Illinois Geography LapbookIn God We TrustCreating an Illinois Geography Lapbook can help you to further explore the wonderful state of Illinois. Basic instructions on creating a lapbook are available at the bottom of this page along with a PDF file including the information on this page and more. Geography is more than just the physical make up of a location, it is also about the people, their interaction with the environment and nature. I hope to have touched on each of these in some way in this lapbook study. How to Use This Page You will find many facts and interesting items on this page and on the Illinois Geography page. There is too much information to include in a beginning lapbook session. Take a few minutes to first pick what you feel is important for your student to know or what might be interesting to him or her. I recommend no more than one or two items from each category per lapbooking session. The option to expand on this topic is always there but cover what you believe is important first. THEN Do activities that relate to the topic, for example the State dance is a Square Dance. Look up online the basic Square Dance steps and try them or take a Square Dancing class. Follow up by putting a dance diagram in the lapbook. Be creative in trying new things and experiment with more than the templates. If your child is artistic, let her/him draw. If your child learns by hands-on activities make an invention. Is your child musically inclined, sing the state song. Is your child a writer, create a poem using the state facts or write about one or two of the famous people. Don't make this all about cutting and pasting facts and putting them in neat little flap books. Decorate, experiment, research interesting people and places in books from the library or online. Additionally, if you live in Illinois go outside see if you can find the state tree, bird or flower. If you don't live in Illinois, go outside and see how much your state/country has in common with Illinois. MOST IMPORTANT: Have Fun!  LocationThe northeastern border of Illinois is Lake Michigan. Its eastern border is Indiana. Its northern border is Wisconsin. Its western border with Missouri and Iowa is the Mississippi River. Its southern border with Kentucky is the Ohio River. Illinois also borders Michigan, but only via a water boundary in Lake Michigan.[14] Illinois lies entirely in the Interior Plains. It has three major geographical divisions. The first is Northern Illinois including the city of Chicago, its suburbs, and the adjoining exurban area. The second is Central Illinois including Springfield. It is mostly flat prairie and is known as the Heart of Illinois. The third division is Southern Illinois. The juncture of the Mississippi River and the Ohio forms an area known as Little Egypt. This area has a warmer, humid climate and the landscape is rougher. Basic Illinois Geography Lapbook FactsStatehood: December 3, 1818, the 21st state Capital: Springfield Total Area: 26th among states, 150,007 sq km (57,918 sq mi) Water Area: 6,022 sq km (2,325 sq mi) Highest Point: Charles Mound 376 m (1,235 ft) Total Population: 5th among states Distribution in 1990: 85% Urban, 15% Rural Economy: State Bird: Cardinal State Animal: White-tailed Deer State Fish: Bluegill State Insect: Monarch Butterfly State Flower: Purple Violet State Tree: White Oak State Fossil: Tully Monster State Mineral: Flourite Prairie Grass: Big BluestemState Song: "Illinois" lyrics by: Charles H. Chamberlin music by: Archibald Johnston State Dance: Square Dance Motto: State sovereignty, national union Origin of State Name: Illinois is named for the Illini, a confederation of Native Americans Nickname for State: The Prairie State. Nickname for residents: IllinoisansLandmarks Natural and Man-MadeThere are 84 National Historic Landmarks in Illinois. Look through the listand pick one or two and research them online. Find pictures and interesting facts and include them in your lapbook. If you need a template, check here. Robert S. Abbott House A home of Robert S. Abbott, founder of the Chicago Defender newspaper. Adler Planetarium First and oldest planetarium in the western hemisphere Auditorium Building, Roosevelt University Building designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan. Bishop Hill Colony Historic district of Swedish dissident commune founded in 1846. Cahokia Mounds Largest archaeological site related to Mississippian culture. Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building Architect Louis Sullivan-designed building. James Charnley House Louis Sullivan AND Frank Lloyd Wright got in on this one's design. Chicago Board of Trade Building Skyscraper designed by Holabird & Root, housed the world's largest trading floor when built in 1930. Church of the Holy Family (Cahokia) A church dating from 1799. Columbus Park Part of the Chicago Park District. Arthur H. Compton House Home of Nobel-prize-winning physicist who proved light has both wave and particle aspects, the Compton Effect. Avery Coonley House Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home, in Riverside Historic District Crow Island School An elementary school designed by Larry Perkins and Eliel Saarinen. Model for the now-widespread Winnetka Plan school design. Susan Lawrence Dana House A Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house. David Davis House Home of David Davis (Supreme Court justice). Charles G. Dawes House Home of Charles Gates Dawes, architect of peace plans. John Deere Home and Shop Oscar Stanton De Priest House Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable Homesite Eads Bridge A combined road and railway bridge which was, when completed in 1874, the longest arch bridge in the world. Farm Creek Section Site of exposed geological strata. Farnsworth House A one-room home designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. John Farson House Fort de Chartres French fort built in 1720. Its powder magazine is believed to be oldest standing building in Illinois. Fort Sheridan Historic District An area originally established as a United States Army Post. John J. Glessner House Ulysses S. Grant Home Grosse Point Lighthouse A lighthouse on the shores of Lake Michigan, built in 1873 the wake of several shipping disasters. Haymarket Martyrs' Monument Hegeler-Carus Mansion Designed by Chicago architect William W. Boyington for a partner in a nearby zinc company. Isidore H. Heller House Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house. Arthur Heurtley House Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house, his first fully in Prairie School style. Hull House One of the first settlement houses in the U.S. Illinois and Michigan Canal Locks and Towpath Nicholas Jarrot Mansion Kennicott Grove The home of Robert Kennicott, an American naturalist. Kincaid Site An archaeological site Leiter II Building Frank R. Lillie House Former home of embryologist Frank R. Lillie. Abraham Lincoln Home Abraham Lincoln's home Lincoln Park Lily Pool An example of Prairie School landscape architecture designed by Alfred Caldwell. Lincoln Tomb Vachel Lindsay House Poet Owen Lovejoy House Home of abolitionist who was killed defending his printing presses. Marquette Building (Chicago) Marshall Field Company Store Mazon Creek Fossil Beds Pierre Menard House Robert A. Millikan House Home of Robert A. Millikan, a physicist. Modoc Rock Shelter An archaeological site. Montgomery Ward Company Complex The former warehouse and offices of the national headquarters of one of the nations first mail order companies, Montgomery Ward. Morrow Plots, University of Illinois An experimental corn field. Nauvoo Historic District Old Kaskaskia Village Old Main, Knox College Best-preserved site of one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Old State Capitol Old Stone Gate, Chicago Union Stockyards Entrance to the famous Union Stock Yards; designed by John Wellboorn Root. Orchestra Hall President (riverboat) Principia College Historic District Pullman Historic District Another historic district of the Pullman Company including the Hotel Florence. Reliance Building Riverside Historic District Planned community designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. Frederick C. Robie House A Prairie style home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1908. Rock Island Arsenal Rookery Building Room 405, George Herbert Jones Laboratory, The University of Chicago The laboratory that first isolated plutonium and determined its atomic mass. Sears, Roebuck, and Company Complex Shedd Aquarium An aquarium. Site of First Self-sustaining Nuclear Reaction A Pile South Dearborn Street-Printing House Row Historic District Historic District S.R. Crown Hall Ludwig Mies van der Rohe-designed architecture school building at Illinois Institute of Technology Starved Rock Lorado Taft Midway Studios Studios F. F. Tomek House Another house in Riverside Historic District Lyman Trumbull House A house. U-505 (German Submarine) German U-Boat at Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago Unity Temple A Temple. University of Illinois Observatory An observatory. The Wayside A house. Ida B. Wells-Barnett House Former home of civil rights advocate Ida B. Wells. Frances Willard House Former home of temperance reformer Frances Willard, and longtime headquarters of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Dr. Daniel Hale Williams House The former home of Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, one of the first major African American surgeons. Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Physical Land Features that can be found in Illinois are: Try to find an example of one or two of these. To get you started one arch is Illinois is the Pomona Bridge. There are a lot of lakes if you would like an easy one to expore. Arches Areas Bars Basins Bays Beaches Bends Capes Cliffs Falls Flats Forests Gaps Guts Islands Lakes Pillars Ranges Rapids Ridges Springs Streams Summits Swamps Valleys Woods Famous PeopleLearning about famous people from your state is a great way to tap into your student's interests. Studying famous authors or inventors from the list might spark a new passion. Have your student pick from the lists below and let them research that person and find 2 or 3 interesting facts about that person. Try to make sure they answer, "Why is this person famous?"Put those facts on a Fact Box template. Label the top flap Did You Know and on the inside put the interesting fact. Then put it in your Illinios geography lapbook. Authors Franklin Pierce Adams author, Chicago Ray Bradbury author, Waukegan Raymond Chandler writer, Chicago James Gould Cozzens author, Chicago John Dos Passos author, Chicago James T. Farrell author, Chicago John Gunther author, Chicago Ernest Hemingway author, Oak Park James Jones author, Robinson Frank Norris author, Chicago Carl Sandburg poet, Galesburg Sam Shepard playwright, Fort Sheridan William L. Shirer author, historian, Chicago Carl Van Doren writer, educator, Hope Melvin Van Peebles playwright, Chicago Irving Wallace author, Chicago Shel Silvertstein author,Chicago Inventors Arnold O. Beckman inventor, Cullom Marvin Camras inventor, Chicago Homer Z. Martin inventor, Chicago Stanley Mazor inventor, Chicago John Deere Inventor,Grand Detour George Ferris Inventor, Galesburg Actors/Producers/Actresses Gillian Anderson actress, Chicago Mary Astor actress, Quincy Jennie Garth actress, Urbana Walt Disney film animator, producer, Chicago Harrison Ford actor, Chicago Charlton Heston actor, Evanston William Holden actor, O'Fallon Rock Hudson actor, Winnetka Bill Murray actor, Wilmette Bob Newhart actor, comedian, Chicago Richard Pryor comedian, actor, Peoria Ronald Reagan U.S. president, actor, Tampico McLean Stevenson actor, Bloomington Preston Sturges director, Chicago Gloria Swanson actress, Chicago Raquel Welch actress, Chicago Florenz Ziegfield theatrical producer, Chicago Robin Williams actor, Chicago Jack Benny comedian, Chicago Political Black Hawk Sauk Indian chief Harry A. Blackmun jurist, Nashville William E. Borah public official, Fairfield William Jennings Bryan orator, politician, Salem John M. Harlan jurist, Chicago Ronald Reagan U.S. president, actor, Tampico Abraham Lincoln U.S. 16th president, New Salem Musicians Miles Davis musician, Alton Benny Goodman musician, Chicago Burl Ives singer, Hunt City Sherrill Milnes baritone, Downers Grove Alfred Wallenstein conductor, Chicago Other Jane Addams social worker, Cedarville Gower Champion choreographer, Geneva John Chancellor TV commentator, Chicago Jimmy Connors tennis champion, East St. Louis Cindy Crawford model, DeKalb Richard J. Daley mayor, Chicago Betty Friedan feminist, Peoria George E. Hale astronomer, Chicago Dorothy Hamill ice skater, Chicago Wild Bill Hickok scout, Troy Grove Quincy Jones composer, Chicago Walter Kerr drama critic, Evanston Robert A. Millikan physicist, Morrison William S. Paley broadcasting executive, Chicago Drew Pearson columnist, Evanston Clyde W. Tombaugh astronomer, Streator Gwendolyn Brooks Pulitzer Prize winner, Chicago State Historic SitesGo to the library or search online for information about one or two sites of interest to your child. Have them draw a picture, write a story, create a game and choose one or two items to condense into a form to fit in your Illinois Geography lapbook. There are more than 50 Illinois state historic sites. The state historic sites are:
Also of historic interest are two other areas:
