Lapbooking & Notebooking

Replies:

• 
• by
  • KickButtMama
  on Feb. 28, 2009 at 7:42 PM

• This post contains questions often asked of me by other CafeMom members:

  I haven't really found any that show you tutorials on how to build the lapbook itself. Any ideas? - Click here for Lapbooking 101!

  I want to laminate my lapbooks.  - To laminate the entire background and some of the pockets use laminate or that stuff you put in kitchen drawers. I personally prefer my laminating machine, but for my large lapbooks with lots of stuff, I'll use the laminate stuff.

  Also, how do they fold the lapbook after it's laminated? I am finding this to be a problem for me.  - Fold the lapbook first, then lay it flat to laminate -the laminating stuff won't completely adhere to the crease allowing you to fold it again.

  Oh, one more thing, I am finding I want to do lapbooks for every subject and yet it is time consuming. Any tips on this?  -  Yup it's time consuming to prep everything...Essentially I print anything of interest whenever I see it, and keep everything in organized files. When we're starting a new month (new topics) I spend the last week of the month preping hte lapbooks for the next month...since we do a lot of lapbooking it would take too long for the kids to do all the cutting and glueing and all, so I prep the labooks with all the cuting and pasting ahead of time - presenting hte kids with a lapbook that just needs them to fill out the info as they learn the topic. We generally do the following Lapbooks per month: 1 state every 2 weeks, Math of the Month/Sign Language of the Month/Latin of the Month (this is a single file folder that has all the worsheets, charts whatever the kids learned about that month, reinforcing the lessons); Science of the Month (sometimes we'll do 2 a month). History of the Month (this is another large lapbook covering the time period/event we studied that month). Book of hte Week - Magic Tree HOuse Series - my 7 y/o has to read one of their books each week and do a lapbook I preped on the story. I'll post what I've made this week for next weeks Polar Bears Post Bedtime  so you can see it. (remember the user name is kickbutttidbits with the password kickbuttmama)

  So we essentially have 2 lapbooks in the works at anygiven time - but we don't do anyother book learning...

  Finally, any suggestions for lapbooking websites? - homeschoolhelperonline.com
  
  http://www.lapbooklessons.com/

  http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Lapbooks_at_HSS.php

  http://www.squidoo.com/lapbooking/

   -- Minibooks (little ones to add to a lapbook, or a good alternative to the simple subjects). http://www.homeschoolshare.com/lapbooking_resources.htm
  
  http://www.ruthannzaroff.com/mirkwooddesigns/templates.htm
  
  http://www.txchess.com/minibooks.htm

  clipart

  http://www.teacherfiles.com/clip_art.htm
   
  http://school.discovery.com/clipart/index.html
   
  http://webclipart.about.com/od/webclipartatoz/l/blnettop.htm
   
  http://www.kidsdomain.com/clip/
   
  http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/FX101321031033.aspx?pid=CL100570201033
    
  http://webclipart.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coolarchive.com%2Fclipart.cfm%3Fparameter%3DOffice%2520and%2520Business
   
  helping to organize your thoughts in a lapbook - http://freeology.com/graphicorgs/index.php
   
  Here's an outtake from Jamin a blogger who does a lot of lapbooking and unschooling with her kids
  Jigsaw Puzzle Pattern (Heart) to print
  7 pieces:
  http://www.msssbible.com/memoryverses/createyourown/heartpuzzle3.htm
  14 pieces:
  http://www.msssbible.com/memoryverses/createyourown/heartpuzzle1.htm
  
  Cool Shapes to cut and paste (suitcase w/clothing, paper chain of men w/ hearts, faces, etc.)
  http://www.msssbible.com/memoryverses/createyourown/
  
  Make your own postage stamp:
  http://library.advanced.org/10320/Approval.htm
  
  Templates to Print
  http://www.ruthannzaroff.com/mirkwooddesigns/templates.htm
  
  Templates, templates and more templates!
  (Including templates to make mini folders!)
  http://www.stampersmall.com/templates/
  
  Templates For Pop-Ups
  http://robertsabuda.com/popmakesimple.asp
  
  Cool fold to include worksheets in Lapbook
  http://wildwood.homestead.com/expandbook.html
  
