Decimal Street-Lapbook Style

I have a updated version due to my photos being deleted because the host of my original blog has shut down- you can find it here:  2013 Decimal Street Lapbook Style

I had an idea that had been floating around in my head for about 2-3 years now and I never got around to doing it until NOW!!! For our Math Curriculum we use Math-U-See. I love it and my kids love it! It was a God-send! Below, is the story of how I learned about this wonderful curriculum. If you want to skip it, scroll down to the third paragraph.

Naw, on second thought don't scroll down, read the whole post- you'll enjoy it. lol

I had just pulled my oldest son out of school and the school-yes, the school, gave me math workbooks to help me out (that is a story for another post). We would work in workbooks everyday and cry everyday- both of us and I mean real tears. He hated math and I hated teaching it. I would mention the word and he would cry and I would join right in with him-misery loves company. We would have our cry out, then we would start the lesson to no avail. After about 6 long months of this, I prayed and fasted and told the Lord, if he wanted me to homeschool, He was going to have to do something with the math situation. I went to my first Home School Convention and yep, I was in shock. My mom came with me (of which later on she helped to get all grandparents a discount of paying only $10 to attend the convention). We were looking through the rows and rows and rows of curriculum and I thought I should look for some math manipulatives-especially blocks- I just wanted some blocks. So, on the last day, I set out to find a set. I didn't look at the name of the booths, I just looked on the tables for blocks. Well, I came across this one table that had the perfect set. I asked the price, the woman told me and I thought that was pretty high for some blocks. The woman then walked away. I looked around on the tables and there was a bunch of white books with a strip of color and they had Greek names on them-huh? What was this a sorority thing? Then, I looked to see what booth I was at and the sign said, "Math-U-See". 
I was turning to leave and this woman looked at my mother and I and asked me if I knew what this was. I told her no. Next thing I know, the woman's face lit up and she began to tell me how much MUS helped her son. She talked to me for almost 30 minutes and she began to use the blocks to show me how the curriculum worked-I found out later on her name was Kim and she had driven here from another state just to get her MUS. The most surprising part was that she was not a representative, but another mom who loved it!!! I was so totally sold, but I had spent all of money on other things and had only $50 left for my homeschool budget. I had made up in my mind, I was going to buy it for the next year. My mom (I just love her) asked me if I thought it was good and I told her I thought it was excellent- she said, "Alright, lets get everything you need so we can take it home!" She bought it all! Including both sets of blocks! Plus a few extra sets for just in case they needed to go either forward or backward a book. I went into a stupor from the shock of such a blessing while Kim, my mom and the rep got everything I would need, all I did was nod my head when asked a question. I snapped out of it after I had the bags in my hands. I hugged Kim, I hugged my mom (did I mention how much I love her?) and I went to hug the rep and thought I'd better not. lol

Well, the test was when we got home and did math with my son. I pulled out the books. We looked at each other. I put in the DVD and the child actually laughed at something Mr. Demme said-huh?
Then we pulled out the blocks and began the lesson. We did one page, then another, then another and my son looked at me and asked, when would we start math- I told him we were doing it! He was amazed and so was I! I still cry time to time at math time- but it's tears of joy for having MUS! Now, he tells me math is his favorite subject!

Alright, I said all of that to get to this...I love lapbooking, and I love MUS. I have been wanting to smoosh the two together for the longest. I kinda did when I made math mini offices for my children, but I wanted to do "Decimal Street" in a lapbook. There are instructions in the curriculum of how to make one out of a poster board, like my first one, but like any homeschool family, we school all over the house and I thought how much easier it would be in a lapbook form. Welllllll, we moved back in March. I cannot find my decimal street I made about 4 years ago. MUS also gives out a poster now when you purchase your curriculum, and it too, is in box heaven. None of my children needed it really, until this week! So, guess what? I made it into a lapbook with the help of the Lord and I am excited to share!!!

