Monday, January 14, 2008

Lapbooks

A few weeks ago I started lapbooks for the kids for their work on D'Aulaire's Greek Myths. I was very skeptical about the entire concept of lapbooks as I thought they were just fiddly, crafty, busy work. However, I had seen how much the children had enjoyed them when they made them at co-op.

Ben and Shira were complaining about the writing work they had to do for D'Aulaire's when we were using notebooks, however, ever since we started doing the lapbook, they have been begging to work on D'Aulaire's. The joke is that there is more writing now, not less. However, instead of writing on pages, they are writing in booklets they made up or on miniature flash cards that go into pockets they made.

We've set up a pocket for "Facts to Learn" where each fact has its own card. Another pocket contains cards of vocabulary words and then we are making minit books. We've just finished making a minit book on the Titans.

I've realized that the children see these lapbooks as creations of their own, not school work. Shira said she is going to keep her lapbook so that she can show it to her children. Ben says that he likes his lapbook because he likes how he can go back and easily look up things.

6 comments:

Cerwydwyn said...

LOL, they can be fun. After the Red Pony, we didn't do another one until this week. We are at the beginning of a lapbook about the Moon.

Shez said...

I'd love to see how you do the moon. B&S have asked to do more lapbooks. I am not the world's most crafty or creative person so this is difficult for me to visualize.

Anonymous said...

If you search on Flickr for lapbooks, you'll find some great examples. I've been wanting to try this, but... keep putting it off. I wish I had a place to just keep the mess out all the time, you know? Like a craft room that's just in a constant state of disarray. Hehehe.

Anonymous said...

I am so glad you were inspired by the lapbook in my science class! Here is a link to the resources I used to develop our lapbooks.

Shez said...

Melina and Lydia, thanks for the info on Lapbooks. I found great stuff on Flickr and by Jimmie. We're currently working on a lapbook on the weather. I must admit that I find it very difficult to do lapbooks, but the kids love them. I've bought a template for doing one on states. I think that will make it far less stressful for me.

Cerwydwyn said...

I think that you should all make your own Equine Massage Therapy lapbooks.
WoHo. I'm up to my ass in alligators up here. Trying to exercise all of my atrophied brain cells is a bit of an issue...