California Notebook Pages and Plans

I want my younger boys to study the state they live in, so I am working on a California notebook page series.  Here are the first and second pages.  I am learning that some notebook pages come easy, and some are really tough to put together.  This one was a tougher one for some reason.  I think there were so many resources to choose from, and few that seemed utterly ideal. 

 page 1


At USA-Printables I found several nice maps and other things.  I used them for the maps on this front page.

I also printed a map of our own part of the state, which you can see on the top right, but I won't link to it;  it wouldn't be relevant since you (I am pretty sure) don't live where we do in California.  But since we are going to have some nature study pages in future to study our local habitat, I thought that would be a good start. 

For the foldable flower thing on the bottom right I used:  California State Mini-Lapbook (Dollar Menu)

You can see how it opens to show key facts about the state.   And there is another printable map which fit inside nicely. 

page 2

A State Symbol flap book (from California State Mini-Lapbook)
A State Wheel (Enchanted Learning)

How the State Symbol Book looks when it is open -- there are two layers, one with a picture and one with information

A State motto, song and nickname activity sheet you can find on HomeschoolHelper -- it folds from a circle into a triangle.   I glued it in the wrong way -- oh well. 

Plans for the Future:

For future California notebooking, I want to have a page on California habitats (this could connect with an animal study -- Paddy is very interested in animals right now) and a page on California landmarks (especially the ones we've been to) and an overview page on California history (missions, Gold Rush, etc) -- then we could go into more detail in the future as we cover that time period in our history studies.

Also I would like to have notebook pages for other states we have visited.  

Free and Semi-Free California (and general US State) Resources

• There are some excellent general state lapbook resources at HomeschoolShare. 
• And Homeschool Helper has enough foldables for a really nice state lapbook.    Both sites are free.  

There are also a lot of California resources at Enchanted Learning.  Unfortunately, many are subscriber-only.   But you can find a summary of California information that can help you fill out the activities for the Homeschool Helper lapbook.

Also it is worth looking at Quizlet when you want your child to study facts in an easy way.   I found:

• California Facts for 4th Grade
• Our California (more general geography)
• Tribes of California 
• Some California historical terms
• Statehood for California (general historical terms)

Also Two on California Regions with Pictures!

• Fourth Grade California Regions
• California Regions

 More California related resources:

• California Unit of Study at Apples4theTeacher
• California Printables
• California Unit (Easy Fun School)
• Habitats of California