Here's Mr. Demme explaining it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdbhLkiaQuM

Here's a picture of a poster version of Decimal Street-it's similar to my poster  (I'm not for sure who did this, but if they speak up, I will give honor to whom honor is due):

Here is the cover of the Decimal Street- Lapbook Style. I thought since you have a decimal street, what is normally on the street? CARS! My mom had just bought the boys these stickers and they were kinda sitting around, so I asked them if I could have them, they so graciously gave me permission to have them :

Here is the inside completely open & with the hundreds house unfolded:


I used the little cards for writing numbers in, like this-see them on the "street":

Here is the back, with the folder closed. I made a clear pocket out of the lamination I used to cover the lapbook with and hot glued it on there:

Now, for the test-did the kids like it and was it user friendly??? Yep! My middle son approved. Can you tell he's homeschooled?  He's wearing his pajamas to school!

Now, for test #2. I think I passed this one, too-with my younger son! They just got the pajamas and don't care to change out them.

This kid had to be funny and build the sun. I only put it there so the space wouldn't look so empty:
Alright, so as the Bible says, "Here is the conclusion of the whole matter"- here is the front: (Notice my son in the background? He is building a MUS sandwich)

Here is the middle:

Here is the back:
Wanna know how I did it? Well since I like you, I guess I'll tell you  : )

This is what you need- you probably already have it being one of the most fantastic home school mom in the whole wide world:

• Scissors


• Glue (stick is really better)


• A ruler


• Stickers from my mother- you can't have them, but you can purchase them at the $1 store for $1 :)
• File Folder- either regular size or legal size


• Primary colors card stock paper from Wally World (aka Wal-Mart-$4.00)


• Lamination from Wally World (aka Wal-Mart-$6.00)


• Glue Gun from Wally World (aka Wal-Mart-$3.00)


• Seeing my children walk away with a MUS Decimal Street Lapbook- priceless.


• Sorry, I couldn't resist that one. Can you tell I was up until 3 in the morning working on this and taking care of sick children? I'm acting really special.

Anyway, you won't use up everything, like all the paper and the lamination, but it's so nice to have for future lapbooks and various things around the house. If your on a budget- like I am, I just happen to have to buy the two, you can easily replace the paper with construction paper or regular color paper and still get the same effect.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me. God bless!

Shape Book Lapbook?

I have named these shape-book lapbooks. I guess I was thinking a little out of the box (folder in this case). I really wanted to do something different with this chapter of insects. I knew what I wanted to do in my head, but not on paper. I tried and tried to find black file folders to go along with the theme, but couldn't find any. I asked on the HOAC Lapbooking group and some suggested using black poster board and cut it like a file folder. Others suggested black card stock or black wrapping paper. I appreciate every comment because they were all helpful and left me with ideas I hadn't thought of for future projects. We begin our Space and Planets chapter next week.

For this particular lapbook, the poster board worked best because of the size. I folded the poster board in half and drew on the front part, the outline of a insect. Then, I had the kids decorate the outside the way they wanted to with whatever insect they chose before hand. Depending on the insect, these are a little longer than a legal size file folder- maybe about a 4-5" longer. I plan to store them where I store all my poster size items- between the wall and the bookcase. My 7 year old did an ant lapbook, my 11 year old did a bee lapbook and my 13 year old did a lady bug lapbook. My 4 year old did one on a butter fly to keep him quiet while we worked but, there's nothing inside it. At the moment, he is not in a picture taking mood.

I don't know if you can see in the pics, but the ant and the bee have wings made out of page protectors cut in the shape of wings with brads to attach them to the body. For the antennas, we used pipe cleaners and fuzzy balls from Walmart. The kids favorite part were the "googly" eyes. (Is that a word?) Since we studied about compound eyes, my son with the bee book, put a lot of eyes to show the concept. BTW, my seven year old really wanted to make a mouth for his ant with teeth and all...and to have the smile over to the side and not in the middle.

• The most of the mini books were from : http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/lapbooks/insects.htm

                 It's free and came in handy on short notice.

• For the bee lapbook, I had downloaded a free lapbook from HOAC about a year and half ago. So, I used a few mini books from the packet: http://www.handsofachild.com/shop/Bees-P42.aspx

Everything else, got from either googling the words, "ants, ladybugs, or bee coloring pages" or from what I could get free from the Enchanted Learning Website.
This was different from doing regular lapbooks from file folders, so if you want to put a twist on lapbooking...this is it! My kids were so excited about it, that they worked overtime on their own and we finished it today. I was really counting on this to be a project for the rest of the week, but...I'm not complaining!

