Morocco Lapbook

My daughter Samira recently brushed up her knowledge of the continents of the world by making her Continents and Oceans Lapbook, and now that both of the older kids are familiar with the general layout of our planet we decided to step up our geographical knowledge by focusing on a country a week.

Throughout the week we watch videos online, read books and do lots of  research on our chosen country … and as an added extra we also get to do a bit of cooking and various arts and craft things too.

At the end of the week we put together a lapbook with lots of interesting facts, pictures and maps. Our latest lapbook focuses on the beautiful and colourful country of Morocco.

Both Yusef and Samira made a lapbook each. I found the templates available to download from Homeschool Share and I’ve also made them available in my Box File Share Widget which you can find as you scroll down the right of the screen.

The lapbooks are made by taping 2 sheets of A3 card together and folding them in on themselves until the lapbook closes to A4 size.

First is a shutterbook with a map showing which continent Morocco is found.

Next are some flaps about the size and population of Morocco.

Using percentages, Yusef and Samira learned how to create a pie-chart graph in Microsoft Word to show the percentage population make up.

This is a question and answer flapbook which involved using a textbook atlas to research the answers and write them under the flaps.

Here is a bar graph diagram showing the population comparison between Morocco and the UK.

Two flaps that show the Official Name of Morocco and the Official Language.

A flap that gives the name of the currency and a flap that explains about the religion of Morocco.

To decorate the book, the kids stuck down photos of foods and products related to Morocco and wrote a few sentences to explain each picture.

Here they learned about famous foods and drinks from Morocco.

This was a blank map and the kids had to follow the instructions, using an atlas, to label it and draw on features such as rivers and mountains.

This is a flap about the climate.

Here the kids learned a bit about the history of the capital city, Rabat.

More photos – the kids learned all about the famous souqs and we watched videos online showing how the Fez tanneries dyed the various animal skins and how shoes, potteries and carpets are made and sold.

In the centre of all the phots is this flap which explains about some of the more famous products that are sold and exported from Morocco.

This is a vocabulary flap to learn and understand a few of the words we came across in this project.

This is a stack book in which the kids wrote about some of the different types of animals found in Morocco.

The kids had a chance to practise their Arabic writing skills to complete this vocab chart.

This tri-flap explains about the different people who inhabit the different regions of Morocco.

This double flap shows the time difference between the UK and Morocco.

Finally, we added on an extra page with the recipe and photos of the Orange and Almond Basbousa that the kids made together.

Continents & Oceans Lapbook

This is a mini lapbook that my daughter, Samira made to help her learn all about the continents and oceans of the world.

When the lapbook opens out it reveals various worksheets and map activities and games.

In the centre of the lapbook is a blank map, nicely coloured by Samira, showing the continents of the world and next to the map is a pocket containing small labels.

The idea is for Samira to practise correctly labelling the continents and the oceans.

Here is a little word-find about the continents and a pocket containing cut-outs of the continents.

This is a worksheet which requires colouring to help remember where the continents are.

This is the black and white map with the continents already named and the idea is for Samira to fit the continent cutouts over the map in the correct places so that she becomes familiar with them.

And finally on the reverse of the lapbook is a quiz to test general knowledge of the continents and oceans.

If you would like to make a similar lapbook you will find the files available to download for free from my File Share Widget as you scroll down on the right of the screen.

Volcanoes & Earthquakes Lapbook

My son, Yusef did a project some time ago which we called Extreme Earth. He learned all about the amazing structures, climates and environments on our planet and he was fascinated with volcanoes, which led us to make a more detailed lapbook on volcanoes and earthquakes.

Most of the templates I found on the HomeSchool Share Website. We combined the Volcano Templates and the Earthquake Templates into one large lapbook and I also made a few additional templates. I have made all the files available in my File Share widget which you can find on the right of the menu screen as you scroll down.

You can see below how large this lapbook is as the photos show how the lapbook opens out.

First up are a selection of mini-books about the structure and layout of the Earth. This shutter book shows the different layers of the Earth.

