Tag Archives: lapbooking

Snakes!

“Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes?” asks Indiana Jones, and this homeschooling mama is asking that too! I know some people who have pet snakes and enjoy them and others who have extreme fear of them. Growing up in Kentucky, I’ve even heard rumors of snake handling in churches! Personally, I’m in more of a basic “just avoid them” category. Honestly, I’d rather avoid a snake study but “July 16 – World Snake Day” was marked on our list of Special Days in July , which means it’s an interest study request. I don’t want to say no to an interest study, and it’s been a while since we did an animal research project, so …

Here’s my collection of cross curriculum snake themed resources to share with you for when you find yourself facing a snake study.

Snake Facts Slide Show

Image Gallery: Snakes of the World

Labeled Anatomy Diagrams:

Live Science Article – Why We Fear Snakes

Importance of Snakes in the Ecosystem

Snake Bite First Aid

Pet Snake Care

Bible Verses about Snakes

Snakes in Religion search results

Read Kipling’s Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

Snake Mythology

Snake Vocabulary Word List

Word Snake Game

Snake Jokes and Riddles

Printable Worksheets and Activities

Snake Unit Study and Lapbook Printables

Snakes Notebooking Printable Pages

Songs About “Snakes” (Heads up! Not all will be appropriate for families)

Snakes in Art – Statues, paintings, pottery, drawings, and more, from ancient to modern day, and from all over the world. (Again, Heads up! Not all will be appropriate for families, but you can easily choose which pieces suit your study.)

Step by Step How to Draw a Snake

25 Exceptional Snake Crafts

Printable Snakes and Ladders Game – “When you download the game, you will get a printable board and a set of question cards. With every move the player has to answer a question in order to stay on their new position. This game comes with the questions of the World of Knowledge game. But you can create your own set of questions. But you can also play it without any questions, just roll the dice and have fun!”

I couldn’t find a “snake” math resource so I’m thinking I can use some printable math task cards for the above Snakes and Ladders game.

There’s hundreds of thousands of snake related videos on Youtube and I’m sure we’ll watch a few of them. Since we’re fans of “Good Mythical Morning” I have this one saved for ‘fun?‘ and a crazy PE idea (not real snakes but maybe a rubber one or two).

I’ve already been to my local library’s website and put some snake books on the hold shelf. We don’t have a zoo in our area, but we do have nature centers and pet stores, so I think a field trip can be easily planned to wrap up our snake study.

betty jo

Earthquakes

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The topic of earthquakes came up back in August when we studied skyscrapers, then again in September as part of our disaster preparedness studies. Also, the third Thursday in October is the official Great American Shakeout (earthquake preparedness observance).

Since we live close to the New Madrid fault line, and the boys were interested, we took a bit of a detour from our regular lessons to focus on learning about earthquakes. As to be expected when the boys pick the topic of study, it was fantastic. Below are the online resources we used as we researched, experimented, and learned about earthquakes.

Earthquakes explained, facts, and information http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-earthquake.htm

Extensive list of earthquake related vocabulary words and their definitions http://www.brighthubeducation.com/science-homework-help/53594-earthquake-vocabulary-words/

17 Bible references to “earthquakes” https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=earthquake&qs_version=NIV

Live Earthquake Map and Stats From Around the World (Even now that our earthquake study is over, we’re still checking this site daily. We’re amazed at the seismic activity that goes on everyday!) http://quakes.globalincidentmap.com/

Information about the most severe earthquakes on record past and present http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0001767.html

How to Prepare for an Earthquake https://thesurvivalmom.com/just-moved-prepare-earthquake/?fbclid=IwAR0zXhL63aqEkPFzwmBUd0mdiPOTibEHhaBEAFoDYCoZtcS5ZQFM3OQNlz4

I hadn’t planned on making a lapbook with this study, but Z asked if we could. So of course we did, and it turned out wonderfully. We made a few booklets on our own and printed off some of these resources too. earthquake lapbook printables http://www.homeschoolshare.com/earthquakes.php

“Earthquake Safety” video for kids and by kids and FEMA

“Deadliest Earthquake” Documentary (B and I watched this together without the younger boys. There’s some disturbing images shown.)