Classical Music & Composers Lapbook/Folderbook

For the past two weeks, we have been studying about Music and Composers.  It turned out to be more than I expected. My children really got into it and my daughter began her recorder lessons. When we move, we plan to begin her with piano lessons. My oldest son is interested in playing the drums. He got an unexpected surprise when my husband brought home a drum pad with the drum sticks and instructions. It wasn't too hard to teach the lessons, I play (or have played) the flute, clarinet, bass clarinet and a teeny tiny bit of the piano. I love music.

Since our curriculum had us also studying composers, I thought instead of doing a lapbook, we would do a "folderbook"- it's a mix of a lapbook with a folder. Yeah, I made the word up...I got the idea from another mom on a group list I belong to. I hot glued the lapbook to the front of a three prong folder.

I found many, many helpful resources. My favorite site was my blog friends, Jimmie Squiddo page: http://www.squidoo.com/musiclapbook
It was full of so much info and help. Our curriculum suggested we listen or watch  "Peter and the Wolf". My library had one copy and it was checked out. I finally got it, but then I read on Jimmie's page about a site that has the entire recording online that can be listened to for free! I f you plan to study classical music and want to make a lapbook- her page is the place to look.
Another wonderful site is: Classics for Kids: http://www.classicsforkids.com/
We would listen to the lessons about composers and the kids would do a short report from the info they heard. They have print outs about each composer that includes games. While my older ones were working, my middle son had fun at the site playing interactive games that helped him to identify notes, keep rhythm, and compose his own songs.
Our coloring sheets of composers were downloaded free from: http://www.notebookingpages.com/index.php?page=Free-Art-Music-Notebooking-Pages
Free lapbook booklets at HomeSchool Helper: www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/lapbooks/orchestra.htm
Music worksheets at Enchanted Learning: www.enchanted learning.com
For the orchestras by periods-Dallas Symphony Orchestra Kids website: www.dsokids.com/2001/rooms/musicroom.asp

Volcanoes Part II

Well, we have finished a lapbook on volcanoes. It was not my intent to do a lapbook, but we did. I am actually pretty pleased with it. Only my two middle sons did them. When I taught it from the curriculum, my first grader was the only one who was supposed to study and make a volcano, but his brothers were really excited and I pulled them into the lesson. Someone shared on my curriculums group site, a company that would charge $1 for rock samples. They come in a nice little pack, divided up with what type of rocks they are. We had fun and here are a few pics:

Interactive Map: http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/pompeii/pmpMain.html
Mount Vesuvius erupting: http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/pompeii/pmpErup.html
Pompeii: http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/pompeii/pmpPomp.html
To order your own Texas Rock Kit, for $1.00: www.beg.utexas.edu/mainweb/publications/pubs-toorder.htm

Bible & Books of the Bible Lapbook

This week we completed our Bible and books of the Bible Lapbook. This took a lot of prayer and thought when I was designing it. I KNOW it was the Lord who helped me with this-He helps me in every way, but this one was not one I took lightly. After all, we were doing a lapbook on the GREATEST BOOK.
The lesson plan called for us to study the Bible- not just what's in it, but the Bible itself. I was pleased to learn that my two older children had already covered the divisions of the Bible in Sunday School (my husband and my pastor's wife are their teachers-so my husband is proud.

My 6 year old's lapbook is different from my 11 &13 year old's. Because I wanted my 6 year old to understand on his level, we used "Old Testament City' & "New Testament City" (this part was suggested in our curriculum, but with ancient houses that could be used in on a wall or a spread out on the floor). Of course, the cities were located in the state of the Bible. There were various streets- Pentateuch (Law) Avenue, History Lane, Poetry Circle, Major Prophets Way and Minor Prophets Road, just to name a few. Each division of the books are different colors. My son was really excited, and on his own, he drew little people to visit each house and just in case they were tired, he made them a car also.

For my older two children, we used legal size folders and I made small booklets in the same colors of my 6 year old's.  They wrote the names of the books on the outside and put them in the correct divisions.

After doing the Dino Lapbook with Live & Learn press, I gleaned a lot of ideas from them- as far as using different folds for the mini books.

