Hi everyone Several years ago I started collecting children's books, gearing up for my big homeschooling debut. About 2 years ago I decided to start collecting mini themes, mostly to go along with the calendar month and season. This September is the Apple theme. Original, huh? But there are some really cute little crafts and songs that go with apples, and some great books, too. I thought I'd share my Apple Theme Booklist, and y'all can add to it if you have any real favorites out there These are pre-school to 2nd grade or so. Apple Theme Booklist Johnny Appleseed - Demuth Johnny Appleseed - Lindbergh How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World - Priceman Apple Picking Time - Slawson The Seasons of Arnold's Appletree - Gibbons Life on an Apple Orchard - Wolfman How Do Apples Grow? - Maestro Apples to Oregon - Hopkinson ENJOY!! :love:
BTW, thought I'd mention that these little "themes" of mine are not full-blown unit studies. They're just book themes. We do some songs and crafts to go along w/ them, but it's not a formal lesson plan by any means. Just a group of books on one subject. I found unit studies to be too involved for me at this stage, and too time consuming. However, reading through these books does give a nice science lesson, social studies lesson, and even geography if you read Apples to Oregon and How to Make an Apple Pie with that bent in mind. Mostly, though, I just love reading aloud to my little girls. This is just a bit more organized way of doing it
Hi Jacci.. I think your list looks good, we have read all all of those books We loved our apple theme! Did you see under the free downloads section that Amanda has a teeny tiny book for apples? The book says one apple is red, one is green, one is yellow.. The books are sweet.... If you didn't want to get too involved, you could make a lapbook, graphic organizer, desk top folder, shutterbook, or minibook...which ever one you call it by..ROFL.. Make some tiny books, add some pockets and stick the tiny book in them on your folder, use an apple cut in half and dip it in paint and sponge it on the file folder for some quick decorating... Put the tiny apple seeds on a tiny paper and stick that into a little pocket so the girls can pull it out and look at it...... You could even have a picture of Johnny Appleseed on their file folder.. The folders are fun, quick, and something to show for after you finish your unit w/out getting too involved..
And Jacci, That was only a tiny bit of what Tina COULD have told you about ideas she has on this type of subject! She is a wealth of information for us! (PTL! ) Hey, I noticed your "Keep On Keepin' On" above your name. I kept thinking, "Where have I heard that (aside from casually using it)?" Then I remembered that it was one of the songs in a VBS my dd went to last summer. The church that put that on did an amazing job with decorating and everything. It was great! And the songs were a big part of it. Anyway, just thought I'd mention that...
Here is one of my favorite sites for theme ideas It is a public school teacher site but....oh sooo much info to gleam and borrow to put into use for homeschool. http://www.mrspohlmeyerskinderpage.com/unitsandthemes.htm I had found at one point in time, a receipe for applesauce that used red hots for the cinnamon flavoring but...when I wanted it....couldn't find it again. It was apples, red hots and whatever else and you put it in the crock pot all day.
I've seen that too, Sheila (another of our "wealth of info." people!), not sure where it is now either!
oooh Tina we have officially been classified as a "wealth of info" So...Deena does that mean we get a 50% pay increase? lol I mean geez we could go for the gusto and say 100% but..ya know 50%....100% of zero is still zero. ROFL ROFL Thanks for the kudos! We try real hard and it's always a treat to hear it come from someone else. :wink:
Hey Deena.. I can't do these long posts to these new folks that don't know me... :lol: I might scare em away.. Don't even get me started on these lapbooks..... I am teaching a co-op for the next 8 weeks on Native Americans and we just started our lapbook.. I have more information than my lapbook is big enough to hold..ROFL ROFL..I might have to put two of them together..ROFL....
She and Tina, I will give you a 200% pay increase! Tina, Maybe you COULD do a thread on lapbooks, so people see and understand what they are. They're pretty cool, but ya'll explain e'm better than I can! Do you have pictures and explanations of them on your site?
Lapbooks are GREAT! I've done them in the past, but not too much. Tammy Duby of "Tobin's Lab" did a workshop on them at the conference in Columbus. Her website had lots of info...am honestly not sure if it still does. They had a fire about two years ago, and I've not really linked back up with them since. The website is www.tobinslab.com
Hmmm.... Looks like they have books on lapbooks, but before it had links to show you examples. I don't see any of them anymore. Oh, well!
I agree with Deena, She and Tina can you do a link on them it would be wonderful to show us all how you do them. Thanks you two, you are great.
Hey ya'll.. I will start a different thread for lapbook and posts links as well..We're off to music right now, but will post some this afternoon.. Yes when I finish my native american lapbook, I'm posting it, as well as a unit study on the plains indians i did, for free on my site..
Hey, that'd be great Jackie! Thanks Tina! I want to do some of that with history and science this year with my younger two. Think 8th grade is too old for that? If so, I'll do that with my youngest.
Jackie, Right now only we can upload files to our website but...we would be honored and privileged (sp?) to put them there for all to use. I do want to copyright them for you so...if you haven't already, I'll add that to it. I can either use your name, initials, school name....whatever your want. I just feel very strongly about giving credit where credit is due! You can email them to me at info@hsiz.org Woo Hoo!!!!
Is the lapbook idea sort of a spin-off of the Charlotte Mason sketch/journal approach? I saw something online the other day about learning through scrapbooking. It was really neat. The site showed a 2 page layout on animal classification, maybe grade 7? It looked so neat, a finished little science scrapbook would be beautiful. As much as I love to scrapbook, though, that sure would be time consuming. Maybe an occassional topic here or there throughout the year. Neat thought, though.
Hey, what do ya know!? I just looked at your thread on lapbooks and one of the sites you referenced was the one I saw the other day - the scrapbooking to learn one I came across that site just by accident and was really impressed by it. That's really fun.
It's more like making a lot of little books on a topic and glueing them all into a file folder. For example, the ones my kids did on the rainforest has a little book on carnivorous plants, one on PHOTOTROPIC, one on other plants (epiphytes, bromeliads, strangler figs, lianas vines, buttress roots). There's one of the different layers, one on the water cycle, one on the amount of water and temperature vs. what it is here in Ohio, and four seperate books on four kinds of animals...poison dart frogs, jaguar, giant anaconda, and the last on three different monkeys. All these are glued attractively into one folder. Poster board (or "tag board" ) is used to extend the folder so it will fit more.
I need to get me some of that TAG BOARD stuff so I can extend my folders! :lol: I'd love to see your kids folders, Jackie! Let us know when they're up on hsiz!
