Posts Tagged ‘lapbook’
Pizza Party!
Another week filled with Download N Go fun! After Chocolate Challenge, Elijah decided that we’ll do all the food studies (so we’ll eventually get to Hoppin’ Popcorn and Crunchy Cookies too!).
We started this week off with breakfast pizza (something we’ve never tried before). Elijah was also trying out new smiles when I took pictures Monday morning. Not sure what this one is! 
Don’t be deceived by the name of this study. Pizza Party is about SO much more than pizza! We learned a ton about Italy. We also were introduced to five famous Italians: Marco Polo, Vivaldi, Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo, and Galileo. I have a feeling that Elijah might be turning his focus & energy to learning about Galileo over the next few weeks. He was very curious about this Italian astronomer.
I made an easy tic-tac-toe board for the boys (the link was in the study). So cute and it added a little extra fun for them.
On Tuesday we had a peanut butter and jelly pizza for lunch (Elijah’s request). If you attempt this, make sure you make the crusts high on the sides. Put the toppings on AFTER you bake it.
The boys LOVE this pizza ’cause it’s like a warm PB&J sandwich made with super fresh bread. YUM– even if it is ugly and messy!
On Day 4 we did a Yeast Experiment.
We also made personal pizzas for dinner on Thursday. Simon helped out by chopping up the bacon.
Elijah got to sample some of the new toppings he wanted to try (bacon, sausage, and ham).
Simon put EVERY topping on his pizza!
And, of course, by the final day of our study, Elijah had a notebook to put together. We use spiral bound Bare Books.
Pages 1-2
Pages 3-4
Pages 5-6
Pages 7-8
Pages 9-10
Simon didn’t make a lapbook this time, but I printed an extra copy of the "Pizza Adjectives" pizza and cut it out so Simon could decorate his own paper pizza. That is one HUGE ring of green pepper!
He also had fun helping cook and with our Tuzzles Pizza Fraction Puzzle.
I think we’ve found our groove with Download N Go! We won’t be doing these studies all the time, but they are nice to use when the topic fits Elijah’s current interest. They are also great for sparking NEW interests! We hope to use Crazy Cartoons, Davy Crockett, Rockin’ Robots, Kite Capers, Crunchy Cookies, Magnificent Moon, and Hoppin’ Popcorn sometime this year.
A few notes about DNG
It took me one hour to plan our week (from start to finish) including printing pages, deciding on recipes & making a shopping list (pizza ingredients, felt for pizza tic-tac-toe), pulling books off my shelves, etc. It doesn’t have to take this long, but I looked through the extra links in the study.
I don’t print every page (that would be 112 pages!). What you see in Elijah’s notebook is everything I printed (about 25 pages this time). We do most of the worksheet pages orally (Elijah narrates answers to me) instead of printing them.
You can read more about how I get ready for DNG in my Sunny Seashells post.
Story Study Lapbook
I borrowed this book from a friend. Elijah wanted to lapbook it, so we decided to create a simple story study to go with it.
This lapbook includes: Bible Verses about Contentment accordion, A Circular Story wheel, Fairy Tale Detective mini-book, Contentment matchbook, I Am Thankful For list, flap book with questions, a book review (on the back) and a venn diagram comparing this story to "The Fisherman and His Wife"
This book is an excellent starting point for discussions about needs/wants, contentment, complaining, and greed.
I will upload this lapbook to Homeschool Share in October so others can use it too!
Learning with LEGO
Elijah spent last week learning with LEGO using the digital unit I prepared for him.
He spent four days watching videos about LEGOs, completing building challenges and creating a Lap-N-Note ™.
Putting the lapbook together.
Completed Lap-N-Note ™ Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Elijah’s coolest creation of the week–
V is for Vegetables
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Please read the information about Read to Me & ABC here
Read to Me
Our book of the week was Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert.
Alphabet Art- Valentine V
Supplies
V Pattern
cut up valentine cards
glue
Glue the card pieces to the V and you’ll have your Valentine V!
Lessons & Lapbook
I used the lessons and lapbook from Homeschool Share. We also colored and glued some of the V printables from the Alphabet Notebook to the back of the lapbook (not pictured).
Simon’s garden journal was cute. He told me what to write:
I planted little seeds. Then it sprouted. Then it became a plant. It is going to have very huge squash on it. I am going to share it and eat it.
Here is a little greenhouse I found at a book sale (yes, I find the strangest things at book sales!).