There were some words I wanted my children to learn, so we began with vocabulary: inspiration, history, translation, holy, epistles, Pentateuch...ect.
The kids colored a map of the three continents where the Bible was written.
The Christian History Institute for Kids was very useful and informative- it gave us just the amount of info we needed when we studied about William Tyndale and King James.
Also, this site( MSSS Bible Lesson) was helpful when looking for worksheets and childrens kind of Bible stuff.
To drive home about how difficult it was to translate the Bible from one language to another, we used a name generator- this one did the job and had all three Bible languages. Which we used to make the children's names in the three languages. It was interesting to see their names this way... I actually did my own name!
For the Big Bible: http://www.raindrop.org/rugrat/fun/cbible.gif
To my surprise, when I read the resource section of our curriculum, there was a tic-tac-toe game! So I made a board and used some clipart to make markers. In order for the children to be able to put a marker on the board, they had to correctly answer a question, such as: Name the 5 books of Law, how many books are in the Minor Prophets division...ect.
Also, on the back are a few pics of our trip to the Holy Land Experience. One is of my children in front of a replica of the Cave of the Qumran and the other is of the Scriptorium- it shows how the Word of God came to be with us, today. When my mom went to Israel last year, she brought back for me a small replica of the clay pots that the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in. I made a copy of the scroll (which contained
Isaiah 61:1) and had the children copy the verse on the back in English. Then, I rolled it up and put a rubber band around around. I did something different with the pocket to hold it. I basically folded the sides and bottoms of the paper like a little accordion. That way I was able to store the scroll without it getting smashed.
Today, to go along with the lesson, we began the process of making papyrus paper. I plan to post pics as I am able to- it should take about a week or two before we will be finshed with it.
Finally, here are the pics...enjoy!
To see the title of the pics or to pause the slide show, just put your mouse over the pic.

 

Maya, Inca and Aztec thingy

We did a mini study of the Maya, Inca and Aztec last week. Today, we finished this...I just don't know exactly what to call it. There are a few mini books, but then I added pages with page protectors to put the kids reports in and it's not a file folder refolded, its a a regular folder with the three prongs. Soooooooo, it's not a lap book, it's not a notebook, I guess it's lap/note book thingy...or I'll just call it a folder book. (Ummm, can I have that patented?) Any ways, here they are below.  This was basically a breif overview of the subject covered and in 5 days time. For the folder books, with my younger two, I used History Pockets Ancient History and for my older ones, I used Inca, Aztec, Maya reproducable book by edupress.

Books we read and used were Eyewitness Books, Aztec, Inca, and Maya. Aztec and Maya arts and crafts and  Me Oh Maya with the Time Warp Trio. To help my 7th grader, she read, "Streams of Civilizations" and my 6th grader read, "The Story of the World". These were really good to emphasize and supplement what we were learning about. I also made up a worksheet for the kids to fill in about each ones location, social structure and religion. Our curriculum suggested them to write a report and the easiest way for all of us to this was for me to make up a worksheet (it as the Lord's idea, not mine : ))

This week we will be learning about the Bible- not about the info in the Bible, but about the Bible itself. Who wrote it, why is it called a "book of books", how many books are in the Bible, ect. We will be making it into a lapbook, as well. Of course I will post pics!

 

Dino Lapbooks are FINISHED!!!!

What a fun Dinosaur lapbook! I purchased it from Live & Learn Press. (To see sample pages click here) It is the largest lapbook we have every done! It took three file folders to put all the mini books in. This is also the first lapbook I have actually purchased and it was worth every penny.

I was really frustrated trying to find the right information about Dinos so I could teach.
The problem was it was so much information and I had a hard time trying to figure out what was necessary to teach and what really wasn't important at this time. Then I came across this lapbook. It was perfect! We have learned so much in the last couple of weeks. I have the pics of all four of our lapbooks below. (Normally, I would three lapbooks, but my four year old was DETERMINED to be involved in this study. He cut out his own mini books and colored his own papers. He is so proud and so am I.)
As a teacher, I learned a lot on the lapbook side of things. The way Live and Learn Press did their folds and  the set up of the folders were so informational and made so much more sense. My favorite part was the tic-tac-toe Dino game. I printed it on cardstock paper and then covered it with some laminating stuff, that didn't need heat and it looked so nice! I just came out of my sons' room and they had their lapbooks out playing the game. Another game they played was with the dino cards. I believe the ebook came with about 24 cards of different dinos that were to be cut out. My sons played a match up game and it kept them occupied for awhile.

