Lots of lap books

We spent time putting together our lap books about birds today. All last year, as we learned about something in our bird study, we made some record of what we had learned. I then stashed them all in a folder so they could all be assembled in a lap book. I only had six out of the eight on the table when I was taking pictures. G. and Y. must have taken theirs upstairs by the time I was taking pictures. There is something appealing about how all the pages open and flaps lift and booklets unfold that is appealing to children. They have all read the information they wrote down months ago, so they are also a great way to review what has been learned.

I'm showing these to repeat my assertion that lap books do not have to be perfect to be useful and for students to enjoy them. They are also not carbon copies of each other even though each child had the same bits of information to include.

Here are the six which were still on the table. I only had manila colored folders today. They look at bit more exciting when you have other colors of file folders.


This is R.'s. I wanted to show you hers to demonstrate how this could be modified for a very young child. She had mainly coloring pages to include, or I wrote information out and she traced it. She was able to understand birds and feathers, and the rest she did because she wanted to work like everyone else.


I wrote, she colored the pictures I drew.

Her cover

This is TM's. Notice the intricate locking system he created for it. He also decided that his book would open downwards.



His cover

This next one is H.'s.

She was able to place and glue in her own booklets this time around, I merely taped her folders together.

I printed out pictures of Q. for the books, and some people chose to make pockets for them to slip inside.

H.'s cover

Here is L.'s

I don't know why this came out sideways, but you can see the pocket she made for the pictures.

Each of the little books you see open up in some way.

L. also put a fastener on hers.

This one is K.'s

K. really liked the folding aspect. Everything is folded in his.

He also decided to add some more bird information to the folder itself.

His cover

Finally, we have D.'s.

D. decided to display his Q. photographs.

Here is a close-up of the feather information you might have caught a glimpse of in some of the others. Types of feathers are listed on the front, and a flap opens to reveal either an actual feather of that type, or a drawing of one. On the inside of the flap (which you can't see) is a written description of that type of feather.


Lap books, done. Check. Two more chapters in our book about the Amistad to go, and that only leaves us with one very labor intensive craft to finish up. We are still waiting on our resident artist with a dremmel drill (cough, M., cough) to finish drilling holes in the extremely hard bird bodies so they can have legs attached. Once they are finished, we can call our bird unit done.
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And one quick follow-up note about August, the month of vegetables. The final total was 32 different vegetables eaten if I don't separate out by different types, and if I do, then the total is 41. I will admit that this is even not particularly thinking about adding extra vegetables into the menu planning for the second half of August. Without too much work, we ate a wide variety of vegetables, and most were eaten by most of the children. If I had continued to be purposeful about adding different vegetables through the whole month, I could have probably raised to the total by at least by 5 or 6 more. This list also only counts dinners, not breakfasts, lunch, or snacks, which would have raised the totals far higher. Really, adding in a variety of vegetables to your diet isn't hard, it is more a matter of habit. First, just always being on the look-out for new recipes to try, then being willing to actually try them, and finally being aware of what you have eaten recently, so that you don't do too much repeating.

Here is the final tally for those who are interested.

Asparagus - 1
Artichoke - 2
Avocado – 3
Basil - 1
Beans (black) - 2
Beans (navy) – 2
Beans (red) - 1
Beets - 1
Bell pepper – 3
Broccoli - 1
Brussels sprouts – 1
Cabbage - 1
Carrots - 3
Cauliflower – 1
Celery - 2
Chickpeas - 1
Chipotle pepper - 1
Corn – 3
Cucumber – 4
Edamame – 1
Eggplant - 1
Escarole – 1
Fennel - 1
Green beans – 1
Green onions – 1
Jalapeno – 1
Lettuce (iceberg) - 2
Lettuce (leaf) – 5
Lettuce (romaine) – 2
Mushrooms (white button) - 1
Okra – 1
Olives (black) – 1
Olives (Kalamata) - 1
Onion – 9
Peas - 2
Potatoes - 1
Spinach – 2
Swiss chard - 1
Tomato (cherry) – 2
Tomato – 10

Zucchini - 2

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