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Jul. 6, 2009

Pennsylvania Lapbook

Posted in Creekwood Academy

Well a few posts back I mentioned that I had recently spent two weeks in China and that when I recovered I would have something to share. Well I'm here to make good on that promise. I won't go into all the details about the trip - some things are a little sensitive given the country I was visiting - but one of the things we did while we were there was to visit an English training school. Schoolteachers from the countryside were given the opportunity to come into a city and study English for two years. Upon graduation from this program they return to their villages as English teachers. We were invited to visit this school for two days and talk with the students so they could practice their English with us.

We were asked to bring something to share with them about our families, where we live, our jobs and the like. We were not allowed, however, to openly share our faith. I did not know how I could talk about my family without sharing how God's hand was in everything so I decided to share about our home state - Pennsylvania. Since they asked that we bring photos, and anyone can look at and enjoy pictures even if they don't understand all the words, I decided to make a lapbook on Pensylvania to bring with me.

I thought an overview of the basics of Pennsylvania history, people and places with lots of color and pictures would at least be interesting, and a lapbook is flat so it wouldn't take much room or be too heavy for my suitcase (space and weight are at a premium when you travel overseas - especially these days).

So this is my second lapbook - you can read about my first lapbook here. I used the free Pennsylvania lapbook files from Homeschool Helper with very few modifications. I found the free PA lapbook by typing "pennsylvania lapbook" in the Google search box. It was one of the top search results. Then I supplemented their graphics with some images of Pennsylyvania and the topics in the lapbook, also found using the Google search. Some of the clip-art in the lapbook files was a little cartoony and since I was making this to share with adults, I thought I'd "mature" it just a little. I didn't want to change too much because I didn't have time and I wanted my children to enjoy looking at it too.

I made my lapbook base by refolding two file folders shutter style, so their flaps met in the center, then I glued the two folders together along one of the side flaps. I chose blue and red to reflect the colors on the PA flag, our country's colors and because I like red & blue together. I won't describe every part of the lapbook shown below because you can see all that on the Homeschool Helper PA lapbook page, but I will tell about the things I did a little differently so this lapbook would be a tiny bit more "grown-up".

Here I have the lapbook open face down so you can see the front (blue) and back (red) covers. I found several images of Pennsylvania symbols and state postcards online and resized and printed them to fit the cover. I wrote "Pennsylvania" in blue sharpie on the front and enveloped it in clear contact paper to protect it from travel wear & tear. I chose the scripty lettering for the title to satisfy my love of flowy, swirly fonts. I think it looks pretty, don't you?

Next we can see inside the front (blue folder) section:

And the back (red folder) section:

Pretty much all the white elements you see in the above photos are printed from the Homeschool Helper site. I just printed them on regular white paper, cut them out and mounted them in the lapbook. Normally I would use cardstock for the mini-books, but I did not have white cardstock and I needed to assemble this on rather short notice. Some of the pictures and a few elements are mounted on colored cardstock for stability, but most everything was just glued in as is. It works for an adults lapbook that won't be mauled by children, but I really prefer cardstock for the mini-books.

In the photo just above there is a picture I colored of an Amish style quilt pattern. This is the cover to a one-page flip book. Inside is a very brief description of the Pennsylvania Dutch people - the Amish. Above that is a photo of a scene in Amish country. The Homeschool Helper element for the Pennsylvania Dutch was a mini book with clipart, but I wanted something that really reflected something of the people.

Below the info on the Amish is a picture of a PA licence plate. I saw this idea in another homeschooler's state lapbook and thought it would be a fun touch. They do have cars in China and I thought they might like to see what one of our licence plates looked like.

Lastly, in the center of the red folder section, near the top right, is a mini-book about the famous battles in PA. I put a picture of Washington at Valley Forge behind the title on the cover, and inside are about a half dozen little pages with a very brief description of several battles that occurred on PA soil. If I remember correctly, the Homeschool Helper element for this was a one page journal block with clipart.

The other elements I added or changed a little are described with photos below.

The photo above shows the inside of the Pennsylvania state symbols flap-booklet. The instructions were to write the names of each symbol under the flap, but since I didn't know how many of these items would be familiar to the students, I found a picture of each item and glued them inside with an arrow from the name to it's picture.

Above is a page I made about the Liberty Bell. The Homeschool Helper page has links to a couple resources but not really any mini-books. I found a couple pictures of the bell - one I colored and glued to a pocket, and the other was a photo I made as the background for my data sheet on the bell. The info sheet folds up neatly and fits in the pocket.

On the other side of the red folder I have information about the Native Indian tribes that originally lived in the area. I think the Homeschool Helper element for this was a tab-top flip book with clipart. The area of China we went to is very artistic (music and handcrafts) so I wanted to show something artistic. In the fourth photo of the inside of the lapbook you can see I found a picture of some Indian beadwork for the outside of this mini-book. Above, you can see inside. The main Indian tribes lived along rivers (and generally had names to reflect these locations) so I included a picture of what a typical PA river looks like and a little map of Pennsylvania with the main rivers associated with the tribes marked.

The photo above and just below here show four famous documents that were written in Pennsylvania. The photo further up with the whole two page spread shows the little pocket I made to store these "documents". The graphic on the pocket came from the Homeschool Helper page, but I can't remember what the whole thing was, I just remember it wasn't quite what I wanted to use. Instead I found images of these documents online, printed them and mounted them on info cards I made. Basically I wanted to have the name of the document, who wrote it, when, where and briefly, why it was written. I had to be very careful here to keep to just the facts - thankfully, no one asked me to elaborate.

Finally, I added a liberal sprinkling of shiny star stickers to make it a little more festive. I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my Pennsylvania lapbook. I had fun making it and sharing it with the teacher-students.

Oct. 9, 2009 - Untitled Comment

Posted by advancedmaternalage

I LOVE your Pennsylvania book! My daughter is studying Pennsylvania this year (we live in NEPA), so I am going to 'steal' a few of your ideas. Thanks!

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