Teaching Science: Apologia Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day Notebook

 

Apologia Textbook: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day

Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day Notebooking Journal

images from Amazon.com. 

Usually I copy and create notebook pages to supplement our science but this year, knowing our schedule-I ended up purchasing the notebook that is specifically designed to complement the textbook.  It has been a God send!  I mean it.  I have found that I am no longer spending huge amounts of time searching for material or creating go-along pages/activities, and I don't need to come up with lapbook components either! Granted, some of the activities we have skipped (which is quite alright in my opinion) but for the most part has been a seamless way to further implant the lessons into the Boy's head.

Some page examples:

lapbook: flip book activity

The lapbook components (included in back of notebook to pull out to create as needed) are very colorful and nicely done.  Talk about saving cash on printing!  Whew. 

Anyhoo-we're truly enjoying this so far and I am super happy I bought the notebook to go along with the next text we'll be doing (Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day).  I also greatly appreciate the little schedule that comes in the notebook.  It really helps me stay focused and keeps me accountable-which is always a good thing.  Not sure if you have tried these, but if you are debating them-like I did for a time-I strongly suggest giving them a try.  :)

Now I did not receive a thing for my opinion here-notta.  I bought these puppies and just wanted to share a good thing to my readers. But hey-Apologia, if you are reading this, I would love to write a review for another of your science notebooks/text after we're done with the Swimming Creatures one...cough, cough.  :)  

Beautiful Feet Books: Geography Maps and Notebook ideas using the BFB Geo Thru Lit study

So this year we have gone back to our favorite study guides for history-Beautiful Feet Books (BFB)*. We are feeling so much better and enjoying this transition back to what we know and like. As an added bonus, I have pulled in the Beautiful Feet Books Geography Through Literature study [which my 3 previous kiddos did and loved] because it goes along, just about perfectly, with the California and Westward Expansion that we are covering this year..  Like amazingly.  :) Love when that happens!

We put his maps above our white board.  He was getting sloppy with his work on the second map-and admitted it.  Ah boys-my girls were meticulous and he is like 'whatever'.  LOL He also said he decided to go all 'colory' on it, after examining his older brother's and sisters' maps (yep, still have em) and stating that he chose to go wild while they did theirs all nice like (paraphrase of his comment-let me tell you he had me in stitches laughing about his decision). 

Because there are four books used in the Geo study-all Holling C. Holling books-I decided to divide the year into 2 books per semester.  Since we started out with the expansion/exploration of sea faring brave-hearts, we began with Seabird.  This is actually one of my favorite H.C.H. stories. The boy especially enjoyed it because it was all about sailing and man stuff. The kind of man stories that inspire young lads to dream of heading out to horizons unknown. We also did notebooking [per the instructions in the guide plus a bit of our own] pages on it. And if that wasn't enough of a tie in, since it's about a bird (for the most part) it actually melded seamlessly with our Apologia Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day program!  [The first couple chapters are all about birds-so yeah!!! Talk about getting more bang for the buck!]

I found this pic of a seagull coloring page, and then had him 

categorize the names like we did in our science lessons. 

The notebook is broken into the book sections. I 

simply photocopied the cover for the title page, 

to make my life easier. 

Obviously you could just have the student

write the name of it on paper. 

Then we moved to Tree in the Trail.  My favorite of the four in this study.  Since both the California and the Westward Expansion talk about the movement from east to west in our US history-it was a  no brainer of a choice for our next map. Again, we did notebooking as well.  Plus, here again-our Little House on the Prairie study fit nicely too (they didn't do the Santa Fe Trail but they did move via wagon and such) which is part of our literature and LLATL study. We have read the first book of hers and the Almanzo book (Farmer Boy) so far.  We'll keep on with the series per my grand overall plan for our lit studies. Not to mention they will only further blend into our overall history study for the year.

These pics are from Edwin Tunis's Frontier Living Book-

this is out of print, I own it.

Again, we just copied some pics cuz he doesn't like 

drawing and well, again-it's easier. I don't usually

push photocopying pages but there are times, and since this

is for educational purposes and not being sold-

it falls into that gray area.

And there you have it. We'll be done with this semester pretty soon and I have to say, this time around has been so much more enjoyable and refreshing.  I will post more about our Apologia experience and other thoughts soon.



*I am not an affiliate for BFBooks but boy I should be-I truly love this curriculum. It is literature based,  we can cover as much or as little as we wish,  and at our pace. It has activities/notebooking that are easy to do and (at least right now) it is beautifully tying into many of our other subjects!  So anyhoo-this is my own personal take on it and no, I didn't get paid or receive anything for it.  

Couponing Tips 2: updated binder storage for printed coupons and what I do with the leftover ones

So my printed coupons have grown. My original idea worked pretty swell but I needed a bit more division and organization.  So when I saw some binders and tabs and little pockets marked 1/2 off in the school clearance section of my local CVS-I grabbed what I could. This is what I came up with, mind you-everyone has their own style of keeping their coupons, and this seems to work best for me. It may be too cumbersome for you or simply not your style-so be sure to search the web and the great couponing sites for more ideas.