Old Zoom video instructions of how to make a seismometer. Ours turned out great! http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ess05.sci.ess.earthsys.seismometer/making-a-seismometer/

Other Learning Resources from PBS (with grade level recommendations) https://ket.pbslearningmedia.org/search/?q=earthquakes

Hands-on activities and projects. One of these even involves Oreos! Yes, I’ll buy Oreos in the name of “science”! http://www.exploratorium.edu/faultline/activezone/activities.html

This interactive “Stop Disasters” game was tough! We were set up as city managers and assigned the task of building, upgrading, and educating the people on safety. We were given 25 minutes to get our city in order before an earthquake hit. The first time through the game, we were fired! And that was the “easy” level! http://www.stopdisastersgame.org/

Richter Scale Math Lesson https://www.yummymath.com/2019/california-earthquakes-and-the-richter-scale/?fbclid=IwAR0QAPbop11AA_I7o8CsLvMcx2ZfGryCTGrYWmFqoeEXTiRscZSl0RVk7hw

We took this online earthquake quiz twice. Once before our study and again when we were finished (we did much better the second time) http://www.softschools.com/quizzes/science/earthquakes/quiz273.html

And of course we had to find some earthquake jokes for J –

Q: What do cows produce during an earthquake? A: Milkshakes!

Q: What did the ground say to the earthquake? A: You crack me up!

Q: What is an Earthquakes favorite song? A: “Shake, Rattle and Roll!”

Actually, not “Shake, Rattle and Roll” but this one was our song through our earthquake study

betty jo

Arrrrgh! Pirates!

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According to the special days in September calendar, the 19th is Talk Like a Pirate Day! And on our planner, it’s the last day of our pirate unit study that we have been working on a couple of days a week for the past several weeks. It’s been a fun and interesting study. Below are some of the resources we have been using.

For pirate biographies, dictionary, lore, sea sickness, and more http://the-pirate-ship.com/

For learning about how much work it was to sail a full-rigged ship http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6DZIvMZWzQ

Since pirates needed sewing skills for sail repairs we have added some sewing instruction to our lessons.

https://sewing.com/hand-sewing-stitching-basics/

How to tie knots was also a valuable pirate expertise, so we gave that a try as well. This site has step by step knot tying instructions http://www.netknots.com/rope_knots/

Navigation by stars was another important sailor skill https://seahistory.org/sea-history-for-kids/navigating-by-the-stars/

Instructions for making a cork and needle compass https://www.nps.gov/articles/compass.htm

Our lapbook board (we glued these to file folders once the unit study was finished).

Free unit studies and lapbook printables along with book lists and other links to follow http://www.homeschoolshare.com/connections__pirates.php

“Why are pirates called pirates?” – “They just arrrrrr!” and, lots of other pirate jokes for kids http://www.enchantedlearning.com/jokes/topics/pirate.shtml

Blackbeard, pirate, and treasure chest printable notebooking pages http://www.teacherfiles.com/resources_bp_ss.htm

More pirate themed notebooking pages http://edgalaxy.com/printable-paper-for-teachers/2012/9/22/pirate-themed-writing-pack.html

Pirate Adventure Writing Prompts https://writeshop.com/pirate-printable/

These are a few of our library finds.

Movies and music!

Interactive sunken treasure game http://nationalgeographic.org/education/multimedia/interactive/maps-tools-find-sunken-treasure/

Interactive “Walk the Plank” and Pirate themed Math Games https://www.math4childrenplus.com/?s=pirate

And “Talk Like a Pirate Day” Math Lesson https://www.yummymath.com/2018/talk-like-a-pirate-day-viral-growth/

Our chalkboard wall mural. The instructions for how to draw a pirate ship from here were quite helpful. http://lifestyle.howstuffworks.com/crafts/drawing/how-to-draw-pirate-ships.htm

In conclusion to our pirate unit studies we attempted to make this treasure chest cake! https://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com/category/other/pirate/treasure-chest/

Haha! Another “Pinterest Fail”, but still tasted good!

For more resources for special days in September click here

Wishing you smooth sailing!

betty jo

Considering the Moon

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Psalm 8:3^“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place,”

Sunday, June 23 is the date for the Super Moon and an excellent opportunity to “consider the moon”. .

According to NASA, “The Moon will reach its closest distance to the Earth at exactly 7:32 am EDT (4:32 am PDT) on 23 June, but because it will be peaking in the early morning hours, both 22 June and 23 June will put on similar shows. So either day will be a good opportunity to see the larger-and-brighter-than-normal Supermoon.

This year the Supermoon will be up to 14% larger and 30% brighter than a typical Full Moon is. This is a result of the Moon reaching its perigree – the closest that it gets to the Earth during the course of its orbit.”

