Friday, May 30, 2014

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) 

4 comments:

  1. Awesome! could see one of your projects at church? we'll see u Sunday!
    Lisa, Eric ,Max

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    1. I will have Levi bring it to show you tomorrow!

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  2. This is my first time making a lapbook. How many folders did you use? How did you put them together?

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    1. Hi Jannell! I think for this one we used 2 folders (its been a while!) There are lots of ways to assemble a lapbook, for using 1 folder, you open it flat, fold each side in to meet in the middle. For 2 or more, you do the same with each folder and then glue them together side by side. Usually what I do is fold 1 folder and lay the mini-books/flaps etc on there, and then see if I need to add a second or even third folder. Most of ours need about 2. Sometimes I also just tape a piece of cardstock on to make an additional "flap" that can hold more content. AND sometimes I tape or glue a piece of cardstock on the back to make a pocket (good for putting in entire worksheets, or things that can't be glued in).
      If you have a look at my other posts you can see what a bunch of the lapbooks look like, in some, Levi made a video, so that might give you a better visual as to how they come together.

      I also found this blog post that has a quick explanation near the bottom as to how she puts hers together, but again there is no right way to do it, whatever looks right to you is fine!

      http://conversaving.com/2013/04/01/a-journey-through-learning-lapbooks-a-schoolhouse-crew-review/

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