  Create Your Own Crossword Puzzle
  http://www.edhelper.com/crossword_free.htm
  
  Create Your Own Printable Awards
  http://www.dltk-cards.com/award/
  
  Make a Venn Diagram Online
  http://teachers.teach-nology.com/web_tools/graphic_org/venn_diagrams/
  
  Make a Timeline to Print
  http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/materials/timelines/
  
  Program to help you write an Acrostic Poem
  http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/acrostic/
  
  Free Printables
  http://www.apples4theteacher.com/
  
  http://www.abcteach.com/
  
  Free Printable Mini Books
  http://mrsjonesroom.com/teachers/minibooks.html
  
  http://www.dltk-teach.com/minibooks/index.htm
  
  Cindy Rushton Website
  http://www.cindyrushton.com
  
  Cindy Rushton's Blog
  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/cindyrushton
  
  Scrapbooking To Learn
  http://scrapbookingtolearn.com/
  
  Lots of Info on Lapbooking
  Tobins Lab Lapbooking Info Sheet. Here is the link http://www.tobinslab.com/downloads/Lap%20
  Book%20Info%20Sheet.pdf     This is a sheet with some good basic info on lapbooking.  Here is the Tobin's Lab catalog section on lapbooking.  Lots of good resources for sale.  Here is the link to the catalog.  http://www.tobinslab.com/shopping/catalog.aspx?scCatalog
  CategoryID=63&CategoryTrail=0
  (This is a great place to buy Dinah Zikes books!)
  
  Here are some great places to buy pre-made lapbook kits.  All of these offer Freebies!!!
  Hands of a Child http://www.handsofachild.com
  Live And Learn Press   http://www.liveandlearnpress.com
  Knowledge Box Centeral  http://www.knowledgeboxcentral.com/
  
  
  Here is a site that shows a Human Body Lapbook and all the links to make your own.
  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HSBCompanyBlog/230284/#c422930
  
  Lapbooking Yahoo Group
  In my opinion this is the BEST resource on Lapbooking.  Over 3000 homeschooling Mom's sharing ideas about lapbooking!  It is AWESOME!!! (And is brought to us by the ladies over at Hands of a Child.)   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Lapbooking/
  
  Outside The Box Ideas
  
  No law was ever written that lapbooks have to be in a file folder!  How about making a GIANT lapbook using a Presentation Folder?  - http://homeschoolblogger.com/jaminacema/109818/
  
  Make A Paper Bag Book.  - http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jaminacema/194729/
  
  Make A Scrapbook Page - http://homeschoolblogger.com/jaminacema/105639/

   And of course my other blog at homeschoolblogger has much more in the way of links and such that I use so you can check it out as well...as it's really my Lapbooking blog..lol...

  Hope that helped!
  Shannon
   
  again - excuse the typo's as I'm typing with a broken elbow
  

  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Articles Articles on Health & Wellness, Homeschooling, Earth Based Spirituality, and Alternative Living.. Homeschooling Sites: KickbuttHomeEducation Resource Site, KickbuttHomeSchool Blogs.. Alternative Faiths: Kickbuttmama's Celtic BOS Health & Wellness Blog: Kickbuttmama on Fitness Sign Language for Kids Signing Spot

• 
• by
  • KickButtMama
  on Feb. 28, 2009 at 7:42 PM

• Making A Lapbook!!!

  Begining Lapbooking:

  Answering Lapbook Questions:

  Pocket Lapbooks

  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Articles Articles on Health & Wellness, Homeschooling, Earth Based Spirituality, and Alternative Living.. Homeschooling Sites: KickbuttHomeEducation Resource Site, KickbuttHomeSchool Blogs.. Alternative Faiths: Kickbuttmama's Celtic BOS Health & Wellness Blog: Kickbuttmama on Fitness Sign Language for Kids Signing Spot

• 
• by
  • KickButtMama
  on Feb. 28, 2009 at 7:43 PM

• Mini-Books/Offices

  Well, I've been a busy cutting beaver. I've been creating 2 Mini-offices. Essentially a mini-office is like a gigantic Lapbook that if full of reference material that a child can refer to throughout learning about a specific topic.

