This 3 to 4 hour workshop will cover the following topics:

- What is lapbooking with examples of completed lapbooks.

- Tools needed in order to make lapbooks including information on types of lapbook bases, paper, adhesives, special tools and helpful extras.

- What subjects you can use lapbooking for and sources for pre designed lapbooking units.

- How to store and care for your lapbooks once they are completed.

- Variations on lapbooking so you can tailor the lapbooking style to your specific needs.

- How to fold the lapbook base including a single and double book with extensions.

- How to create 15 of the most common folds and mini books. There will also be 6 advanced books displayed.

- A question and answer section will close out the workshop.

What is a Lapbook or Graphic Organizer?

A Lapbook is a file folder that is folded a unique way and that houses various mini books created by the student.  Lapbooking is a fun and hands on approach for students to compile information they have learned about their unit or subject in a very interactive and visually appealing way. A Graphic Organizer is, essentially, the same thing except there is a bit more flexibility in the format of the base book and a Notebook is a collection of work that can include many lapbooking techniques that is compiled in a three ring binder.

Lapbooks and Graphic Organizers are typically used for a single unit, such as Egypt or the Colonial Era.  You can also use lapbooking techniques with Notebooks for entire subjects, like Science, Zoology or a US State Study.  They both consist of a collection of mini books created by the child.  Each mini book contains facts, drawings, etc. about one small aspect of the unit.  So a lapbook on Egypt might contain one mini book on the materials used to build the pyramids, another on the tools used, another on the clothes worn, another on the types of housing, another on the type of food, another with a map of the area, another with a comparison of ancient life to modern day life, etc. 

But how does this help the student learn? Through lapbooking, students are able to learn things from a number of different angles and reproduce that information in a way that means the most to them.  First they read about (or you read to them) how the Pyramids were built.  They are learning through reading/listening.  Then they sit down and build a mini Pyramid out of blocks or sugar cubes. They are learning through doing.  You take a picture of their creation and print it out so they can use it as a cover for a mini book they will create on how the Pyramids were built. They are learning through writing.  At the end of the week you sit down and assemble all of your mini books into the lapbook and review all of them. They are learning through discussion.   When dad gets home from work that night they sit down and show dad what they have made and go through each book again.  They are learning through telling. And each and every person they share their lapbook with will be a review for them. Children are naturally proud of their creations, so chances are they will be eager to share their wonderfully interactive lapbook with company.  And most people will be excited to look through it because of its visual and hands-on appeal.