Archive for the ‘Elijah's 1st Grade Lapbooks’ Category:
Fairytales & Folktales Unit
After a month long break due to wonderful weather, Elijah jumped back in with a Fairytale/Folktale unit. I needed something easy, so I used Evan Moor’s Literature Pockets- Fairytales & Folktales (grades 2-3).
I have never been big on assembling the pockets their way. Usually we use a lapbook or notebook. This time, however, I knew the items needed pockets. Instead of making my own from scratch, I took three pocket folders (the kind without any brads in the middle) and three hole punched them. Then I used metal rings to keep it all together.
Tales we focused on
Bremen Town Musicians
Henny Penny
The Fisherman and His Wife
Jack and the Beanstalk
The Brave Little Tailor
Jack and the Beanstalk Story Folder (puppets store in envelope). Yes, Jack really goes up and down the stalk. This was great for narration (and for puppet shows for Simon!).
The Brave Little Tailor ~ this has a story belt, mobile, and mini-book inside along with the story. I wish I could show you everything in the pockets, but it would just be too many pictures (and words!).
The Fisherman and His Wife (can you see Elijah’s fabulously fat fish?)
Henny Penny pocket
This was a fun story for us because we had only read versions of Chicken Little (same story, different named characer). This had a super great creative thinking activity to make up your own rhyming name characters and to complete them with illustrations. Of course, I didn’t take it out of the pocket and snap a picture (oops!). I did take a picture of his puppets, though. Again, great for retelling the story to mom (and little brother).
The Bremen Town Musicians had a fun art project. Elijah crayoned the characters all stacked up then did a watercolor wash over the top. No, I did not think of this; it was included in the lesson ideas!
donkey, dog, cat (which is sort of like a Cheshire cat, we think), and rooster! Can you see the constellation in the sky? This crayoned watercolor thing has Elijah inspired to write letters to friends in white crayon and then to tell them to paint over the top. Sounds fun to me!
I have to tell you this unit was just a blast. You just might want to stop and and enjoy the laughter and memories for a bit. Our children will only be little once.
Stories we listened to…
~Rumplestiltskin, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Little Red Hen, Things Could Always Be Worse(Tell Me a Story by Jim Weiss)
~The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Real Princess (Famously Funny by Jim Weiss)
~Stone Soup, Puss in Boots, The Shoemaker and the Elves, and Rapunzel (Fairytale Favorites by Jim Weiss)
Stories we read…
Chicken Little by Steven Kellogg
The Three Bears by Paul Galdone
The Three Bears by Jan Brett
Rumpelstiltskin illustrated by Paul Zelinsky
Rumplestiltskin (Usborne)
Rapunzel illustrated by Paul Zelinsky
Puss in Boots by Charles Perrault
The Princess and the Pea by Paul Galdone
Little Red Hen by Diane Muldrow
Little Red Hen by Jerry Pinkney
Hansel & Gretel (Usborne)
Jack and the Beanstalk (Usborne)
The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs (Usborne)
The Elves and the Shoemaker (Usborne)
The Elves and the Shoemaker by Paul Galdone
Stone Soup by Marcia Brown
King Midas and the Golden Touch by Charlotte Craft
tales by Sheila Black (from A Treasury of Children’s Literature)
~Goldilocks and the Three Bears
~Sleeping Beauty
~Jack and the Beanstalk
~Three Billy Goats Gruff
~The Three Little Pigs
~Little Red Riding Hood
~Cinderella
~The Frog Prince
~Hansel and Gretel
~Snow White
~The Brementown Musicians
~Rumpelstiltskin
ETA a picture of the outside of the folders (as requested in the comments)
Mailing May Lap ~N~ Note
We finished our study of Mailing May yesterday. We used the lessons from FIAR Volume IV. For Eiljah’s notebook, he used the FIAR Fold N Learn, resources from Homeschool Share, and a train project pack from HOAC (a super member freebie).
Topics of study included trains, the post office/mail, the 1900s (then/now), vocabulary, facial expressions in art, quilt patterns, Idaho, Daniel Boone, wild/domestic animals, and probably something else that I’m forgetting.
Elijah’s favorite part was learning about trains. Yesterday, our loveseat became a train. He was sining I’ve Been Working on the Railroad at the top of his lungs (and a little off-key!). He was telling Simon things like, "You, fresh fish! Grease the pig!" (Which means– "Hey, new worker…oil the engine!")
