COMING SOON: Dinosaur Lapbook

This is my son, Yusef’s Lapbook all about dinosaurs. Recently, he reached a chapter in his science textbook that covers fossilisation and dinosaurs so I thought we would make that a rest point for him where he could do some lapbook work.

He recently made a flap book all about Fossilisation  which you can see here. And my younger two girls have also been working together on a Dinosaur Totbook which is now complete and available to view.

We are also doing a few other dinosaur activities which everyone has been taking part in, including art and crafts, file folder games, fossil-making and even a mini project to hatch and grow our own Triops.

 Exciting stuff … more details soon insha’Allah!

Origins of Christmas Symbols & Traditions Lapbook

This is a lapbook I researched and put together for my 8 year old son, Yusef during the end of December and early January. He is old enough to fully understand now that living in the UK, people have different religious and cultural backgrounds and celebrate different festivals. 

Having come from a non-Muslim background, my parents are not religious but they do celebrate Christmas and this is something that my children are aware of. Year upon year they come to recognise the signs that Christmas is coming … decorations in the street, images of Christmas Trees and Santa Claus in the shops etc and even though we don’t celebrate Christmas ourselves, they are very aware that this celebration takes place annually and I felt it was time they got a better understanding of this celebration and its relevance to those who celebrate it.

The idea of this lapbook is to teach the basic beliefs of Christians and the significance of Christmas to them as well as to explain the meaning and origins of various traditions and symbols that also represent Christmas and how most, if not all of these traditions reach as far back as Ancient Rome and Pagan Europe.

We also did comparisons between our Islamic beliefs and the beliefs of others and refered to quotes and references from Islamic, Christian and Pagan sources.

 I printed off the various templates to make the minibooks from the Homeschool Helper Website.

When the lapbook opens out you can see the many different minibooks included.

This is a shutterbook about the story of the Nativity. Inside Yusef wrote about the Christian beliefs and the story of the birth of Jesus as the Son of God. We then discussed the differences in the Islamic story of his birth and looked at quotes from the Quran that teach that Jesus was a prophet and not the Son of God.

Next is a small cross book which explains the Nativity in more detail with Christians beliefs explained on one side of the page and Islamic beliefes explained on the opposite side.

This is a small flap about the Star of Bethlehem. Yusef realised that stars are often used to top the Christmas tree and we learned that the traditions represents this star which is significant to the story of the Nativity.

Here is a book about Angels, also significant to Christian beliefs, they hailed the birth of the Son of God according to the Nativity.

This small accordion book is all about Candy Canes which are traditionally eaten and used as decorations at Christmas time. Some people believe that the upside down cane looks like the letter ‘J’ representing the name of Jesus. Yusef wrote on the reverse of the accordion book about the history of the first candy canes, made in 1600 and handed out to children in church. The idea is that the cane represents the crook of the shepherds mentioned in the Nativity.

This is a circle book that talks about mince pies and how they were originally linked to Christian celebrations.

Here is a shutterbook about Christmas Crackers. Yusef wrote about the invention of the Christmas Cracker and gave details of what is included in a cracker. Even I was surprised to discover that the significance of the paper crown traditions stems back to the times of the festival of Saturnalia celebrated by the Ancient Romans.

This is a mini tag book shaped like a Christmas stocking. Inside Yusef wrote about how Christmas stockings first came to be used.

Similarly, this flapbook explains the origin of some European practises of leaving out shoes instead of stockings. These traditions date back to the Norse practises of the Gemanic and Scandinavian Pagans of ancient Europe.

This is a small stack book about Santa Claus. We read a great deal of information on Wikipedia and it seems that there are a number of origins for the man known as Santa Claus. Some stem from Norse Mythology, but most commonly known is the story of the Christian man who later became known as Saint Nicholas because his kindness towards the poor people in his town.

Next is a gift-shaped tag book explaining the origin behind giving gifts at Christmas. This tradition dates as far back as the Ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia, which was celebrated by giving gifts to one another as well as to the gods between 23rd and 27th December. More commonly known is the tradition of giving gifts that represent the giving of gifts to Jesus by the Magian kings.