  Mini-Office 1: 7 Continents

  Using 4 file folders glued back to back. Each page has a picture of the continent. There's the title of the continent. I sealed the entire thing then used an exacto knife to cut a fine slice across the top of each continent picture. Then I put mini index cards, each containing pertinent info on the countries/states of that continent (population, square footage, language, major religions, political structure, etc).

  Mini-Office 2: Phonics

  Using 5 file folders glued back to back. I have the alphabet with a pic for each letter, then I have lists of blends and digraphs (each with pictures), punctuation, spelling tips, writing a paraqgraph tips, etc. Everything needed when reading and writing.

  Mini-Office 3: Math (early elementary)

  This used 3 file folders glued along the spine to form a booklet. Inside are addition boards, subtraction charts, multiplication charts, 100 board, skip counting chart, number line train, math signs, a ruler, fractions pocket, telling time page, money page, etc. 

  Coming Soon Mini-Office 4: Basic Sign Language

  check out Lapbook Lessons for youtube vids on the Mini-Offices. Just ckick on the Lapbooks tab at the top of the screen, enter the given screen name and password and it will take you to the free lapbooks and mini-offices.

  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Articles Articles on Health & Wellness, Homeschooling, Earth Based Spirituality, and Alternative Living.. Homeschooling Sites: KickbuttHomeEducation Resource Site, KickbuttHomeSchool Blogs.. Alternative Faiths: Kickbuttmama's Celtic BOS Health & Wellness Blog: Kickbuttmama on Fitness Sign Language for Kids Signing Spot

• 
• by
  • KickButtMama
  on Feb. 28, 2009 at 7:54 PM

• Here's a sampling of some of our Lapbooks to give you an idea of what Lapbooking is like:

  State Lapbook; (we use basically the same design for countries and such)

  Fire Safety Lapbooks:

  Rainbow Lapbooks:

   

  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Articles Articles on Health & Wellness, Homeschooling, Earth Based Spirituality, and Alternative Living.. Homeschooling Sites: KickbuttHomeEducation Resource Site, KickbuttHomeSchool Blogs.. Alternative Faiths: Kickbuttmama's Celtic BOS Health & Wellness Blog: Kickbuttmama on Fitness Sign Language for Kids Signing Spot

• 
• by
  • EmmAlesh
  on Feb. 28, 2009 at 8:41 PM

• Thanks! Lots of hard work put into these.  I learned a lot, especially since I am a visual learner.  Yes, reading is visual, but seeing demos are MUCH more helpful when we are exploring new waters!  Thanks again.

  

  
  

  Emm Ali

• 
• by
  • toola
  on Aug. 11, 2009 at 11:55 PM

• I just did a search for lapbooks since  I didn't know what they were.  Thanks for putting all this info together, I'll have a proper look at the links when DD is napping.  Videos are always helpful :)
  

• 
• by
  • Starrwd
  on Aug. 12, 2009 at 8:03 AM
• Thanks so much for this. It was suggested that I write an article on lapbooking, so I was in the process of researching. You just made things so much easier!

  Starr Weems de Graffenried
  

  
  

  Author of Brain Child and Teach Your Child Spanish Through Play. See my articles here.
  

• 
• by
  • KickButtMama
  on Aug. 13, 2009 at 9:17 PM

• 
  

  Quoting Starrwd:
  
  Thanks so much for this. It was suggested that I write an article on lapbooking, so I was in the process of researching. You just made things so much easier!

  
  I've been lapbooking for several years, if you have any questions feel free to ask!

  Slán go fóill

  
  

   Kickbutt Articles -  Kickbutt Home Education -   Kickbutt Crazy Lapbook Blog - Kickbutt Celtic BOS - Signing Spot -  Twitter: Kickbuttmama - Facebook: SigningSpot

• 
• by
  • toola
  on Aug. 24, 2009 at 8:53 AM

• I have a few questions because this is all new to me.  I didn't watch the first videos all the way through (blonde lady) so sorry if I'm being redundant!

  From what I've seen so far, lapbooking is like a porfolio system of sorts? Is that right?   What is the benefit of using this system over traditional methods?

  I'm also wondering if you keep the lapbooks out on shelves or whatever and do the kids refer to them once they've moved on to a new theme?   Or do you file them away?  With the States theme for ex. that would be a lot of  lapbooks! :)  Do you just choose a few themes to lapbook and how do you make that choice?