Books Used
Mailing May by Michael O. Tunnell
House in the Mail by Rosemary Wells
Hail to Mail by Samuel Marshak
The Post Office Book: Mail and How It Moves by Gail Gibbons
Who Was Daniel Boone? by Sydelle Kramer
Henry’s Freedom Box by Ellen Levine
Train of States by Peter Sis (we only used the Idaho page)
Beaver Lapbook
We started a pond study. It was interrupted with a study of Mailing May (which we finished today…pictures coming soon). Elijah told me he didn’t want to continue with the pond study, so we just put everything (mostly beaver stuff) in a simple lapbook. I didn’t make the templates this time; they are from Hands of a Child. The few pond themed things are mostly from Evan Moor’s Giant Science Resource Book.
Dog Family Lapbook
While studying desert, Elijah decided he really wanted to start his own Dog Family Lapbook (inspired by coyote). He wants to include various foxes, wolves, and breeds of dogs.
I did not want to design a Dog Family Lapbook. I decided I would just give him the tools he needed to do it himself. I put the Lapbook Reference book, some pictures, some printed information, scissors, double-stick tape, colored pencils, colored paper, etc. all in a workbox for him.
I think he’s worked on this four times. He sits for an hour (or longer) and just reads and reads and works and works. I stay far, far away from this project as I let him make all the choices. Yes, I give him the tools…then I step away. If he needs something, he asks (and let me tell you- he is very specific and picky!).
Here are some shots of the inside of his book (yes, another Bare Book!). I didn’t take pictures of every minit book or every picture, but you will get a good sampling.
Arctic Wolf Page
About Dholes (Do you know that the Dhole is in the Dog Family? Do you know what a Dhole is?!)
Raccoon Dog
Bat-eared Fox
Arctic Fox
He has a list of twenty-some "dogs" he wants in the book. I will update once he thinks he is finished!
Happy Lapbooking!
Desert Finale
Well, we didn’t really do anything for our finale, though I suppose we should! Maybe Jason will take us to a Mexican Restaurant tonight to celebrate!
My other posts on deserts are here-
Week 1- Roxaboxen Notebook Pages
Week 1- Roxaboxen Mini-books (details)
Crystal Mining and Desert Glass Candy (from Roxaboxen)
Week 2- Desert Animals
Sunset Sand Painting
Here are this week’s Lap N Note Pages from our study of The Gullywasher. We used the minit books from Homeschool Share as well as a few things from the Evan Moor Giant Science Resoure Book (reflections, water cycle). We also used Draw Write Now.
We decided to make a "table of contents" page for the first time.
Learning more about the desert…
Spanish Words and names for Tall Tales
Mexico! (I just googled the images for map and flag.)
Science Pages
Learning about gullywashers is a good time to learn about…
the watercycle…
thunderstorms, and lightning. We also learned about reflections.
Here are a few DWN pages sprinkled throughout Elijah’s notebook
Desert Animals Lapbook in our Notebook
We started our desert studies wth a one week study with Roxaboxen (from Five in a Row Volume IV). Last week we took some time to learn more about desert animals (North American).
Here is the cover page Elijah made.
I threw everything he might possibly want in one of his workboxes and let him go. Simon and I made the letters for Elijah with a die-cutting machine.
Here are the pages we added to our notebook:
Desert Arachinds
Desert Reptiles
Misc. Mini-books
Desert Birds and a few other simple folds
Money Lapbook
This was something Elijah asked for last fall, and we put it together then. It is very simple, but one of his favorite lapbooks to pull out and play with; he LOVES to set up candy shop and have me visit his store!
This is a part-whole circle set similar to what is used in our math program (Rightstart)
Candy Shop Cards! (from Making Learning Fun)
Back Cover
I pulled this and that from a few different places for this lapbook
Money Value Page on the back of the lapbook is from Lapbook Lessons
Candy Shop Cards from Making Learning Fun
Money Poem from 1+1+1=1 Blog (scroll down); I shrunk this down to fit in our book
Printable Bills from Money Instructor
A few things I made for this lapbook
The colored pockets were purchased from the teacher store
Roxaboxen Day 4- Notebook Complete!