There are no other National Park Service units in Illinois. Plants and AnimalsPlants and animals are an important part of life. Include in your Illinois Geography lapbook a few plants and animals from Illinois. Wikimedia offers many images in the public domain that are copyright use acceptable.A few animals you may see if your are out in the wilderness of Illinois are: Bobcat Thirteen lined squirrel Cottonmouth snake Timber Rattlesnake Copperhead snake Skinks and Lizards Magnolia White Oak Red Oak Burr Oak Chestnut Pecan Black Walnut Hackberry Wild Black Cherry Pin Oak Peach GovernmentIf you choose to include this information, I would suggest using the Vocabulary list template. Label the outside with the position i.e. Governor and the inside with who it is i.e. Rod Blagojevich. Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich (D) Lieutenant Governor of Illinois: Pat Quinn (D) Attorney General of Illinois: Lisa Madigan (D) Secretary of State of Illinois: Jesse White (D) Treasurer of Illinois: Alexi Giannoulias (D) Senior United States Senator: Richard J. Durbin (D) Junior United States Senator: Barack Obama (D)
Counties, Cities, and Towns Illinois is one of the fifty states of the United States of America. It is divided into 102 counties. The counties contain cities, rural areas and towns. The PDF file will include a county map of Illinois that can be labeled with the counties, cities, and capital if desired. The ten largest cities in Illinois (2005 est.) are: 1. Chicago, ~ 2,842,518; 2. Aurora, ~168,181; 3. Rockford,~ 152,916; 4. Naperville, ~141,579; 5. Joliet, ~136,208; 6. Springfield,~ 115,668; 7. Peoria,~ 112,685; 8. Elgin,~ 98,645; 9. Waukegan,~ 91,396; 10. Cicero,~ 82,741 The smallest towns in Illinois are:
2. New Minden (pop. 204)) 3. Bulpitt (pop. 206) 4. Gulf Port (pop. 207) 5. Arlington, IL (pop. 211) 6. Claremont, IL (pop. 212) 7. Cooksville (pop. 213) 8. Smithfield, IL (pop. 214) 9. Shumway (pop. 217) 10. St. Johns, IL (pop. 218) 11. Reddick, IL (pop. 219) 12. Spillertown (pop. 220 Fun Places to Visit in IllinoisOn the Illinois Geography page you will find a list of fun festivals and places to visit in Illinois. On the bottom of the Illinois Geography page is a place where others have created a page about their favorite places in Illinois. I encourage you to read their messages and comment on them and if you have been to an interesting or fun place make a page about your adventure. It is easy and fun to do.Explore Illinois NatureIllinois has a variety of protected areas including 123 state protected areas - state parks, wildlife areas, recreation areas, natural areas and state forests. There is one national forest, the Shawnee National Forest.Explore them online or in person, then write a paragraph or sentence about what you have learned. Search for pictures online or take your own and create your own comment page on Illinois Geography. (Same link as above.) Wilderness Areas
National Forest and Prairies
Wildlife Refuges and Wilderness Areas
Lakes and Waterways
Illinois Climate and WeatherIllinois has a wide climate range. Most of Illinois has hot, humid summers and cool to cold winters. The southernmost part of the state, from about Carbondale southward has more moderate winters.Average yearly precipitation for Illinois varies from just over 48 inches (1,220 mm) at the southern tip to around 35 inches (890 mm) in the northern portion of the state. Normal annual snowfall exceeds 38 inches (96 cm) in the Chicago area, while the southern portion of the state normally receives less than 14 inches (35 cm). The highest temperature recorded in Illinois was 117 °F (47 °C), recorded on July 14, 1954, at East St. Louis. The lowest temperature was -36 °F (-38 °C), recorded on January 5, 1999, at Congerville. Illinois averages around 50 days of thunderstorm activity a year. Illinois has an average of 35 tornadoes occurring annually. The deadliest tornado on record in the nation occurred largely in Illinois. The Tri-State Tornado of 1925 killed 695 people in three states; 613 of the victims lived in Illinois.[19] Illinois Geography Lapbook Challenge: Make a weather comparison chart between either Chicago and Metropolis or with your state and include it in your Illinois Geography lapbook. Music in IllinoisIllinois State Song LyricsThe words were written by C.H. Chamberlain. The music was composed by Archibald Johnston Illinois By thy rivers gently flowing, Illinois, Illinois, From a wilderness of prairies, Illinois, Illinois, When you heard your country calling, Illinois, Illinois, Not without thy wondrous story, Illinois, Illinois, Industry in IllinoisFarming: corn, soybeans Coal Mines Importer of fuels for energy General Lapbook Directions1. Gather Information and Templates2. Prepare-create folder-decorate 3. Teach or Present Information HAVE FUN 4. Child initiated information gathering 5. Discuss and put items in lapbook 6. Review material in lapbook often For a printable version of this lapbook along with copies of the suggested templates, click here. Go from Illinois Geography Lapbook to Resources 4 Homeschoolers homepage. Go from Illinois Geography Lapbook to Illinois Geography
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