This sheet with pull out gingerbread men looks at the origins of gingerbread and how it became linked to Christian celebrations after the ginger spice was brought back to Europe and the UK by the Crusaders returning from the Middle East.

This is a flip tag all about wreaths and how they are rooted in the ancient beliefs and practises of the European pagans who would gather evergreens and light fires during the winter solstice in the hope of welcoming the arrival of the new Spring.

This is a pizza fold book that explains in further detail the meaning of the candles and how the wreath became intertwined with Christian beliefs. The lighting of the candles represents the expected arrival of the Son of God and the centre candle represents the night of his birth, i.e. Christmas Eve.

This little flap talks about ornaments and decorations such as baubles which are used to decorate Christmas trees. This practise came originally from the Christian tradition of bringing a tree into the church and decorating it with apples to represent the Tree of Paradise. Later baubles took the place of the apples.

This little flap book discusses Christmas trees. The practise of bringing ever greens into the home dates back as far as Ancient Egypt! The Christmas tree is a feature in many homes at Christmas time in both religious and non-religious households, but we were surprised to learn that the Christian Bible actually condemns the practise of bringing trees into the home and decorating them, likening this tradition to the way of the pagans.

This flap book talks about the Yule Log which is a tradition more common in Europe than in the UK now. The Yule Log dates back to the time of the European pagans who would select and burn a particulary hard log that would burn continously believed to ward of evil spirits and represent the hope that the dark days of winter would pass and the new spring would arrive.

This flap is all about Wassailing. This is a practise that I had never heard of until I read about it whilst researching for this lapbook. It is actually a tradition that dates backs to the time of the Saxons and was then intertwined with Christmas. Wassail is an alcohol drink that is consumed and shared at Christmas with the greeting of “Waes Hael!” which is Old English meaning “Be Well!”
We took the time to discuss what alcohol was, the effects if can have on the body and why it is forbidden in Islam.

Next is a shutterbook about holly, a commonly used decoration at Christmas time. We learned that this plant was revered by the Ancient Romans and was specifically linked to their god, Saturn. We also learned how holly was important to European Pagans and later became significant to Christians who believed the green leaves represent the eternal life of Jesus as the Son of God and the red berries represent the blood spilled when he was crucified, according to Christian beliefs.

Finally is a flap about Christmas Cards. Yusef wrote about who invented Christmas cards and why they were invented as well as the many different scenes that are depicted on Christmas Cards.

Below are some of the links we used for the references to make this lapbook:

• Origins of Christmas
• Origins of Christmas Trees
• Origins of Gingerbread
• Origins of the Candy Cane
• Origins of Santa Claus
• Origins of Christmas Foods
• Origins of Holly
• Origins of Christmas Stars
• Origins of the Yule Log
• Origins of Christmas Stockings/Shoes
• Origins of Christmas Decorations
• More of the Origins of Christmas (Full History)

Ancient Egypt Lapbook

This is my son, Yusef’s lapbook. We enjoyed working on this topic for a good couple of months and we are still putting the finishing touches to a few pieces of work. 

This topic is so vast that I decided it would be a good idea to make a lapbook that covered Ancient Egypt in general and then make smaller lapbooks on the many different aspects of Ancient Egyptian life. So as we went along we slowly added to this large lapbook as we complete the smaller units.

Below are some photos showing how the lapbook opens out and what it contains.

The centre page folds down to reveal more attachments in the centre of the book.

Many of these templates came from a unit study I found on the Homeschool Share Website, and others I found through various search engines. I have included all the files on my BOX file share widget which you can find as you scroll down the menu bar on the right of the screen.

We used a huge number of resources during this topic and I will list our recommendations at the end of this post.

First up is a vocabulary flap book.

The word is on the front of the flap and the definition is written inside.

Then an accordion book listing the many different games played by the Ancient Egyptian children.