Pages 1-2
Design Roxaboxen (from FIAR Fold N Learn)
Lizard Poem (from a children’s poetry book we have) and Lizard drawing (drawing from Draw Write Now)
Pages 3-4
Mini books from Day 3
Pages 5-6
Page 5 mini books were done on Tuesday
Page 6 mini books were done today
Page 5 close-up
Jewel Shutter from Homeschool Share
Desert Glass Candy is just a simple fold with pictures from our cooking adventure
Desert Glass definition from Five in a Row FNL; three small pictures from FIAR FNL
Mineral Chart from Crystal Mining Kit; lifts to show pictures of Elijah mining
Page 6 close-up
How Many Days? Calendar poem – from HSS
Buried Treasure from HSS
Seasons Accordion from HSS
Seasons in the Bible – inside pictures/verses from FIAR FNL
Pages 5-6 Books Opened
Roxaboxen Day 3
Today we had a geography lesson (deserts and the Southwest U.S.) and a social studies lesson about good leaders/followers (using Moses and the Israelites as examples). We also talked about our Roxaboxen town from Monday and laws (including God’s Law). I purchased the FIAR Roxaboxen Fold N Learn, and we used various pieces from that today.
Here are some FAQ I get (behind the scenes):
1. How long do you spend each day on your unit study?
As we’ve gone along our first grade journey, I’ve noticed that Elijah wants to go a bit deeper, and we are spending more time than we did at the beginning of the year. We can do spelling, handwriting (usually part of the unit study), and our unit study in 1 1/2- 2 hours. This is how we spend our morning time (usually 9:30-11:30).
2. How many mini-books do you do each day?
This is different every single day. Today we worked on six. Sometimes we only do one or two. Sometimes we go wild and do as many as eight. I would say an average, normal day is about four or five mini-books.
3. How do you manage your 2 year old during school?
I have a box of school stuff just for Simon that is used ONLY during school time. I also have a bin of fun things that are only for school time. I save scrap paper for him…we have LOTS of scraps. Today while Elijah was cutting, Simon was cutting. When Elijah was gluing, Simon was gluing (glue stick) small scraps to large scraps. Simon also played with shape puzzles, and colored a desert cactus picture. If he feels included, he is easy to handle. All I have to do is give him something.
Here are Elijah’s mini books from today:
1. What Will I Find in the Desert? Tri-fold
designed by Elijah
Inside pictures from FIAR Fold N Learn
There was also a picture of an Ocelot, but Elijah just had a fit about this. He was insistent that they are much more common in the rain forest than in the desert and would not paste the picture in his book. He even grabbed two or three encylopedias and started researching! I didn’t argue. I’ve learned that he’s usually right — especially when it comes to animals!
2. Where are the Southwestern States Simple Fold
(from Homeschool Share)
Inside the Southwestern States book
3. Places in Arizona Mini-book
pictures are from the FIAR Fold N Learn
4. Deserts of the World Simple Fold
outer clipart and definition from FIAR Fold N Learn
Inside from Evan Moor Giant Science Resource Book
5. God’s Law Envelope Book (designed by Elijah)
The Ten Commandments piece is from the FIAR Fold N Learn
6. Good Leader/Follower Book
I designed this one today
Inside I recorded Elijah’s answer
Rainforest
Well, once again, plans thwarted by real life. I spent two weeks (about 8 hours/day) working on the house to get some ongoing (think seven years) projects we’ve had undone DONE.
School got pushed to the side during these two weeks which completely interrupted our rain forest study. We had two weeks in, then two weeks off, then one final week. We used our final week to tie up loose ends and to study sloths and manatees (we were fascinated by both!).
This notebook is huge. Really huge. I don’t think we will be doing another themed study in a notebook that’s this size. I don’t like it when it seems that fillng the notebook seems more important than the actual learning. This is not the goal! Even though the notebook has three blank pages and is without a pretty cover, Elijah has learned a TON. Beyond the pictures of his notebook, he has read dozens of books about the rain forest and rain forest animals.
Here you can get an idea of just how huge the notebook is
Inside cover
First Page
Layer Puzzle Pieces
Misc. Animals Matchbooks
Close-up of Elijah’s Rhinoceros Beetle (love the drawings kids do in their lapbooks!)
Cats of the Rain Forest
Who Am I? Close-up
I am a… JAGUAR!
Lepoard Draw Write Now
Plants of the Rainforest
Blue Morpho Butterfly and Vine Poem
Opened Butterfly
Poem
Birds of the Rain Forest
Toucan Draw Write Now
Birds Book Opened
Chocolate Page! Elijah designed his own chocolate bar. We went on a fun field trip to a chocolate factory, and we made our own chocolate at home with a kit!
M and M Graphs
Chocolate Process Sequencing Cards
Sloths
Sloths Page 2
Sloths Draw Write Now
Manatees Page 1
Manatees Page 2
The Amazon River – piranahs and anacondas!
All Things Bright and Beautiful Copywork with Dover stickers
Elijah designed this all by himself. I really just need to let go and let him do his own thing! This is my favorite page in the entire book.
