We Did It!

I'm excited to tell you that on Thursday we completed the first folder of our lapbook! The kids have been working hard. We all have been learning a lot. The kids are proud to answer Daddy's questions & share their new knowledge.

First we learned about shamrocks & their importance to Ireland.


We discussed The Great Potato Famine and how devastating it was to so many. It lasted for many years.

Princess was such a good girl. When she got bored we had her join us at the table & gave her a little snack.

The kids worked in 2 teams. Sweet Pea & Elvis were one team. It was not only time for them to review what we had discussed as a group but a time for them to practice cooperation & teamwork.

Stapling a mini book together.

Boo Bear & Bugsy were a team. Boo is very good with Bugs. So patient. He in turn adores her.
Here they are gluing pieces on their folder.

Finished!

All their hard work has paid off & they have an amazing first folder to show off! As you can see Bugs was in a goofy mood. =) This folder displays information on Ireland's geography, the national instrument - the harp, the flag, the tradition of the shamrock, The Great Potato Famine, The Celtics & St. Patrick.

Sweet Pea & Elvis proudly display their finished work.

What a wealth of information we have learned & we are only 1/3 of the way through!

More Lapbook Learning

For the most part our group learning this week was a wash. Don't be alarmed. The kids DID work on schoolwork. But it was independent work or one-on-one work. Monday was accomplished a lot. Tuesday the kids had a tough time settling down & getting anything done including chores. Wednesday was the day we lost our sweet Romeo & Thursday we all needed a day to grieve. Friday Boo went to her friend's house for a slumber party to celebrate her friends' birthday. While she was gone I decided we needed to work on something so I chose our lapbook. Bugs wasn't interested so it was Elvis, Sweet Pea & I.

Sweet Pea got out the encyclopedia to look up the flag of Ireland.


In our lesson we learned what each color stood for & why they are placed in a specific order.

Elvis practices his cutting skills by cutting out a picture of St. Patrick. We learned who he was & why he is so famous. I never knew about the symbolism he started. Very interesting!

Bugs wanted to work with his Leapfrog so I let him. He was having a ball tracing letters & identifying them.

Princess climbing my legs. Lol!

Sweet Pea & Elvis spent the rest of the time answering questions about St. Patrick, coloring a second flag & learning about the national musical instrument, the harp.

We Did It!

Our very first lapbook! I have been thinking about this, researching it and trying to get up the nerve for years now! Yesterday we dove in! I used a couple of templates, some info. pages from Enchanted Learning & a few misc. things I found on the web. It was a 'fly by the seat of my pants' kind of deal. Elvis really enjoyed the adventure & it helped cement what we have been learning in co-op about ants.

Labeling the ant.

He did this all on his own reading the definitions & finding the correct spot.

I was impressed!

Gluing the sequence cards onto an accordion style fold.

His work so far.

The finished product.

The inside. We kept it simple this time only using one folder.

The labeled ant.

Ant Facts

Different ants in a colony.

Ant Maze

Life Cycle of An Ant

The back of his lapbook.

I am proud of how hard he worked on this.

I'm excited to try another lapbook soon.