I put together three binders. Two for regular products (divided into sections based on the isles at the store I shop at the most) and one for organic stuff.  I also took the tabs and duct taped the old ones to the new ones (Spider Man theme there, hey that was like 80% off so why not? Saving is important ya know) to bump the tabs out far enough to be equal the coupon holding sheets. Yes, it hangs out over the edge but I don't mind.  It doesn't look all nice and tidy-but it was not spency to build. And I am all for not putting out extra cash for this project.


My goal is to get the organic book the sheets I have in the other ones, but for now these pocket things will do. I added a piece of card stock to divide up the pocket to give me two sides, just like in the horizontal clear pockets in the other binders.  It works. I also took 3 of the pockets and folded the top corner down to make an envelope tucked edge for the three stores I get the most Catalinas from...Meijer, Kroger and CVS.

That way they don't go flying all about when I open it or pull the binder in and out of the bag I carry these in. Oh, and now I finally have a bag that I can carry all the binders in when I go shopping too!  Got it for free using my points the Kelloggs Rewards program. I guess it is sorta free-after all I had to buy Kelloggs products to earn points to get it-but hey, we ate, we enjoyed and now I have a cute Toucan Sam bag to hold it all.

This bag goes with me to the store, even tho the green one will already have my lists/coupons for that store already organized in (pencil) pouches.  Rarely will I go into a store without this.  If I see something I can score a great deal on and I 'forgot' the bag in the car-I will go back out and get it.  Otherwise, if it is at home and I have made a 'quick' stop for something-I will jot a note about it, then go back next time I pass the store to get the products.  But yes-this puppy is my baby and it shops with me. I will pull out and find additional coupons for non-advertised items and clearance goodies. I have walked out the stores with some 'almost paid nothing for' items by having this with me! Love when that happens!

And if you are curious what I do with all the coupons I get each Sunday-well, I go thru each one (piling up and matching pages from the individual flyers) cutting out only those coupons I know that I know we will use or will even consider. Then I put all the same pages together, tuck them into the outer fold of each flyer (Red Plum, Smart Source and Proctor and Gamble) then pen the date on the top outside cover, and put into large Ziplock bags by months.

When I am doing my lists/pulling matching coupons prior to shopping (by going thru several couponing sites to see store match ups) I may decide to purchase something that I did not cut the coupon for. All I do then is find the correct month packet and go to the listed flyer and grab the coupon(s). This extra coupon thing can get pretty bulky and heavy-so it stays at home. I do all my planning before walking out the door-so I rarely have one of those, "Shucks! I don't have that coupon on me!" moments.  If I do spot something I know I have a coupon for at home-I jot down the store name, item and then can go home and pull it for another time that I may be going by the store.

And that is the basic way I store and use my coupons.

Creating Activity/Trinket Boxes out of Food Boxes (like for Montessori works) [cross-post from my What's in the Box? blog]

So what does one do with all those little pieces or parts that are a must when using Montessori works [aka: a specific activity meant to teach something], or some matching activity or whatever it is you have that will need to be contained?  What can you use that keeps them all nice and tidy and looks good too? 

Well, being frugal is always a great way to start. So you search your humble abode, and perhaps even ask friends/family for those particular boxes that once housed delicate chocolates or sugar packs. Then you scrounge thru your various scrapbooking paper, collect glue, scissors, a bowl and a brush and you get busy. And that is exactly what I have done lately.  Whenever we get (usually a gift) those nice quality chocolates, I always save the boxes.  My husband actually found one I tucked away and he had the nerve to pitch it.  I gasped in horror and immediately plucked it from its demise.  Thankfully there wasn't anything in the trash yet so it was safe from grossness, and I must say-he won't make that mistake again. The shocked look [from such outlandishness across my face] surely left a lasting impression on him. LOL

Anyhoo-the reason I am posting this because there are times folks need a box or something to hold those little goodies. So why pay a lot of cashola for something you can make?  I don't know why you would.  I try my best re-purpose things when I can; this is a fun, creative way to get a few storage boxes that are sturdy and useful for our schooling needs.


Now I do not have a canister of Modge Podge about the house, so I did what any frugal gal would-I made the 'poor man's version' of it using Elmer's Glue and water to thin it.  Worked like a charm!
Figured I would just do a picture tutorial (for those who have never tried such things) and put a wee comment under when necessary.  Hope this helps you out.

The Basics:

Find a piece of scrapbook paper that appeals to you. I recommend using the thinner style. Then figure out there the lid fits best-allowing for enough paper to cover up over the sides and slightly over into the inside edge.

 Cut to the area where the corners meet

-but not too far in as you can always fix as you go.

 Put a nice, but not too heavy layer of glue down on the

 lid then lay down in the center area of your paper.

 Flip over and use one of those handy-dandy Pampered Chef  

scrapers (or a soft edged tool) to get rid of any air bubbles.

 Glue, fold and press out any bubbles, along all sides.

 Trim off any excess and tuck the corners in nicely.  Try not to over do it on the inside because the extra bulk may prevent the lid from going over the bottom.

Coat the entire top/sides with thin layer of glue.

Let dry thoroughly. I actually did two coats.  

Very smooth and durable.

And there ya go-

 

Now I have a lovely box to contain language materials.  And hey, if it gets crushed-well I am out like 30 cents.  Not too shabby!  :)