Schoolyard
Biodiversity

This richly illustrated folding guide highlights over 140 familiar California species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects and fish. Information is presented logically based on what the viewer is most likely to observe.

These beautifully illustrated folding guides highlight well over 300 familiar and unique species and include eco-region maps featuring prominent wildlife-viewing areas and botanical sanctuaries.

This illustrated softcover field guide highlights 370 animals and plants found throughout the varied ecosystems of California. Entries provide the common name, scientific name, size, description, and habitat for each subject.

TOPIC: Trees Redwoods by Jason Chin Redwoods tells the story of a boy who discovers a book about redwoods and finds himself in their midst as he turns the pages.

TOPIC: Life Acorn Naturalist publishes non-fiction and fiction children's book series, children's activity books, as well as games appropriate for young learners.

TOPIC: Life What's Alive? by by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld & Nadine Bernard Westcott Read and find out about what makes something alive, and what all living things need to stay healthy, in this colorfully illustrated nonfiction picture book.

TOPIC: Life Living Or Nonliving? by Kelli Hicks Bring learning to life. In Living Or Nonliving?, first―second graders learn about everyday nonliving objects, as well as living beings.

TOPIC: Life Because of an Acorn: by Lola M. Schaefer & dam Schaefer Because of an acorn, a tree grows, a bird nests, a seed becomes a flower. Enchanting die cuts illustrate the vital connections between the layers of an ecosystem in this magical book. Wander down the forest path to learn how every tree, flower, plant, and animal connect to one another in spiraling circles of life. An acorn is just the beginning.

TOPIC: Plants National Geographic Readers: Seed to Plant by Kristin Baird Kids see plants, flowers, and trees around them every day. In this lively and educational reader, they'll learn how those plants grow. Kids will take this magical journey from seed pollination to plant growth, learning about what plants need to thrive and grow with the same careful text, brilliant photographs, and the fun approach National Geographic Readers are known for.

TOPIC: Plants How a Seed Grows by Helene J. Jordan & Loretta Krupinski This is a clear and appealing environmental science book for early elementary age kids, both at home and in the classroom. Plus it includes a find out more activity section with a simple experiment encouraging kids to discover what a seed needs to grow.

TOPIC: Plants From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons The book includes instructions for a seed-growing project, and a page of interesting facts about plants, seeds, and flowers. A nonfiction classic, and a perfect companion for early science lessons and curious young gardeners.

TOPIC: Plants Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt by Kate Messner & Christopher Silas Neal Up in the garden, the world is full of green—leaves and sprouts, growing vegetables, ripening fruit. But down in the dirt there is a busy world of earthworms digging, snakes hunting, skunks burrowing, and all the other animals that make a garden their home.

MightyOwl Science: Why Do Living Things Change their Environment? Imagine what your street looked like before all the homes were built. Or what the forest would look like without any trees. This video teaches us how plants, animals, and people change the environment. Sometimes changes are obvious, like when a beaver builds a dam or a tree provides shade. Other changes happen without us even seeing them, like when a bee pollinates a flower, or leaves create oxygen.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife manages California's diverse fish, wildlife, and plant resources, and the habitats upon which they depend, for their ecological values and for their use and enjoyment by the public.

Learn about our nation’s wildlife, the threats they face, and the conservation efforts that can help.

The Audubon Bird Guide is a free and complete field guide to over 800 species of North American birds, right in your pocket. Built for all experience levels, it will help you identify the birds around you, keep track of the birds you’ve seen, and get outside to find new birds near you.

BrainPOP Jr. Video: Living and Nonliving Things KidsBrainPOP is a highly-functional educational tool for students, parents and teachers alike, as it offers curriculum-based learning strategies in-line with state educational standards.

Video: Crash Course Kids: Gotta Eat! This episode takes a look at why all living things need to eat. Plus, they show you a way to investigate why all living things need to eat.

Video: Crash Course Kids: Living Things Change Have you ever heard of the Peppered Moth? It's a great example of how living things can change because their environment has changed. And it's not just them! There used to be giant insects roaming the world, but they got smaller through time because their environments changed. In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina gives us some examples of how and why living things change because of their environments.

BrainPOP Jr. Video: Habitats The Habitat unit has educational movies for K-3 students about topics like deserts, rain forests, oceans, and freshwater habitats.

BrainPOP Jr. Video: Hibernation The Hibernation unit has educational movies for K-3 students about how and why animals hibernate.

With a long and respected track record in the field of environmental education, the National Wildlife Federation is a leader in applying nature and wildlife conservation to improve K-12 student achievement, particularly in the STEM disciplines, and to foster youth leadership and environmental stewardship.

Project WILD is an interdisciplinary conservation and environmental education program that focuses on wildlife and habitat. The goal of Project WILD is to develop awareness, knowledge, skills, and commitment resulting in informed decisions, responsible behavior, and constructive actions concerning wildlife and the environment.

A grade level index guide for the Project WILD K-12 Curriculum organized topic.

A set of resources like apps, games, videos, and other useful links to get you started teaching about ecosystems and biodiversity.

Water, along with soil, air, plant, and animal resources, are fundamentally important for life.

Students learn that Earth is made up of land, air, and water. They also learn the characteristics of several ecosystems and relate those characteristics to their local environment.

Mystery Science offers an open-and-go elementary science unit suitable for K and 1st grade covering Plant & Animals.

Trees & Me: Activities for Exploring Nature with Young Children includes 12 activities and more than 250 learning experiences for families and teachers to connect children ages 1–6 to nature, with a focus on trees.

The lesson plans presented here are a sampling from the National Wildlife Federation's collection of more than 1,000 lesson plans designed to introduce students to life science, ecology, wildlife biology, scientific identification, and observation. All lesson plans are aligned to the National Science Education Standards.

A group of students participate in a scavenger hunt activity to explore and document biodiversity in an urban park, in this video from PLUM LANDING™. As they walk around in search of various plants and animals, they also find litter and talk about its negative impact on animals.

A Toolkit for Early Childhood Programs full of stewardship-related activities. Each activity will focus on one theme and follow a distinct format: (1) have an adventure, (2) take action, (3) celebrate your action, and (4) keeping growing.

This guide invites children ages 9 to 13 to investigate nature in yards, parks, natural areas, and playgrounds. Children will discover what mystery plants sprout from collected soil samples or build a roly-poly habitat. They’ll learn how to scout out different habitats and observe and investigate the plants and animals that live in them. The title provides creative activities and projects that encourage children to explore their world.

In this lesson, students learn why spring is the best time for babies to be born. In the activity, Build A Bird Nest, students make a model of a bird nest and notice how birds can change their environment to meet their needs when they build their nests.