Grinch Lapbook

We took the month of December off as far as formal schooling goes but that doesn't mean that the learning stopped. We still managed to fit in some learning in the form of fun activities. During the month, we:

• completed a few days worth of our formal language arts and math curriculum


• attended a holiday concert at the local symphony


• saw a showing of The Sound of Music at a local playhouse


• read many Christmas books


• completed the You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch lapbook

The last item in my short list is what I want to tell you about today.

I got this lapbook from the Homeschoolestore which I love. I love that I can look for something to go with a subject we are learning about and have it in moments (everything is in pdf form). This works very well for people like me who are not very organized and never prepared. They also have weekly freebies which is always appreciated by this homeschool mom. This week they are offering a Valentine's Day notebooking set which also includes Valentine's cards and matching envelopes that you can print for the kids to make their own cards.

Anyway, back to the Grinch. This was the first lapbook we have completed. I attempted to complete a different lapbook with my kids at the end of summer but they were not interested in the least. My kids, however, love the grinch. They love the book. They love the cartoon. They love the film. And they loved completing this lapbook.

The lapbook was designed for upper elementary students according to the cover. My kids are in 3rd and 1st grade but we were able to make it work. We read the book. Actually, I think my son read the book 50 times! We watched the cartoon. I printed the booklets and then cut and folded them for the kids. Doing this laborous part for them ensured that I would be able to get them to complete the project rather than listen to them whine. My daughter was able to complete most of the booklets on her own. For my son, I explained the information needed and then had him narrate a simple answer back for me to write down. Am I worried that he didn't do all the research and writing himself? No, he still read the book, watched the movie, observed what researching information looked like, participated in discussions, and came up with answers to the questions. Knowing him, he'll also look through his lapbook many, many times until it falls apart from excessive wear. This will solidify what he learned over and over again.

I was surprised about how much the lapbook covered. There was vocabulary, sequencing, biographical information on three different people, making comparisons, creative thinking/writing, and learning the parts of a plot map. I would have never come up with so many different things to learn from a simple children's book!

Here are the kids with their completed lapbooks:

My daughter surprised me by asking if we could make another lapbook soon. She never asks to do anything for school other than go some place fun or be done for the day. Lucky for her, we'll be working on a bird lapbook next.