I chose not to do some of the booklets for time's sake, but the next time we cover Dinos, I plan to do it all.
To go with the theme we watched "The Land Before Time Movies" along with Disney's "Dinosaurs"
My youngest son really got into the Disney movie. He had never seen it before and neither had my middle son. So, we made a big deal out of it. I spread a blanket out on the floor and made two bowls of popcorn.
I know it sounds simple, but it was a big deal to the kids! We also added some Dinosaurs to our educational toys. (They kept my four year old busy while we did school work-I think I learned something, to keep everybody on the same topic, I can buy toys from the $1 on whatever subject we are covering. I think he feels included more)

I was trying to figure out what I could do with food as far as dinos are concerned...I went into Wal-Mart and saw a neat sandwich cutter with the shapes of Dinosaurs. Two dinos per sandwich and no crust (one of children does not like the crust on the bread. Not bad for $1.99!

Something I would like to share- We had McDonalds the other night:
11 year old: Hey, can I have your leftover fries?
6 year old: Sure, but then I will call you a scavenger! (one of our vocabulary words from this lesson)

For the pictures, my 6th & 7th grade children did the same lapbooks. I have a lot of my 6th graders pics because his folders are three different colors and it makes things easier to understand.
Here are some pics...

 

 

My Son's Self Made Lapbook

My oldest ds came to me yesterday and said he wanted to do a presentation on the Rain Forest and he wanted to do it by himself. (For school we are studying dinos.) I thought it was just something to keep him busy for a few minutes, but much to my surprise, he pulled out our Child Craft Encyclopedias and worked for about two hours!!! This is my 11 year old son-who does not like to read, write nor do schoolwork .
WOW. Then he asks me for a folder to make a lapbook. HUH?!?!? Did HE ask to do a lapbook!?!? After working diligently and telling his brothers to be quiet because he had to concentrate, he shows me his lapbook.
He drew all the pictures, colored them and did a small report on each. He then proceeds to tell me what each drawing is, ect. I am sitting there totally in wonder and awe- he can really do it!!! Here are a few pics of his hard work...

My son and his lapbook- so proud!

Front cover with pic of a Red Eye Tree Frog
Here's what you cant's see- on the left he wrote about trees in the Rain Forest, In the middle is a report about various plants found there and on the right is a Tree Monkey, with a report. Oh, he added a leaf as a little extra something so that we could "scratch and sniff" to enhance our Rain Forest Experience!
Please congratulate him on his blog:  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/sonicman525                                                                                    

Ancient Egypt Lapbooks

We finally finished up our Ancient Egypt lapbooks! We were so exhausted at the end of the last school year, until I immediately put everything down in the middle of whatever we were covering and took our Summer break! To see more on our study of Egypt and to see the resources I used to make our lapbooks with, click here.
A few instructions when viewing them:

• If you need the slide show to slow down, click on the - sign in the lower left hand corner.


• To pause, hit the pause pause button in the same area.


• To see the titles of the pics, just put your cursor over the pic and the title will come up. Enjoy!!!

 

First Set of lapbooks

I finally found out how to get categories in my blog- it took me forever! The Lord had mercy and saw I wasn't about to stop until I got my categories! Anyway, here a few pics of our Lapbooks we did awhile back:

 

Cool Slideshows!

Mini Offices

I made these for my children about two years ago. They are wonderful and come in handy on a regular basis. They are excellent to put up on the table when the children are being easily distracted with each other. To make them a little more "welcoming" for my kids, I put their favorite characters on the covers and throughout the inside by using stickers, ect.

If you plan to make one or two of these, my advice is to make sure the information that is used inside of them, matches whatever curriculum you use. For my older children's Writing Office, I looked through their L.A. curriculum, copied the needed pages and replaced it with whatever was suggested on the website.

