Lapbooks had been showing up in my Pinterest feed more and more, and I wanted to find the best way to use them in a science classroom. All the lapbooks I come across look fun and interactive, and I know students would enjoy creating and using them.
Thinking over the many uses of a lapbook in a science classroom, I decided that they would be a great addition to an interactive science notebook. Essentially, lapbooks and interactive notebooks both give students an interactive place to collect and store new information for future practice and reference.
One thing bothered me about lapbooks. Where would I keep these lapbooks in my classroom? I have always organized and stored student notebooks in my classroom. Each table with its own crate to hold the notebooks. Students can take their notebooks home for review or homework help as needed, but having a dedicated place of storage in the classroom cuts down on students losing and destroying them. A lapbook for each student, for each topic, would really add clutter to my already filled classroom. **Idea** Make the lapbooks IN the notebooks!
I have a system for creating lapbooks for each topic in your science lessons, and how to get a whole lapbook onto a page in the student notebook.
- Create a lapbook using printer paper and glue it into the notebook on the input side.
- Use the materials that you already have in your lesson files to fill the lapbook with valuable information and learning tools.
- Create these lapbooks during the time you already use for interactive notebook input.
Students can always look back and review the interactive learning tool you have provided for them! This is great for test prep and review.
Easy to create, easy to store, and easy for students to use!
Grab this FREE mini lapbook guide with set up and printables!
Here is my Complete List of What to Include in your Lapbooks for the Interactive Science Notebook:
- Topic/ I Can Statement or Standard
- Guiding Question to Answer
- K-W-L or Schema Building Activity
- Vocabulary Matching (Cards and Definitions can be found in these review stations.)
- Anchor Chart
- Lab or Activity Sheet
- Interactive Science Notebook Input Activity
**Print on the setting “4 per page” to get the printables small enough for your mini lapbook.
You can always take this lapbook idea and use it for a file folder sized lapbook if that is the format you like best!
This whole system could be easily modified to work in a math or history/ social studies classroom, too!! The possibilities are endless 🙂
Have fun making Interactive Science Notebooks even more interactive!!!