Thursday, October 9, 2008

Unprofessional Lapbooks

I'm not one of these slick mamas with computer generated lapbooks. And I want the world to know that you can make a lapbook with nothing but paper, markers, and scissors. If you have to. And I do. Unless I'm downloading some slick mama's lapbook off the internet. Bless you slick mamas. You make my school easier.

But Little Bit told me she wanted to learn about Dora. And there is precious little homeschooling information on Dora. So I had to use my brain. And yes, it did hurt just a little. But in my brainstorming I thought of some wonderful things I could use Dora to teach. So, without further ado, here is our very unprofessional Dora lapbook:
Materials needed for cover: black magic marker, printout from computer, and cutout from a shoebox.

Here's the left side of the lapbook. I think the obvious thing to teach was beginning letters. I got the little books from this site and the Dora character printouts from the computer.

Here's the other side of the lapbook. We did a 5 Senses unit the week we evacuated for Hurricane Ike. Then we made this book. Little Bit thought of all the things Dora would use her senses for.
Then we covered the four seasons just for review. We discussed what kinds of clothing Dora would need to wear in each season and sorted our calendar month names into the right seasons.
Lastly, we made a star pocket on the back of the lapbook.
We did a small unit on community helpers. I was all geared up to do a really big community helpers theme as it seems to be a really popular theme for kids Little Bit's age. But what I found was that she could already tell me exactly what a fire fighter, mailman, doctor, etc. did. Why do a whole unit on it? We read some books and made these little "community helper stars."


So, that's how you make an un-slick lapbook. As you can see it's all made with materials that you probably have on hand. Next time, I'm going to search the internet for lapbooks BEFORE I ask, "So, what do you want to learn about next?"



REMINDER: Fitness Friday is tomorrow!!! This week we are discussing what we are doing differently at mealtimes. See you there!

10 comments:

  1. Great lapbook! Looks way more professional than I have done. Because I have yet to do any. :)

    And, isn't it great that you can "skip" entire units (community helpers)in homeschool because your daughter already knows the content? Ah, the flexibility! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think letting her do the work herself is MUCH more rewarding (not to mention time saving) than just getting one off the internet.

    Think of all the brain power you use creating all the little bits for it.

    You did it, you did it, you did it!
    Lo hicemos. *Dadadadadadadada* yeah!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You know what? I don't like computer-generated lapbooks. They're just not the same. I like the kids to show what THEY'VE learned and found interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I LOVE IT! So adorable and incredibly ingenious!!!! Hey are you coming to bookclub?

    ReplyDelete
  5. cute!!!Our lap books look a lot like this too!! Thanks for your kind words over at my place...Have a good weekend!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. well, look at this!!

    i was just doing a google search for doctor printables and lapbook stuff (my oldest is interested in being a doctor - he's 7!) and look who showed up in my google search!

    these are what my lapbooks look like too!

    by the way, we've done a high school musical one this one and are currently looking to make a star wars one!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi...we haven't done any lapbooks--I've just never really thought much about it. This looks so doable and so fun, though! Thanks for the inspiration. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi! I found your site after Googling Staw Wars Lapbooks.

    I really like your blog!!! Your About Me section is great.

    Do you have a Star Wars Lapbook on your blog somewhere?

    THANKS!

    ReplyDelete
  9. To Suzanne, my 7 year old daughter should get together with your 7 year-old son! She spontaneously started her Doctor Lapbook last night, and I was looking for ideas on how to lay it out (we're not terribly crafty at our house, and yes, I do occasionally use the computer to help with lapbook design...but like it to be primarily done by the child.) Did you find any helpful resources, or complete a doctor lapbook that we could look at?
    Thanks! Gwen

    ReplyDelete

I don't get to talk to a lot of actual grown-ups during the day, so your comments make me really happy! :)