Lapbook
Jeez, I just can't seem to stop..lol...I think Lapbooks are more addicting for adults than kids!
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?
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?
- Awesome Comprehensive site
- Older Printables
- Poetry/Learning about the day
- Crafts, Worksheets & Booklets
- Vietnam Wall memorial (history & worsheet, upper elementary)
- Veterans Day - Fact or Opinion sheet
- Veterans day comprehension sheet (upper elementary)
- edHelper Veterans Day
- teach-nology Veterans Day Unit
- clipart, more crafts, lessons & units
- Patriotic Coloring Pages
- Research Site - this is great for those older kids who are set to investigate a topic onling on their own.
- History of the National Anthem.
Here's My Lapbook Printables for Veterans Day!!
Colonial Times
The books we have to support our Colonial Times/Thanksgiving lapbook (I made a mini book for each one)..are:
If You Lived in Colonial Times by Ann McGovern (1992, Scholastic Inc)
Why We Have Thanksgiving by Margaret Hillert (1982, Modern Curriculum Press)
Hands on History: Projects About Colonial Life by Marian Broida (2004 Marshall Cavendish Corp)
The North American Native Americans by Ernest Berke (1963, Lithograph for the Library of Congress)
To support these books 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:
If You Lived in Colonial Times by Ann McGovern (1992, Scholastic Inc)
Why We Have Thanksgiving by Margaret Hillert (1982, Modern Curriculum Press)
Hands on History: Projects About Colonial Life by Marian Broida (2004 Marshall Cavendish Corp)
The North American Native Americans by Ernest Berke (1963, Lithograph for the Library of Congress)
To support these books 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......
- Various links - this site (toward the bottom) has an archive of some great printables for thanksgiving.
- Dr. Pat's Pilgrim Coloring Pages
- Homeschool Helper - always a great lapbooking resource with some worksheets as well as templates.
- Homeschool Share - my favorite lapbooking resource
- Enchanted Learning - the best collection of Thanksgiving printables I've found!
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