Summer...around the corner

We've had a beautiful weather week. The sun has been bright and the skies have been mostly clear. And I had a breath of fresh air today...a friend came to visit! I called her this morning to see if she had ideas on how to get adhesive off the inside of my silverware drawer. She had some ideas, then we got talking about what we were planning on doing today. It was decided that she and her four kiddos would come to our house. Very Fun! It's been a long time since we've done that and our kids played well together and we were able to do some fun school stuff. (I'll tell you about that in a minute.) After she left, I realized how refreshing it was to spend a few hours with her, talk about things that concern us--or what just down right makes us laugh, and let the kids play. So, friend, thanks for coming over today!

She introduced me to "mini office lapbooks". They are lapbooks that contain all sorts of information that serve as reference materials to your children. It's sort of like a "Trapper Keeper" from the '80's or an office cubicle. It can stand up and help focus your child in his studies and it can serve as a wealth of information. For example, my kindergartner's mini office lapbooks will consist of one math and probably two for reading. This website, www.busyteacherscafe.com is terrific and were my friend got most of her printables (free, I might add). In one of her mini reading offices, she has:

• Alphabet chart
• all kinds of phonics charts--blends, vowels, digraphs, etc.
• chart of the months
• days of the week
• color words
• and on it goes :)
  

I'm having a blast with lapbooks and so are my kids. I'm even getting friends excited about lapbooking. So fun. When I'm finished compiling the girls' mini offices, I give you a peek.