You can recreate this idea with a plastic bag. You could even use some cardboard to make a frame for the greenhouse.
You simply tuck a wet paper towel and a few seeds inside the house. Radish seeds are great because they sprout so fast. We’ve actually use this multiple times with different seeds.
Let’s Make a Memory ~ Cooking Vegetable Soup
First, we headed out to the garden to grab some of our home grown vegetables. Then I peeled and chopped and sliced and diced until we had tons of veggies.
We started with garlic, onion, and olive oil. After it cooked Simon added the broth.
And lots of veggies (celery, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, and cabbage)!
Book Basket
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens
Muncha, Muncha, Muncha by Candace Fleming
Stone Soup (any version)
Shopping List
~ ingredients for vegetable soup
~ seeds
~ plastic bag & paper towel (to create your own green house)
A Change of Pace
I’ve never helped a child make a complete lapbook in one day.
I’ve never lapbooked with two children at the same time.
And. . . I’ve never lapbooked with girls.
Well, now I’ve done all those things (at once)!
.
The entire morning was a whirlwind of glitter, giggles, and glue. The pink crayons got a workout!
We started off our time together by reading Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. After our reading, we dove right in to the lapbooks using the templates at Homeschool Share.
Each lapbook is made of two file folders.
Girlie #1’s Lapbook
Girlie #2’s Lapbook
The front of the lapbooks had the girls’ names in glitter (why yes, I am CRAZY!) The lapbacks are pictured below:
We had so much fun! Hopefully, we can do this again!
Sunny Seashells
We had a fantastic week using the new Download N Go study, Sunny Seashells! Ever since our Five in a Row Night of the Moonjellies co-op, the boys have been wanting to explore the topic of seashells.
Books We Read
Gramma’s Walk by Anna Grossnickle Hines
One Small Square Seashore by Donald Silver
Science Nature Guides Seashells (a great book for identifying shells!)
Slugs and Snails (we read this to learn more about mollusks) by Claire Llewellyn
The Burgess Seashore Book for Children by Thornton W. Burgess
I just want to say that we (all three of us!) are loving The Burgess Seashore Book for Children! You will learn so much about the critters living on the seashore. It is the perfect read aloud for this unit.
A Box of Shells!
Monday started off on the right foot. I ordered a small package of shells, and it arrived that afternoon! My kids were pretty excited.
Table Cloth Making
On Tuesday the boys painted an ocean-themed table cloth for our shell party. This is one of the project ideas in the Family Fun section of the unit.
We stamped a few shells and fishy hands, but other than that, the boys just painted whatever they wanted. I had to chant process not product to myself while this was happening!
Shell Matching Game
The boys used Simon’s shell matching game (from O is for Ocean) to play a few rounds on Thursday. Simon is ridiculously good at this game.
On Friday we prepared some shell cupcakes for our party! These are easy to make. You can find my tutorial in this blog post.
Using the Download N Go Unit
Each Download N Go unit comes with a lot of printable pages. A lot. After our test-run DNG, Benjamin Franklin, I decided that the worksheets = too much writing for Elijah. By Day 4, he didn’t even want to continue with the study, and he wanted to learn about Ben Franklin (his idea, not mine).
However, I was not willing to give up on the product because the videos, the links, the projects. . .everything was really great and would make for some easy (for me!) delight-directed studies.
I decided for our next try, I would only print a few pages for Elijah plus the lapbook. I printed 22 pages total this time.
It didn’t take much time for me to go through the unit and decide what to print. Then I split the work up by the day in this handy folder (I found mine at Wal-mart).
Inside it has pockets and more pockets. Each page is a large pocket with a smaller pocket below. This is wonderful for lapbooking. I have it open to Thursday and Friday in the picture below. Thursday’s work (left side) is done. It goes BACK IN the folder until the end of the unit when Elijah is ready to assemble his notebook. Friday’s work (right side) is still waiting on Elijah.
Elijah knew what to do each day. He pulled his work out of the folder, went through the Download N Go unit, narrated what he learned (instead of filling out all the worksheets), and completed the notebooking/lapbooking pages for that day.
It worked really, really well for us!
Sunny Seashells Notebook Pictures
Elijah picked a Bare Book to use as the base for his lap/notebook. We did add some copywork pages (see pages 4, 5, & 7 of the notebook) to the unit. You can download these here.