We did a small experiment with a hard boiled egg which I cut in half and showed the kids to help them understand the structure of the Earth’s layers. I took a picture of the egg and labelled it.

Next is a flap containing a world map where Yusef labelled the continents.

Then there is the pocket containing Earth trivia cards, with a question on the front of the card and the answer on the back.

Next is a tri-fold book all about different rock types.

Next is a tab book about the different kinds of faults in the earth that result in earthquakes.

And here are some more trivia cards all about earthquakes. It’s worth noting that the answers given to the trivia questions on these cards are now out of date, so you’ll have to do your own research to find up to date answers to questions such as ‘What was the longest ever recorded earthquake?’

Next we looked at the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’ – a hot bed of tectonic plate activity where most of the world’s volcanoes are found.

In this tri-flap mini-book we learned about volcanoes that are active, dormant and extinct.

In another tab-book Yusef drew and wrote about the four different types of volcanoes.

This is a flap containing a diagram of the internal structure of a volcano which Yusef labelled.

Next are some flaps about the different types of lava. There is Aa lava (pronounced ‘ah-ah’) and Pahoehoe (pronounced (‘pa-hoy-hoy’). These names come from the Hawaiian languange which describes the way in which the lava flows and cools.

Followed by a second set of flaps all about visiting volcanoes.

Here is a layered book all about types of mountains. Yusef copied the diagrams and wrote some information about their structure.

Next is a book all about Black Smokers, which are under water vents.

Here is another pocket of trivia cards, this time all about volcanoes.

The answers are on the reverse side of the cards.

Then we have an accordion book all about what volcanoes give us.

I always like to include some Islamic elements wherever possible into our lapbooks and in this notebook flap we discussed a very important ayah (verse) from Quran about why it’s not possible to predict earthquakes.

Next is a pin-wheel about the disasters that can result from an earthquake. Yusef included things like tsunamis, fires breaking out, disease and illness spreading, no utilities (gas, electric, water) etc.

This is a collection of cards strung together with facts and details about tsunamis.

Yusef wrote the translation of the word tsunami which comes from the Japanese language meaning ‘Harbour Wave’. He even wrote ‘tsunami’ in Japanese, masha’Allah.

Next is a another set of cards strung together which list the ways in which we can be prepared in case of an earthquake.

Next is a flap containing the hadith from the prophet Muhammad, sall’allahu alayhi wasalam in which is mentioned how earthquakes are a sign of the coming of the Hour and they will occur with more frequency (or intensity) towards the end of time.

And from Surah 99 of the Quran – Surah Zalzalah (The Earthquake). Yusef did some copy work, writing up the surah in English. We discussed it and looked at the tafsir (commentary) of this chapter.

Here is a map showing where most of the volcanoes are found in the world, and underneath is a bar chart showing the number of volcanoes in each country.

Next are a set of vocabulary flap books which include many of the words we came across whilst working on this project.

Similarly, here are a set of vocabulary tab cards which Yusef completed at the very end of this project.

Then we have a Creative Writing Pocket which contains Yusef’s short story about a boy who wanted to visit a volcano, and who built a helicopter which crash landed on a volcano crater!

Here is a fold out book all about plate tectonics. On the first map Yusef coloured the different plates and made a key to show which plate was which. And the map below shows a transparent diagram of the plates and their boundaries over the surface of the earth.

Then we have another set of mini-books all about the way plates move.

Here is a flap book about the Richter Scale. We also looked at the Mercalli scale, but we didn’t include it in the lapbook because it is the Ricter scale that is well known and more commonly referred to when discussing the power of earthquakes.

Here is a layer book about the different types of energy waves that move through the earth when an earthquake occurs.

Finally there is the fold out flap which lists the top 10 major earthquakes that have occured over the last decade.

Yusef said this has been one of his most favourite lapbooks so far because he learned so much, masha’Allah. And as someone who studied Geography at A’Level, this was a wonderful little refresher … and I even learned a thing or two!

GEOLOGY ROCKS!