Columbus Lapbook

A17 and I read the picture book In 1492 by Jean Marzollo today and put together this lapbook on Columbus. I found some printables at Enchanted Learning and ABC Teach.

We used Boardmaker pictures to write a sentence about Columbus and highlight the dates. I did the cutting and A17 helped with coloring and gluing.

We also did a simple experiment with a ship, water and wind. The ship is made from a plastic lid, playdoh, a toothpick and a square of paper. We set it in a tub of water and blew on it to see how fast it went and where it would end up. A17 really loves any kind of experiment!

Ocean Unit

A17's Ocean unit this spring ended up so large that instead of using a file folder lapbook, we put everything into a Bare Book. Bare Books can be purchased in a variety of sizes and are great for big projects or something that is ongoing like our Flat Stanley project. This ocean book contains resources from Homeschoolshare, project packs Under the Sea and Clownfish Adventure from Hands of a Child, activities from Evan Moor, Enchanted Learning and other online sites. These first pages also include booklets listing the books we read, for example DK Eye Wonder Ocean.

At the end of the book is a separate book containing all the coloring pages of various ocean animals. Most of these were taken from the Color and Learn series book entitled Ocean Life.


A17 chose to focus his report on what he called a "shamu" whale or orca. On the left page is a fact sheet containing things he wanted to remember from the books we read. On the right are photo cards and one fact of different types of whales. Last is a whale pop up book featured in a previous post

A17 chose which ocean animals to read about including dolphins, sea turtles, jellyfish, star fish and sea dragons.

Underneath the minit books for dolphin pod and echolocation, A17 put Boardmaker pictures for the definitions. For mammals in the ocean he used dolphin and whale.

This page uses Boardmaker pictures to describe why ocean are important and has some glitter fish.To go along with the Clownfish Adventure lapbook, we watched the Nemo movie and read a book called Just Keep Swimming. These pages include minit books about clownfish and manta rays, and information on characters on the Nemo movie including the Tank Gang and Bruce the great white shark!

We made several more pop up books based on the whale pattern. This one is called My Book About Dory.We included photos of some of the art projects that A17 enjoyed. You can find these posts here.

The last couple of pages are pocket pages that contain several books on ocean animals we found on Enchanted Learning and in our Evan Moor books.

Work Job Board

Although we have been doing the workbox system lately, I wanted to share another type of visual schedule that has been a big help to A17. We have used the work job board at home and at therapies for years. For us, the workbox system is an extension of our work job board. I made the board above from an inexpensive dry erase board I found at Walmart.

The child picks a preferred activity--for A17 it could be computer, music, or any other fun activity. I have specific cards for these but keep a generic treat card for something unexpected. At therapy the "reward" is doing a favorite activity like gait trainer. Then I or the therapist chooses the work or "job" activities that must be completed before a favorite activity. When each job is completed, he takes off the card. This helps him know what is expected and gives him something to work toward. I also use this to break down a more difficult task into steps.

Weather/Calendar board

I made a weather/calendar board for A17 using familar boardmaker pictures. I used a cheap clipboard from the dollar store. I used a clipboard instead of cardstock so it would be sturdy when trying to velcro the picture. For other boards I have used inexpensive white boards to velcro pictures.

We are mostly focusing on day of the week and not the number. He especially likes to do the weather! Every morning the first thing he wants me to do is open the curtains so he can see outside.

He picks from a choice of 2 or 3 pictures when we do the board. For the I am statement, this means describe how I am feeling. This is a tough concept for many kids with special needs. For seasons, we also have an interactive book where he needs to put pictures under the proper season.

Nature Journal and Sun Prints

A17 started a nature journal last fall. We use a binder that he decorated with stickers. In the binder are sheets pre-printed with room for the date, weather, items found and animals/birds seen. I printed out sheets of boardmaker pictures of common items to use a stickers.

Here is one journal entry. He went for a walk and collected an oak leaf, pine cone and small yellow flower. We then glued the corresponding boardmaker pictures in. We also have several nature books that we can use to look up items and find out more information.

