Lapbooking & Notebooking

[KickButtMama]

In notebooking your have a notebook per subject and there aren't all the little tabs and pockets and such. My son's have notebooking for their vocabulary....essentially each week they have to write out their spelling words, sentences, definitions, etc in their notebook....it's like a collection of worksheets without all the bells and whistles of a lapbook.

Lapbooking is a collection of worksheets, flapbooks, whatever - kind of like a scrapbook you and your child puts together on the subject they learned about.

This post is my advice on starting lapbooking and all the joys and frustrations of using this tool.

 

[KickButtMama]

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

[KickButtMama]

Making A Lapbook!!!

Begining Lapbooking:

Answering Lapbook Questions:

Pocket Lapbooks

[KickButtMama]

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.

[KickButtMama]

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:

 

[EmmAlesh]

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.

[toola]

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 :)

[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!

[KickButtMama]

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!

[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?

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.

[KickButtMama]

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.