Tour 2: Geography- Europe Lapbook

You can decide how to best do this- print a little every week along the way, or print it all now and have it ready for each week when you start your geography lesson! Since each region of Europe has been divided in the Tour Guide into two weeks, but are combined in this lapbook, you can decide what the best way to present/use the lapbook for your family.  You can make the lapbook the first week, and then fill in extra information the second week.  Or you could just learn about the countries the first week and then the features the next week.  Or you could teach about the countries the first week, and then use the lapbook as a review/see how much they remember for the next week.  The possibilities are endless and it’s really up to you how to best use this lapbook in your schoolroom!

First things first, download and save the file:

Europe Lapbook- Catholic Schoolhouse

The instructions are included in the download, but I also have included them in this post.

A Note about the Lapbooks: 

Lapbooks can be a fun and interactive way for students to learn- lots of teachers both in and out of the school system are using them these days.  And they are a fun way to review material you’ve already covered.  Don’t feel pressured to make your lapbook look exactly like the pictures.  The most important thing is that your students are learning and having fun! If they want to put pieces in different places, color it differently or make their own additions, go for it!  Lastly, if you have several students at home, you can either let them each make their own (if they can cut and glue by themselves) OR you can make one lapbook as a family.

Instructions for assembling your Europe Lapbook:

Supplies needed:

•  File folder
• paper and/or cardstock
• scissors
• hole puncher
• gluestick or glue dots or two sided tape
• 4 metal brads
• stapler

Printing:
Most items are fine if printed on regular paper, however print on cardstock for added durability if desired.
Print the cover and the map (pgs 5-6) one sided.
Print the Eastern Europe book (pgs 7-10) two-sided (flip on the long side of the paper).
Print the Western Europe Flip book (pages 11-14 ) two sided (flip on the long side of the paper).
Print the Southern Europe Pocket (pg 15) on cardstock one sided.
Print the Southern European Cards (pages 16-18 ) one sided.
Print the Northern Europe Flap book (pgs 19-20) two sided (flip on the long side of the paper).
Print the feature tags (pgs21-22) one sided.

Assembly:
Form your lapbook by opening your file folder and then folding the sides in toward the middle.

Open your lapbook and gluestick/gluedot/tape your map to the middle center of the lapbook. You can laminate the map, or use contact paper so that it can be used with a dry erase marker for labeling, drawing in rivers, mountain ranges or various other activities. Or you can have your student just label and color the map.

Weeks 5 and 6

Cut out the Eastern Europe Book pages, making sure not to cut the spine of the book (do not cut on the dotted line).
Stack them such that the title is on the front and they look like this.
Staple in the middle, then fold in half.

A picture of each country’s flag and the country’s capital are already in the booklet. There is plenty of room for your students to add their own interesting facts about each country. Consider adding landmarks, cultural food, famous people from that country, tourist attractions, patron saints, visions of Mary, names of famous cathedrals or anything else you or your students find interesting.

Cut out the Eastern Europe Features Tags (Carpathian Mountains, Danube River, Black Sea, and Volga River). Hole punch on the circle, then hole punch in the lower right side of the lapbook’s middle section. Stack the tags with the title on top and using a small brad, secure the to the lapbook. Gluestick the Eastern Europe booklet to the bottom right side flap of the lapbook.

Weeks 7 and 8

Cut out the Western Europe Book pages, making sure not to cut the top fold of the flap book (do not cut on the dotted line).
Stack them such that the title is on the front and they look like the pictures below.
Staple in the middle (on the dotted line), then fold in half.

Cut out the Western European Features tags (Seine River, Alps, and Mont Blanc) and secure (in the same way you did with the Eastern Europe Features Tags) to the top left corner of the middle section of the lapbook. Glue stick the Western Europe Flap Book to the Top Left Flap of the Lapbook.

Weeks 9 and 10

Cut out the Northern Europe Book pages, making sure not to cut the dotted lines.
Stack them such that the title is on the front and they look like the picture below. (Stack so that the dotted lines are all on top of one another).
Staple in the middle (on the dotted line), then fold in half.

Cut out the Northern European Feature tags (Big Ben, River Thames, North Sea, and Baltic Sea) and secure (in the same way you did with the previous Features Tags) to the top right middle of the lapbook. Glue stick the Northern Europe highlighted map and Flap Book to the Top Left Flap of the Lapbook.

The finished Europe lapbook inside looks like this:

The tags with features can spin out so you can read them and check out the pictures!

Add your own information to the map and to the booklets to personalize it. Laminate the map in the middle to use it over and over again. Your students can quiz themselves on labeling the countries and bodies of water, or they can draw in the capitals, landmarks or other interesting features.