Once Elijah had finished all the work in the purple folder, he laid everything out on the table to start on his notebook lay-out. I always have to leave the room so I won’t put my grubby fingers all over it. I only helped when he asked for my opinion.
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6 (from Draw Write Now Book 6)
Page 7
Page 8
We printed the Tide Pool Activity on cardstock and made flaps out of the creature cut-outs. Elijah wrote the name of each creature under the corresponding flap.
Page 9
You can read about Simon’s week here.
Sunny Seashells Preschool Style
Simon loving his conch shells. His favorite, though, are moon snail shells.
Literature
Here are the books I read to Simon during our shell unit. For Simon, the focus was on animal homes & shells (not just seashells).
Are You a Snail? by Judy Allen
Jenny’s Surprise Summer by Eugenie
A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle
What Lives in a Shell? by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
Craft ~ Ocean in a Bottle
This is super easy (and cheap!) to do.
You need:
water, a plastic bottle, baby oil, blue food coloring, glue, and shells (I found some fun crafting shells at Hobby Lobby)
Fill the bottle 1/2 full with water. Add baby oil (we probably used 3/4 cup). Drop in small shells.
Add some food coloring (just 1-2 drops or the color will be too dark).
Add some glue around the top edges and screw the lid on.
After the lid dries, give your bottle a shake, shake, shake! Hold it on its side, and you’ll see waves, foam, and bubbles–irresistible for any preschooler!
Lapbook
His lapbook is based on What Lives in a Shell? by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld. You can download the lapbook templates & instructions.
Completed Lapbook
Left Side
/sh/ accordion open
Seashells t-book open
Middle of lapbook with a few of the books open
Right side
decorated snail
Animals Living in Shells hotdog book open
Simon also had fun playing our shell matching game, baking & decorating cupcakes, helping paint our tablecloth, and learning the names of shells. You can read more about his adventure (and his big brother’s adventure, too!) in this post.
Q is for Quick
Please read the information about Read to Me & ABC here
Read to Me
Our book of the week was Quick as a Cricket by Don & Audrey Wood.
Alphabet Art- Quilted Q
Supplies
Q Pattern
fabric scraps
glue
paintbrush and lid (optional)
I cut the scraps with pinking shears to give them more of a fabric look (whatever that is!). I don’t love this alphabet art, but don’t tell Simon because he’s quite proud! Those of you who sew could make this quilted Q much cuter.
I think you know what to do: glue & stick. I let Simon use the paintbrush with some watered-down glue because it works better for him.
Lessons & Lapbook
I used some of the lessons & printables from the Quick as a Cricket unit I created for Homeschool Share.
Let’s Make a Mess Memory ~ Queen of Heart Tarts
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon milk
jam (Your choice! We used blackberry because we made a fresh batch last week)
Directions
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
Using a different bowl, cream together shortening and sugar.
Add eggs, vanilla, milk, and sifted ingredients. Mix well.
Roll out on a floured surface. Cut with a medium sized heart-shaped cookie cutters. (We started with a small one. . . no one wants to eat tiny tarts!)
Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Cool.
Spread some jam on each cookie and top with another cookie. Dust the tops of the cookies with powdered sugar (because they clearly don’t have enough sweetness already!).
We sat down for a Mother Goose tea-time and started with the obvious:
The Queen of Hearts,
She made some tarts
All on a summer’s day.
The Knave of Hearts,
He stole the tarts
And took them clean away.
The King of Hearts,
Called for the tarts
And beat the Knave full sore.
The Knave of Hearts
Brought back the tarts
And vowed he’d steal no more.
Book Basket
The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle
Little Quack by Lauren Thompson
The Random House Book of Mother Goose ("Queen of Hearts" pg. 74)
Shopping List
~ fabric scraps
~ glue
~ ingredients for Queen of Heart Tarts
LEGO Unit & Lapbook!
Finally!
After two years of asking, Elijah finally has a LEGO lapbook.
I designed this unit study like Astronaut Adventures. It’s written to the student and each day includes four components: Copywork, Word of the Day, Explore & Learn, and Building Challenge.
I hope your student enjoys this as much as mine will!
Astronaut Adventures
Mission: Have fun learning with the Astronaut Mini-Unit
Status: Complete
~prepping some mini-books
~working through the videos, interactive websites, and astronaut information
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Elijah’s next exploration is "Mad Science!"
Who says summer school can’t be fun?! :)
