Teach with Me: Lapbooks

I recently added the new Teach with Me section to the blog to share educational websites and resources with our friends. I thought that it would be a good idea to also do regular Teach with Me posts where I will share different things that are done in my classroom, as well as additional educational resources and websites.

The very first post is about Lapbooks. Lapbooks can be done by anyone as young as preschool age to adults. Lapbooks are fun, hands-on, creative ways for your child to record and show what he or she is learning. Several activities are done throughout the unit of study and are cut out, folded, assembled and glued into a file folder. The completed lapbook serves as a review/assessment tool for your child. Lapbooks are much more engaging than regular worksheets in my opinion.

We recently completed a lapbook in my classroom that covers the Language Arts concepts covered during that particular week.

 Language Arts:

Stories: Sam, Come Back! and Puppy Games

Phonics: Short a and Final ck

Grammar: Complete sentences

Spelling Words: The students have 12 spelling words each week.

Each student will complete a new Language Arts lapbook each week. We will also make Science themed lapbooks to go along with our unit of study. We are currently studying the properties of matter during the first four weeks of school. At the end of the four weeks, the students will have a completed lapbook that shows everything that was covered from the definition of matter to pictures that show what happens when two materials are mixed together. We also have Math journals and Social Studies folders.

This picture shows the front of our Language Arts lapbook.

This is the inside of the lapbook.

The following pictures show how the students demonstrate an understanding of the Amazing Words. There were a total of 8 Amazing Words during this particular week. Each student received 8 word cards that were used to record the word on the front. They also drew a picture on the back of each card to show an understanding of the word meanings.

Lapbooks are very popular in the homeschooling community. I began using lapbooks in my classroom last school year and my students and I absolutely love them! Lapbooks also serve as a valuable tool for differentiated instruction. Has your child ever made a lapbook? Do you use them at home? Please share with me.