My daughter is now in the 7th grade, so I tweaked her offices to make them fit her needs, especially in the area of math. For her's I put in the formulas of finding the area of different shapes, along with the volume & total surface area formulas. One thing she really needed help with was Measurements, so that was definitely included.

Someone from my church laminated all of them for me. (Thanks, Chris) Free of Charge!!!

To explain the pics below:  I have the front cover, followed by a pic of the entire office on one side, (sometimes there are pics of the back side, if I used them), then a pic of each section. I'm sorry some have a light from the flash on my camera. On some of the covers you will see a white blob- it's where my children's names are at and I purposely blobbed it for privacy reasons.

Oh! I purposely made the pics big so they could be seen.

Hope you enjoy!

If you have any questions, email me!

Here are some links along with printable templates:

Teaching Heart's, Busy Teacher's Cafe, K-2 Printables

 

Mini-Offices Slide Show

 

Speaking of Ancient Egypt...

That reminds me...the last time we did a study on Egypt, we also did the Ten Plagues. We had so much fun! I think I say that every time, but we really did! I didn't have a blog back then, soooooooooo since I have one now, I will post from an email I shared with others to help them out who would teach the chapter after me and for you .

We are really enjoying this chapter-
I just went to a suggested site with my children and we heard so many different
frog sounds! I didn't know that they could make so much noise:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/frogs/tracker/

When I began the lesson about frogs we read about it in the Bible and while the
children were writing I went downstairs and put small pieces of construction paper
all over the lower level of the house- so as they went down for lunch they were
greeted by "frogs". I forgot I had done it, until they went down for lunch
and began screaming and yelling. I asked what was wrong and my four year old said,
"Mommy, there are frogs every where!" - they were, I put them in the fridge,
the freezer, the bread, the cereal, the top of the stove, the floor, the table-
you name it, it was there. If we lived during that time, I doubt if they would have
survived this plague.   We have a tadpole and they began talking about what if he
multiplied and was all over the house, the yard, the city, ect.

For the water being turned to blood, without them knowing, I put food coloring
in some bottled water. I asked them to get me some water from the pantry and they
looked sooooooo confused when they came back with red water. That began our lesson
for the day- I couldn't pay them to drink it.

We covered the plague of lice the other day- on a site I saw where it was suggested
to get a whole punch and take the dots of paper and put it on a wide piece of clear
tape and wear it for a while. The lice was the paper and tape did itch, so it got
the point across.

Now they get up in the morning and have been asking for plagues!


Oh and here's the site with things to with the plagues:

A fun activity to represent the ten plagues can be reenacted. Ten days before Passover
begins, do something in your home to represent each one of the ten plagues. Here
are a few examples. Be creative and make up your own symbols.

1. Nile waters turning to blood --put red food coloring in the water glasses at
the dinner table, in the bathroom sinks, in the dog's water bowl, and anywhere else
you can think of.

2. The frogs--Use green construction paper to cut out roundish frogs with thin green
legs. Bend the legs to make the frogs look as if they are jumping. Put them everywhere,
in cereal boxes, in the shower, refrigerator, drawers, etc.

3. The lice--Use a hole punch to make many small white "dots" out of plain
white paper. Scotch tape them on your body and leave them on for a few hours. The
appearance and irritation will make you think of itching lice.

4. The flies-- Use clear scotch tape to tape pepper or small "dots" of
black construction paper in different areas of the house, the windows, the bathroom
mirrors, etc.

5. Disease afflicting the Egyptian livestock--put stuffed animals in different areas
of the house, upside down.

6. Boils--Use a hole punch to make many small red ÿdotsÿ out of red construction
paper (or cut out circles). Cover each other with boils by scotch taping them on
your body and leave them on for a few hours. The appearance and irritation will
make you think of the boils.

7. Hailstorm--Put ice cubes around the outside of your house, the porch areas and
on the outside window sills.

8. Locusts-- Use brown construction paper to cut out oval-looking locusts. Put them
everywhere as you did the frogs (you'll even think of some new places to surprise
your family).

9. Darkness--Tape brown paper bags over all the windows, draw all draperies to keep
it dark in the daytime, or don't turn on any lights in the evening.

10. Put red ribbon on the sides and top of door post of your house to avoid the
death plague. When the neighbors ask what the ribbon is for you can witness to them!