Wolves Unit Study and Lapbook

There are several reasons I like lapbooks and unit studies so much.  The main reason is that Levi is excited to learn - he chooses the topic, so he is interested in it.   Secondly I like that we learn together - I have learned all kinds of things about wolves (and all of the other unit studies we've done!).   Next is that he retains the information -  I think that learning it, reinforcing with the hands on activities and then lapbook elements, followed by him "teaching" what he learned to someone else when sharing his lapbook really seals the information in his head.  
And lastly is that they cover many different areas of learning at the same time.  

For example, these are just some skills and learning Levi did with this unit study:

- Reading (several books about wolves)
- Cutting (lapook elements)
-Gluing (lapbook elements)
- maps (locating places on a map, longitude/latitude)
- using a ruler to draw straight lines
- using an Atlas
- math (comparing populations, sizes of wolves/body parts)
- art: wolf drawing (cutting, drawing, patterns, using a ruler, gluing)
- test taking: wolf quizzes
- handwriting: filling in lapbook elements neatly
- writing: writing a book report
- poetry: Acrostic poems
- vocabulary related to wolves
- literature: exploring wolves in stories
- learning about folklore and stereotypes
- science (including just about everything we learned)
- researching: finding answers to lapbook questions
- language arts: plural endings (i.e. wolf to wolves)
-Latin: Latin names for wolf subspecies.
- teaching: sharing his lapbook with others

This is the cover of his lapbook, inspired by the artwork I found here.   Levi drew lines on paper, and then colored each with a different pattern.  Then we traced the wolf outline, and he cut it out to glue on top of the colored lines.   The hill is a wavy piece of paper he glued on.  

Inside of the lapbook:

The books we used:

Sources:

Books:
A Unit About Wolves
Wild, Wild Wolves
Reading Discovery Wolves
Animal Questions and Answers: Wolves
Eyes on Nature Wolves and Coyotes
Amazing Wolves, Dogs and Foxes
Zoobooks: Wolves
Wolves: Seymore Simon
Wolves: Gail Gibbons
Eyewitness: Dog

Crafts/Activites:
Origami wolf 
Artwork inspired by
Embroidery Design

Lapbook:
Gray Wolf Lapbook (Homeschool Share)
All Wolves! A Fun Study! (Homeschool bits) 

May Sewing

Here are some of the things I've been making recently: 

This first tank was a tester pattern, so needed a bit of tweaking with the pattern.  Levi picked out all the fabrics himself and he really likes the results even if its not my favorite!   The shorts have apple orchards on them, its cute fabric I've had forever and never used! 

This is the same tank, but I made some small adjustments to the pattern like straightening the sides and widening the binding.  Almost happy with it now, I just need to drop the neckline a bit and add another inch to the hem.   It fits him very well otherwise and is perfect for gymnastics.  I love the colors on this one too!   The shorts are a pain to make with all the binding, but his favorite type to wear to gymnastics. 

Bridge on the beach!    Levi just finished a 3-day back handspring clinic that he really enjoyed.  Hasn't quite got that handspring down but he is so very close. 

This is my favorite, in fact, I liked the design so much that I made myself a shirt with it as well.   Its from Urban Threads which always has some funky designs. 

See?  So pretty!   I also loved how this picture came out.  I think I need to take more clothing pictures on the beach! 

This was also a test pattern, and will need some small modifications as well, but overall is a good fit and he says they are very comfy for swim team.   The next challenge is to find some black swim knit before his first summer meet in 2 weeks!    (They require black suits for the kids, so I plan on making him some jammer length ones). 

 Last up is another test pattern.   This design is super cute, it has little wings!  I think the intent was for it to be batman or spider man or whatever, but I thought they looked like fins so made an angler fish design.    This pattern obviously has some flaws in the length of the neckline and sleeve ribbing, to the point where I plan on redoing those parts.  I'm not happy with the fit/shape of the shirt either, so will probably just use the wing pattern along with a trusty shirt pattern I already know works (the one I used for the blue sun shirt).   The concept is a lot of fun anyway!
The shorts I stitched up in about 15min with no pattern, they fit as intended, in a weird bubble leg sort of way, a style Levi seems to like. 

When I was making this, I originally attached the "dangly thing" to the fish's mouth only to be told by Levi to move it.  Sure enough google revealed that it does come from the fish's head!  

Plants/Trees/Seeds lapbook and unit study

I'm trying to catch up with my posts on lapbooks and unit studies! 

This one was about plants, seeds, trees, leaves, and growing things!    This one is from a year ago and I guess I never got around to blogging it.  I'm amazed at how far Levi's handwriting and spelling has come sense then. 

Sources:

For this one I put everything including links to lapbook sources on my pintrest board,

 check it out here

 How do plants grow mini book

Itsy Bitsy Seedling mini book

Apple life cycle slider

and an environment flap book

Parts of an apple (labeled inside) and copywork

Some lapbook elements.   The bottom right is one we made using an actual seed that we took apart to look at the different parts.  I think its some sort of bean. 

More lapbook elements

Classic celery in colored water experiment - I remember doing this one in 1st grade! 

Lifecycle of a plant  - these sets came in pockets that I got some place with cards to place in order and then copy.

Math coloring mosaic.

This is a chart of uses for apples, we found the best uses in a book and then graphed it using stickers

 

Leaf printing -  We found various leaves and then printed them with paint.  Then counted squares to find the area of each leaf. 

Copywork from Draw Write Now

More copywork

This was a t-shirt Levi designed, to "save the trees"  (he labeled England and Florida)

Tree artwork - his hand for the roots and finger prints for the leaves. 

Parts of an apple, with actual seeds glued on. 

Thumbprint flowers

Q-tip painting of a tree.

Apple star printing (this is squares because I didn't want to waste the apple too!) 

Plant journal - I believe I got this at a homeschool book sale someplace, it had a lot of good stuff in it so we did the whole thing. 

 These I pulled out of a random workbook.

More lapbook elements:

And this is an experiment we did with plants

One more copywork

Water color painting

Plants in our garden. 

Levi's Garden:

Seeds and food clippings growing

Measuring leaves with pennies. 

Seedling lunch (beans/rice for dirt, carrot for the stem, spinach leaves)

Collecting leaves to compare:

Finished lapbook: