For our geology unit, this lapbook is the culmination of most of our work. My 5th grader still wrote daily narrations, but no information stuck as well as what he learned and relearned to make this lapbook. Though it took far longer than I expected, it turned our far better than I hoped. I made extensive use of my Silhouette Cameo to cut everything from the planet and the continents to the titles and the volcanoes. My 5th grader designed all the volcanoes and rocks using the Silhouette Cameo program. I made the titles. This project needed a lot of prep work on my part. I assembled the lapbook so that it would open up to reveal the pages in a fold out manner.
On the outside we have the earth with the continents (not to scale), but when you lift up the earth, the interior of the earth and all its layers is to scale. It was especially informative to see how little the crust is when the mantle is layered on top. Only a sliver shows even though I used the largest depth for the crust at 25 miles. Each layer opens up to reveal the outer core and inner core. On each layer, my 5th grader wrote information about the layers of the earth.
Opening the lapbook reveals another planet earth, but this one’s in a pocket I designed using the Silhouette Cameo and a 12×12″ inch sheet protector I cut down and fused into a pocket using the We R Memory Keepers Fuse Tool. Inside this pocket is another set of continents you can remove and manipulate to form Pangea.
Opening the flaps of the lapbook reveal the erupting volcano with a fold out volcano that shows what the volcano looks like on the inside as well as a narrative on erupting volcanoes. The poison gas is a moveable feature that can be moved up and down to show the volcano is erupting.
On the side flaps are a volcano and a mountain. The bottom flap shows the magma chamber which is connected to the erupting volcano. The flaps are connected by a piece of paper with the three types of rocks sliding up and down to show the rock cycle.
The backside of each flap shows a different type of volcano, with the backside showing a tidal wave being caused by an island volcano which has erupted and left a caldera.
We started our geology unit mid August, we started this project in September, but didn’t work on it in October. We finished it up in mid November. I almost quit this project before we even started, but since I mentioned it in a video, I felt obligated to give it a try. I’m so happy I did because we (both my 5th grader and I) love how the project turned out.
We were also inspired to do a good job when recently I needed to reorganize the school room and we came upon our old main lesson books dating back 10 years. We used to do such a good job! So we didn’t want to leave this project without giving it our all, so that down the line, we can look back and appreciate this project all the more.
