I like looking for new resources that enhance my teaching. There are a few websites that I have as a “go to” when looking for ideas, so over the next few weeks I will share with you some of my finds. Today I am featuring lapbooks.

Unit Studies/Lapbooking

Home School Share is one of my favorites because the authors of these lapbooks have background information, ideas, and activities to accompany each of the lapbooks. There are several levels, beginning with preschool all the way through independent learners. There is a book that goes along with the lapbook, but if I can’t find the book at the library I have either substituted the book or not used one at all. Lapbooks are versatile and multi-grade leveled, which is perfect when teaching children of various ages and academic levels. I have used them with young students who cannot read yet all the way up to junior high students. If you are teaching several students, you can adjust the level at which you have them write the information and cut out the mini books. You will probably want to cut them out for your younger students and be their scribe. This lapbook was made by a 7th grader so you can judge accordingly to what you think your student is capable of completing. If it looks like too much, then use fewer mini books.

The above picture is the inside of the lapbook about Italy. Each of these pieces of paper has information the student has written inside of the mini book. This teaches summarizing and research, plus it’s a great way to have students write a report without all the fuss from them on the length of the paper. 🙂

This is the back cover that has vocabulary words the students had to find. The following website is helpful to translate; give the definition of the word if you need it ; and the audio pronunciation of the word. Click here

Another nice aspect of this particular website is that it is FREE! The only cost will be ink and paper you need to print the sheets and a file folder that acts as your lapbook. You can download as many or as few of the templates as you like. I have written about lapbooks before and have other websites to explore. Check out these too: