Our Geography Lapbook

Before we started learning the states, I started with some basics. Part of this was review for Jessie, but it was all new to Violet.

Lesson Plan Week 1
Learn the continents, oceans, equator, northern and southern hemispheres, and discuss latitude and longitude.

Lesson Plan Week 2&3
We looked at the United States in general: where it is in the world,what's around it, time zones, regions, and a few physical features.

The States

The plan is to make 1 booklet for each of the states. Each booklet will be 7 pages long, and will be done over a three day period.

Day 1
On page 1, the girls will trace the outline of the state to help them get an idea of it's shape, write it's abbreviation, and attach a sticker labeled with the capital.
Next on page 2, they will see a map of the whole United States. The first task is to find the state on the map and color it in. We have a labeled US map that they can look it up on. Next they'll look at the US regions map in the US booklet, find the state again to identify which region(NE, SE, Midwest, SW, and West) it is in. They'll cut out the corresponding region sticker and place it on the line. Finally, they'll look up up the state a 3rd time on the time zone map, identify the time zone, and cut and stick on the appropriate label.
Finally just for fun, they'll add the state flag sticker to page 5 which I printed out on my printer. (Jessie loves flags).
Day 2
On page 4, we'll look at what's around the state on the map. This will also let us review some basic compass directions (hopefully by the end of the year they'll stop mixing up east and west).
Again the labels are all printed. They just have to cut and stick.
For fun we'll color in the state bird and flower on page 6. (Violet loves coloring the best.)


Day 3
On page 4, we have some information to fill in. (Actual writing here, no stickers). I've made 3 maps for them to use to find the information. On pink paper they a map showing what the order of statehood. On purple paper there is a map with the states numbered based on their total size. On blue paper I've made a map with the stated numbered based on their 2000 population. So that will give us 3 more chances to find the state and learn where it is located on a map.
Here are the three maps I created for them to use for answering the questions.

For fun, they can place a sticker of the state's seal on page 7.
So hopefully, once they have found the state on a map 7 times over the course of three days, they will learn the state's shape and location(goal#1). With minimal writing, lots of homemade stickers, and a bit of coloring, I hope they'll have plenty of fun as well(goal #3). With lessons covering 3 days, it will take us less than 38 weeks to get through all of the booklets. Then of course once the lapbooks are made, they'll enjoy looking back over what they have done (and even get in a little review). What do you think? If you're interested in the files, I'll post thm hopefully later this week under lessons to share.