Last Week of September

We had some fun adventures this week.

1.  Making butter in the cracker house at the Tampa Bay History Center.

2.  Homeschool History Day was the reason for going and here's their mystery object activity.

3.  Sensory bins for the little ones.

4. Floor sized compass rose to label with the cardinal directions.

5.  Our first family triathlon.  It was a mini triathlon with a 1 mile run, 3 mile bike, and 1/4 mile swim.  We completed it as a family with a new family best as it was the first one we've done.

6.  We finished our volcano lap book.  This was a great freebie from homeschool share available here.
 
And of course we did the regular stuff like the 3'rs too.

Train Lap Book

This train lapbook is one of the first lapbooks I made for older toad.

Younger toad sees his brother reading a lot and sits down to 'read' a book also.  Since he doesn't know his letters yet he's got a ways to go but since it's such an interest of his I've been putting a little more effort in to helping him with that.  Since our train unit was such a mutually popular one I recently redid a train lapbook with just the alphabet for younger toad.  What follows are directions for what I did, younger toad's first then older.

I did a post about our version of lapbooks here for anyone who's never made one.

This train alphabet is from the Amtrak Kids Depot.  It's a fun site they put together with some neat downloads and games the toads enjoyed.  This is the direct link to the Railphabet.  I cut the squares out and glued them to flaps.  Under the Amtrak flaps are stickers with the letter in uppercase and lowercase.  I would have liked all one color for uppercase but I used what we had around.

He talks about the train thing on the picture and we go over the letters.  Of course having his own is part of the appeal.

Older toad's had more activities to go with it.  Over several days we labeled part of a steam locomotive.

The image for this came from Wikipedia here.  The corresponding parts from Wikipedia is here.  I copied the components into a word document and edited for length and clarity

Since older toad was working on his letters, he wrote on the outside and the Amtrak images went on the inside.

Lastly, we used citrus (grapefruit, oranges and limes) and metallic paint as stamps for train wheels.  Older toad's had several cars, but here's the engine.

Chugga, Chugga, Choo, Choo!

Basic Lapbooks

There's lots of good resources for making lapbooks out there these days.  We've done quite a few that I will probably post over time but I thought I'd start with our version of the basic template.

First, take a regular file folder, open it and fold the edges toward the original center seam.

Next, flip it over and tape a file jacket to the right edge with clear packing tape.  When you line them up, leave a small, 1/4", gap between the two so they will fold better.  Flip them both over and add another strip of packing tape to the other side.  Most lap book directions do not use a file jacket.  I've found them very helpful for providing a large pocket for storing work.  We often use our lapbooks for unit studies that span a couple of weeks.  Handwriting sheets are something I try to incorporate into our unit studies but every page doesn't really need it's own page in the lapbook, yet it still nice to keep the package together.  It's perfect for that kind of thing or any irregularly shaped object that's hard to make an interior pocket for.  It's like turning the lapbook into a lapbook/binder combo pack.









Now add some interior pages if you want more space.  I use colored card stock for the interior pages, they're stiff enough to hold up and add some color for interest and organizing.  I find for small laps, pages that open left or right, like a book, are more manageable.  However, you can go top and bottom in addition for all four directions if you want.  Again, when you line them up, add a small gap so that they fold well.  Use the clear packing tape, flip over and tape the other side.


Now cover the faces with decorative paper.  Doing all the packing tape first allows you to cover it with the decorative paper now.  I have a large stash of scrapbooking paper that we use but any paper is fine.  Adding the paper both stiffens the book, covers any manufacturers writing as well as makes it easier to identify on the shelf when you have a whole seasons worth staring at you.  I'm using this example to prep for fall and making this our Austrailia/Oceania lapbook.  Scrapbooking paper lets me choose prints that go with the theme too.  In this case, our science unit will be coral reefs so I'm choosing marine paper.  Use the file folder as your template, trace and then cut.  For glue, use glue sticks that are name brand or from the art supply store.  The office supply brands, or generics are poor quality and will not stick


Next, cover the edges in tape.  I like the colored electrical tape.  Duct tape also works well.  Target has been selling some fun decorative tape that looks like duct tape.  The quality is not very good and they don't stick well.  Masking tape, since it's meant to be removed, is also not a good choice.  The tape really adds to the durability of your lapbook by covering any edges that could peel, tear or get worn with stronger material.

Lastly, add a cover or some sort of title.

Now you're ready to fill it up!