Next is a stacked flap book showing a few of the major gods and goddesses of Ancient Egypt.

On each page Yusef wrote a few facts about how and why the god/goddess was revered and how they are related to the other gods and goddesses.

This is a fan book about Ancient Egyptian furniture.

We had fun looking at hieroglyphics and trying to read them. Yusef even wrote his name in hieroglyphs.

Next up is a flap all about the Sphinx.

Before we even started this subject we first had to learn where Egypt is, hence this little shutter book with map.

We all had a laugh trying to solve this funny little riddle.

Can you work it out ……….. ??

That’s right, it’s …..

This is a folded flap book all about houses in Ancient Egyptian times. Yusef included information about the houses of both the poor people and the rich people.

Next is a fact flap all about the life blood of Egypt, the river Nile.

This is a fan book filled with facts about pyramids.

Next are a few tri-fold books, this one is about Science in Ancient Egypt.

Yusef wrote up on the different scientific areas studied and relied upon in Ancient Egyptian times.

Then a tri-fold book about Pharoahs.

Using several books, Yusef wrote in some facts about Pharoahs and then he drew the crowns for Upper and Lower Egypt.

This was an interesting fact book, all about the foods of Ancient Egypt.

Then there is a flap about entertainment in Ancient Egypt which largely revolved around music and dancing.

Here is another small match book on Pharoahs followed by another one on scarab beetles and their significance.

Next is a scroll shaped note book which explains step by step how papyrus was made.

Next is a flap about the different methods of transportation.

Then we have a pin wheel looking at some of the many jobs carried out by the people of Ancient Egypt.

Here is another fan book which goes into more detail about some of the toys and games played in Ancient Egypt.

Next is a flap all about canopic jars.

Inside, Yusef stuck down pictures of the 4 most well known forms of canopic jars from the New Kingdom.

Inside this flap Yusef wrote about some of the many objects found in the tombs of Ancient Egypt.

Next is a mini book on Shabtis. These little models of servants later replaced the (sometimes) live burial of the servants of the deceased pharoahs!

Next is a book all about amulets. Yusef drew some examples of amulets worn by children and pharoahs.

Next is a match book about the Book of the Dead.

Here is an accordion book explaining step by step how a mummy is made.

This is a collection of flap books all about the funeral preparations and procession for the pharoahs.

Under this flap Yusef wrote about how, when the body arrives at the tomb, the priests perform the ‘Opening of the Mouth’ ceremony.

Next is a flap book which explains how Ancient Egyptians believed their body’s possessed two spiritual components known as ‘Ka’ and ‘Ba’

Finally, on the reverse of the lapbook is a stacked flap book with information from our case study on Tutankhamun and the discovery of his tomb. There is also a pocket containing a pyramid jigsaw puzzle, just for fun.

As I mentioned earler, we used a huge number of different resources for this project, including books, dvds and websites.

One of the best websites we used was this Ancient Egypt Website which lists hundreds of useful links to all sorts of facts, photos, videos and pieces of information.

We also got a huge amount of information from books including:

• 1000 Facts of Ancient Egypt
• DK Ancient Egypt (Eyewitness Project Book)
• 100 things you should know about PYRAMIDS
• Egypt Action Files
• Insiders Alive – Ancient Egypt
• Ancient Egyptians (As seen on Channel 4)

We also watched a lot of the documentaries on the Discovery channels, as well as some clips from Youtube. I also brought several DVD boxsets including:

• The Ancient Egyptians (8 DVD’s)
• The Book of the Dead (1 DVD)

COMING SOON: Ancient Egypt Project Folder

It seems to be taking me forever to get round to blogging our Ancient Egypt work. The kids worked so hard and we spent a good two and a half months on the subject, making lapbooks and file folders and presentations and more. I am slowly working my way through the photos and I shall be sharing this neat little 50+ page project with you soon insha’Allah.