Since A17 can't sketch, we are using Sunprint paper to make pictures of the things he collects. I found mine at my local United Art and Education store. It's very easy to use. Put the items down on the paper and leave out in the sun for several minutes. Next, lay the paper in a shallow pan of water to set the prints. Last, dry the paper out of the sun. You will then have a nice sun print!

Boardmaker

Since I have mentioned Boardmaker on several other posts I wanted to elaborate on it a bit. Boardmaker is software that is used by people with disabilities to communicate, for visual schedules, and to assist with learning.

Boardmaker software from Mayer-Johnson can be used in several ways. You can print out picture cards with it to use for communication. We have used these picture cards in A17's lapbooks too. It can also be used with Boardmaker add-ons to make books, all types of schedules, worksheets, etc. Boardmaker pictures can be used to make interactive books and games. These pictures are often used in PECS ( Picture Exchange Communication System ) too.

Boardmaker offers other software such as Boardmaker Plus and Boardmaker Speaking Dynamically Pro. These are used on the computer for intereactive learning games or on speech devices such as Dynavox.

Workboxes

Recently on the Five in the Row boards and Homeschoolshare boards, moms have been talking about a new way to organize the school day using Sue Patrick's Workbox System. She developed this system to help her son who has autism, but it can help any child or parent who is looking for more structure or organization in their school day. Her book ( either spiral bound or ebook) explains the system in detail and gives lots of ideas. With purchase of the book, you will be able to download forms and cards to get started. For convenience, these are also available for purchase on her website--already printed and laminated. The cards use Boardmaker pictures which is helpful since A17 is familar with it. One of the cards is a work with Mom card. This is used to tell students which activities are to be done with Mom and which are to be done independently.





Very simplified, the system has you use 6-12 plastic shoeboxes on a rack and put one piece of work into each box. The idea is to promote independence, focus, and attention in a structured learning environment. The student sees what work is expected and as the number of boxes is emptied, can see progress being made. In addition he can anticipate a fun activity by looking ahead at the boxes. Hopefully this will promote motivation. It helps the mom with organization--no more hunting for supplies at the last minute and losing the student's attention. It also helps to add more "fun" educational activities into the day. If you're like me you have lots of cool stuff packed away in the closet or a tote that you mean to pull out or forgot you had! The workbox system helps you get those items out and into the boxes. Learning centers, file folder games, unit studies can all work well with this system. The book includes lots of ideas for the workboxes.





With A17's special needs, we needed to change the system a bit. We are starting with 6 boxes for now. Since he can't physically get to the box, I will bring it to him. My goal in implementing this system is to become better organized for our school work and to think very carefully about which activities A17 can do on his own or with very little help. We have used a visual schedule in the past. This is just taking that a step further. In box 1 is Touchmath, box 2 is magnetic counters and pattern cards, box 3 are books to read for our oceans unit study, box 4 has lapbook materials, box 5 has a craft, and box 6 has a chalkboard book plus chalk.

If you would like to see how some other moms have implemented this system, check out these blogs.
Our Lifesong
Joyful Mother of 6 Children
Walking By the Way
Teaching 2 in TX

Frog Lapbooks

A17 ( recent birthday!) finished two frog lapbooks. The frog's tongue on the front cover moves in and out.

The lilypad flapbooks each contain a fact about frogs such as What does a frog eat? The answers are Boardmaker pictures. We used resources from several places including Homeschool Share. We read books from the library prior to completing the lapbook pieces.

Several of our favorite books were A Tadpole Grows Up by Pam Zollman and Frogs and Other Amphibians by Bobbie Kalman.

A cool frog experiment is cooking tapioca beads to simulate frog's eggs! You can find this experiment in back of the book titled Why Frogs Are Wet ( Let's Read and Find Out Science) by Judy Hawes.

First Lapbook

A16 loves science. When he made his first lapbook back in September, he chose the topic of weather. We read books from the library and completed the weather words lapbook from Homeschool Share. With his special needs, A16 is unable to write. In order to write answers he chooses pictures from Mayer Johnson's Boardmaker software. Before starting a unit or lapbook I will print out a variety of picture words so he has lots to choose from. We then use a glue stick to paste his answers in the correct spot. He was so proud of himself when we finished this!