  With smaller kids (I'm thinking preschoolers) there's lots of bulky stuff  or physical/sensory activities that wouldn't go in a lapbook.  Do you only select certain things from given theme, cutting out  parts of worksheets for example?  Or do you work the other way round and do activities that are tailored to the lapbook, if that makes sense, lol.

  Thanks for sharing all your expertise with us, I really appreciate the time you took to collate this thread.

  
  

  
  

  
  

• 
• by
  • KickButtMama
  on Aug. 25, 2009 at 8:08 AM

• 
  

  Quoting toola:
  
  

  I have a few questions because this is all new to me.  I didn't watch the first videos all the way through (blonde lady) so sorry if I'm being redundant!

  From what I've seen so far, lapbooking is like a porfolio system of sorts? Is that right?   What is the benefit of using this system over traditional methods?

  Yes, it's like a portfolio or a scrapbook. One of the major benefits is that it's colorful and fun looking so the kids remain interested in the topic. I know for myself my kids would only do so many worksheets. But we'd read stories on a topic or what-have-you and then they'd fill out each little flipbook. They liked the idea of making their own book and having something cool to show dad when he got home. For boys especially, they tend to be more tactile - having things like pop-ups, flip books, colorful add-ins etc, really keeps their attention.

  I'm also wondering if you keep the lapbooks out on shelves or whatever and do the kids refer to them once they've moved on to a new theme?   Or do you file them away?  With the States theme for ex. that would be a lot of  lapbooks! :)  Do you just choose a few themes to lapbook and how do you make that choice?

  It really depends on the lapbook. Each of my boys make a lapbook for each math concept - for instance my oldest is doing one on multiplication and division this year and my youngest is doing on on addition, subtraction and time/early fractions. These we keep on our desk as a reference. But really the 'referencebooks' are the Mini-Offices (see previous reply) Yup that's a LOT of lapbooks. LOL...you can do as many lapbooks as you want though....for us it's a major part of our schooling. So we have a lapbooks for each state, One on each habitat, each holiday gets it's own, etc....but it's fun. They're practicing writing without it seeming like it's the same boring lined paper or worksheets.

  With my youngest and in previous years (esp, preschool) we worked off of a monthly theme. Usually my kids would pick the theme (worms, lobsters, the desert, etc) then I'd put the Main lapbook together for them (it would include a little math, science, history, English, etc for that specific subject --- like a unit) Then we might have one small lapbook every other week - like on fire safety, community helpers, Rainbows, etc..Really these small lapbooks (usually 1 file-folder) were meant to be a distraction. If the child got a little bored with the main topic we could shelve it for a little while and work on something else.

  With smaller kids (I'm thinking preschoolers) there's lots of bulky stuff  or physical/sensory activities that wouldn't go in a lapbook.  Do you only select certain things from given theme, cutting out  parts of worksheets for example?  Or do you work the other way round and do activities that are tailored to the lapbook, if that makes sense, lol.

  Ummmm I put just about everything in a lapbook. I would often make fabric pockets or staple in Ziplock baggies for the little pieces or tactile things for my preschoolers. For instance the kids made Pilgrim hats when studying Thanksgiving last year (my youngest was then 4) and when we were finished with the topic/lapbook I made a little pocket the hat fit into. So really I tried to get a little of Everything on a subject in a lapbook. If we were studying Washington, f.i. then I might have the kids make their own Totem Pole out of a toilet paper roll or paper towel roll, then I'd either use a gallon Ziplock or make a folder pocket to store the project. When studying the solar system - as preschoolers - we made a solar system mobile, when finished it too went in the lapbook.

  These projects would get a bit flattened, but I felt it was important to keep everything together in case the kids needed the refresher or in casewe get nostalgic..lol....so everything in the lapbook - just flattened down a bit....

  Thanks for sharing all your expertise with us, I really appreciate the time you took to collate this thread.

   

   

   

  
  

  Slán go fóill

  
  

   Kickbutt Articles -  Kickbutt Home Education -   Kickbutt Crazy Lapbook Blog - Kickbutt Celtic BOS - Signing Spot -  Twitter: Kickbuttmama - Facebook: SigningSpot

Only CafeMom members can reply to this post.

Join Group