Family History Folder

My two older kids, Yusef and Samira are working through a wonderful History text and activity book called ‘The Story of the World – Ancient Times’ by Susan Bauer

The book starts off explaining about ‘What is History?’ and ‘What is archaeology?’ One of the activities encourages the child to think about what is history and how is history made and how do historians know what went on in the past, etc. The book goes on to explain how historians find out what went on in the past by examining old records and manuscripts; and through the discovery of artifacts by archaeologists.

The activity suggests taking a history of the family to created a recorded manuscript which can be used to understand the childhood of parents and grandparents and can also be used to look back on in  the future for the kids to recall something from their own history.

So I created a worksheet based on the sample given in the text book student pages which Yusef filled in on each of the family members. This is an example of the worksheet (for obvious reasons I am not going to include photos of the actual worksheets he completed because they contain personal details and photos)

Yusef completed several of these sheets for each family member including parents, grandparents and uncles then they were bound together and tied into the folder with string.

We also thought it would be fun to create some family trees. One for the English side of the family and one for the Algerian side of the family.

Above is the family tree for the English side of the family going back as far as the grandparents  My dad  has been researching the family tree for a number of years and has made significant progress so he was able to show the kids a much larger version of the family tree, masha’Allah.

The Algerian family tree, on the other hand is huge, masha’Allah, although it too only goes back to the grandparents.

To be sure the kids understood how the family trees worked I created a set of quiz questions for each family tree and the kids have to refer to the family tree in order to find the answers.

Old Treasure Map

Making an old looking treasure map was something I had done as a kid as part of a history project and I thought it would be fun to relive it with the kids.

First of all we designed a treasure map on a sheet of A4 white paper with a trail leading to the X that marks the spot where treasure is supposedly buried.

Next we scrunched the map up a bit, to give it some creases and made a few rips and tears in it to make it look really old.

Before designing the map I had prepared a cup of instant coffee. Just instant coffee mixed into hot water. When the coffee had cooled down I poured it into a baking tray and lay out the map into the tray to soak in the coffee to stain it. We left it to soak for half an hour. NOTE: You can also get the same staining effect from tea.

After half an hour I carefully took the map out of the coffee mixture and placed it onto another baking tray and placed it under the grill on the lowest setting to dry it out and give it a scrunchy feel. Bear in mind that you need to keep a close eye on the map as you ‘grill’ it so that it doesn’t burn. It only takes a couple of minutes to dry.

Finally, if you want to be really creative, you could hold the edges of the map over a naked flame being extremely careful to not let it catch alight (as I did with our first map LOL!). This will give the map a smoke damage effect. This last step should be done by an adult or under adult supervision.

And when your map is ready you can go on a treasure hunt! We had great fun with out treasure map. I created sign posts around the house that correspond with the points on the map and the kids had great fun running around the house following the map to find the treasure!

Algeria Project: Fact Poster

With my husband being Algerian, I thought it would be nice for the kids to learn a bit about their roots. And it just so happened that at the time Algeria had just qualified for the African Cup of Nations and the FIFA World Cup 2010 so we all of a sudden became very patriotic in our house LOOOL! With all the focus on Algeria I thought it would be perfect timing for a geography project, and our first port of call became ALGERIA.

The two older kids worked together on this poster.

My son worked on the flag while my daughter wrote up the history of the flag and what the colours represent.

We talked about the famous foods that are produced and exported from Algeria.

We looked at the geography and topography of Algeria, learning where the Sahara desert begins and learning where the famous mountain ranges are.

We learned the Arabic name for Algeria: Djazair, and we also learned a few facts about the country in comparison to the rest of the world. Then my son completed a quiz on Algeria and its border countries which involved some map reading.

We learned all the names of the countries that border Algeria and coloured-coded them on the map of Africa.

We talked about the Deglet Nour dates which is the most famous food export of Algeria and later on we did a seperate project all about dates.

Finally we made a small time-line along the bottom of the poster to give a brief understanding of the history of Algeria. The kids grandfather took part in the revolution against France, so they got to learn about the stories of the Mujahideen too, masha’Allah.