You can link to the full NASA article here http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/display.cfm?News_ID=44049

If interested in a moon unit study, I recommend the free lapbook resources Sun, Moon, and Stars. We used these last summer when we studied the moon missions. http://www.homeschoolshare.com/space_lapbook.php

For teachers and older students I recommend this article, The Moon: A Faithful Witness in the Sky. http://www.icr.org/articles/view/150/344/

This site has 200 “moon” related learning links! http://watchknowlearn.org/SearchResults.aspx?SearchText=moon&page=1

And for something a little silly and active try this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EEynvjfljU

betty jo

Attentiveness

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This past school year I added some character development studies to our homeschooling lessons. These studies have proved to be a great opportunity for our family. Homelife Ministries has wonderful family character quality guides. E and B found much to notebook and journal about and as a family, we found much to discuss, memorize, and put into practice. J, Z, and I made several lapbooks of the same studies from Homeschool Share. The Homeschool Helper Online has some good ideas for character studies, too. (Links are at the end)

I was able to include the subjects of Bible, History, Science, Music and Language Arts into each study making for simplified days with lots of time to pursue elective interests. These charactier development lessons were a welcome break in between topics in our usual history studies. We completed six such studies this past year. We will be adding more next school year.

“Pay attention! ” “Watch what you’re doing.” “Listen.” These are things parents say to their children on a regular basis. I know I say these often during our homeschooling days, whether it is during math, cooking, art, or whatever. If I would listen, I would hear the Father saying those same words to me just as often. Attentiveness seems to be an across the board kind of character trait that both my children and myself need to further develop. Attentiveness was good place to start with our new studies. Though all of our character development lessons were good, this one was my favorite. This one is also the most reviewed one.

This is J’s and Z’s attentiveness lapbook. I covered the back with clear contact paper so they can do the wordsearch puzzle with washable markers again and again.

Below are the free resources I used for this and our other character development studies. These are the links I’ll be going to again as we continue our lessons when our homeschooling starts back full time in the fall.

Hymns, Scriptures, application, examples, and science connections for copywork, notebooking, journaling, and discussion from http://www.characterjournal.com/ (scroll down a little bit then select the character quality from the list on the right sidebar)

Lapbooking and notebooking materials http://www.homeschoolshare.com/character_lapbook.php

A few more ideas from http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/character_studies.shtml

For other posts about character development https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/08/keeping-the-code/ and https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/10/calling-for-reinforcements/ and https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/05/10/but-he-has-a-good-heart/ and https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/06/10/1654/

betty jo

Hot Air Balloons

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June 5 is the anniversary of the first hot air balloon flight (1783). Last year as part of summer school calendar studies Z, J, and I decided to learn everything we could about hot air balloons.

Fantastic Resource and Activity List! https://www.franw.com/2014/06/hot-air-balloons.html

We made this lapbook from

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/hot_air.php

and added a few of our own ideas.

Our library had a few children’s books about hot air balloons. These two were our favorites.

Here is a link to a cute craft idea we tried, of course we had to use batman action figures in the basket instead of the child picture http://www.dltk-holidays.com/summer/mballoon.html

We thought this video from the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta was fascinating!

betty jo

Absolutely No Pinching!

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A Wish for a Friend

Wishing you a rainbow
For sunlight after showers—
Miles and miles of Irish smiles
For golden happy hours—
Shamrocks at your doorway
For luck and laughter too,
And a host of friends that never ends
Each day your whole life through!

This is an Irish blessing we read with part of our holiday unit study of Saint Patrick’s Day. This poem and other Irish blessings, as well as everything else Irish can be found here:

http://islandireland.com/index.html

Write your own Irish Limericks with the help of this printable information page and writing pages https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/St-Patricks-Day-Limericks-120141?utm_source=Pinterest&utm_campaign=LimerickPin

We are using these free printables for notebooking http://www.cyncesplace.com/friday-freebie-st-patricks-notebooking-pages/

These two quotes from St. Patrick are going to look great on our pages!

We like playing “Would You Rather …?” games. Here’s one just for Saint Patrick’s Day. Some of these questions are crazy! All of them set up some awesome discussions. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/St-Patricks-Day-Would-You-Rather-Questions-119297

We made these shamrock treats! Hershey Kiss, Green M&M’s, and Pretzels – Bake at 275 Degrees for just a couple of minutes until the Kiss has melted. Watch carefully not to over cook, because burnt chocolate happens easily!

We have a few new rules during this study: must wear green, Irish accents and phrases are mandatory, if anyone finds a pot-o-gold they must share with Mom, and ABSOLUTELY NO PINCHING!

Last but not least, a brief history video on St. Patrick from Veggie Tales

St. Patrick’s Mix Playlist