Homeschool Helps -Animal Notebooks – What to Do Next
Several of you have emailed me asking what to do once you print out the dividers for your animal notebook and you are ready to go. Many of you are wondering just what to include and how to get started. First off if you are new to making a science notebook click on the animal notebook link above and read that. That will get you started on the basics and setting up your dividers.
This post will be on setting up a notebook for kids that are a bit older – say 3rd grade and up but it’s totally up to you. I will do another post on setting up a notebook for younger kids. First, let me say the beauty of notebooks is they are unique! Your child’s notebook is what he wants it to be. But here are some things that should help.
Once you have your dividers in place decide on an animal you want to research. I have a generic animal detective worksheet that we use for researching the animals. I also have made some up to go with specific animals. This is a great starting point. Add clipart or photos of the animal to your research page.
Here are some other things we put in our animal notebook
- coloring pages
- maps with animal locations, migration paths, etc
- mini posters of foods they eat, different types of breeds (if doing something general like dogs)
- information pages
- labeled body parts (for exampel label the parts of a bird)
- books/videos we have read or watched
- poems/stories
We also incorporate lapbook techniques and make mini books and other fun things which we place in pockets or sheet protectors.
If a child is learning a particular skill, like math fact, print those out with the animal you are studying on them and include them in a pocket.
We use the various .99 resource packs to write our reports on for whatever animal we are studying. I am planning on doing more lapbooking type pack as well. There is currently one on polar bears and penguins. I would love to hear your notebook ideas as well!
SPECIAL: Buy 2 get 1 Free – Buy any 2 items including .99 packs get 1 FREE – not listed yet but available this week are St Patrick’s Day Pack, Paddy Day Bears, Bunnies and Cheerleading Resource Packs.
Happy Homeschooling,
Belinda
Link to this page
Your animal notebook idea, dividers and summary sheets are now at the top of my “favorite finds” list. I’ve wanted to begin teaching about the animal kingdom in a way that’s organized and will stick, but couldn’t picture how to do it. Not only have you given me the great graphics and summary information in a format that will aid retention, but the kids can “own” the information as they make their notebooks and take pride in adding to each section as we read about new animals. Thank you for all the time you put into helping the rest of us on our teaching journey!
This is great! i just stapled a booklet together today of the different classes of animals. Each week my son made a full color chart for each class – mammals, fish, birds, etc and afterwards we had a beautiful book for his portfolio with other worksheets in it as well
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I have seen so much junk on the internet, so it is nice to see something positive being said.
Kind regards,
Ruth