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Use your schoolyard as a classroom and help your students learn key science concepts! The links below will take you to simple lessons to do with your class for every season:

Fall Activities
Leaf Observations
Leaf Identification Sheet (PDF)

Winter Activities
Worm Composting
Worm Bin Explorations
Worm Observation Sheet (PDF)

Spring Activities
Weed Adaptations
Weed Adaptation Info Sheet (PDF)

EarthWorks' Outdoor Classroom Curriculum Guide

Other Resources
There are a wide variety of resources available for teachers and it would be impossible to list them all. The resources listed below are the books that EarthWorks’ educators have found most useful.

Background Information, Activities and Curricula for Teachers:

Cornell, Joseph. Sharing Nature with Children. Dawn Publications. 1989.
Cornell, Joseph. Sharing the Joy of Nature. Dawn Publications. 1979.

These two books are widely used by environmental educators. The activities help children build empathy for the natural world along with understanding.

Lawrence Hall of Science. LHS GEMS. Schoolyard Ecology: Teacher’s Guide. University of California, Berkeley. 1998.

Schoolyard Ecology includes five outdoor units for outdoor study that build math and science skills as students record information about their schoolyard. Children record, analyze and interpret data. The activities in this guide can be applied to any schoolyard, urban or rural. (For grades 3-6)

Lingelbach, Jenepher. Hands-On Nature. Vermont Institute of Natural Science. 1986.

Lingelbach’s book is a classic of environmental education. The book focuses on four major themes (Adaptation, Habitats, Cycles and Designs of Nature) and provides lessons and background material relating to these themes.

Martin, Laura C. Nature’s Art Box. R. R. Donnelley. 2003.

This wonderful collection uses easy to find natural items to create a variety of crafts. Rated from Easy to Challenging, there are sixty-five projects that will thrill your students.

McEwen, Christian and Mark Statman. The Alphabet of the Trees. Teachers and Writers Collaborative. 2000.

These essays cover all aspects of teaching nature writing skills to students of all ages. Contributors to the collection include Poets (Gary Snyder and Pulitzer Prize winning poet Mary Oliver), educators, nature writers and authors of fiction. This excellent guide includes basic strategies for teaching for all levels.

Otto, Stella. The Backyard Orchardist. Otto Graphics. 1993.

This book is a handy reference for those interested in creating schoolyard orchards. Many aspects of orchard planning and care are simply explained. EarthWorks has used this book as a text in our horticultural training courses.

Plotnik, Arthur. The Urban Tree Book. Three Rivers Press. 2000.

Not just an identification guide! From folklore of different trees to the challenges of survival in the city, readers discover the trees of the urban forest. Written for the novice naturalist, this book also provides an excellent introduction to how trees function.

Roberts, Janet Weir and Carol Huelbig. City Kids & City Critters: Activities for Urban Explorers. Learning Triangle Press (McGraw Hill). 1996.

This guide from the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center is designed especially for urban educators. Focusing on developing sensory awareness while exploring urban habitats, “great green spaces,” backyards and schoolyards, the activities help develop an environmental awareness in the even the most urban of settings.

Shaffer, Carolyn and Erica Fielder. City Safaris: A Sierra Club Explorer’s Guide to Urban Adventures for Grownups and Kids. Sierra Club Books. 1987.

This guide is a great starting point for school and neighborhood explorations. The activities are both structured and unstructured and can be easily adapted for a variety of ages. Children will explore nature, their neighborhoods and the financial districts of their city. Unfortunately, this title is out of print, but is well worth efforts to search for it.

Stokes, Donald. A Guide to Bird Behavior. Volume 1. Little, Brown. 1979.

Focusing on many birds familiar to urban residents, this guide gives inside information on bird displays and calls that help even the novice birdwatcher understand bird behavior and interactions. Recommended for anyone wishing to incorporate birds into their Outdoor Classroom curriculum.

Stokes, Donald. A Guide to Nature In Winter. Little, Brown. 1976.

Winter takes up a large part of the school year but is ignored by many curriculum guides. This book provides useful information about what one might find outdoors during the winter. Especially interesting are sections on evidence of insect activity and snow.

Thomas, Peter. Trees: Their Natural History. Cambridge University Press. 2000.

How does a tree die? How does a tree grow? This excellent resource holds comprehensive and technical answers to intricate questions of how trees function, as well as information on all aspects of tree biology and ecology.

Wyzga, Marilyn C. Homes for Wildlife: A Planning Guide for Habitat Enhancement on School Grounds. New Hampshire Fish and Game. 1998.

An excellent guide for those wishing to create schoolyard habitats, this guide best serves those in suburban and rural areas but has urban applications.

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Books for Children:

Argueta, Jorge. Xochitl and the Flowers/Xóchitl, la Niña de las Flores. Children’s Book Press. 2003.

Xochitl and her family live far from their native El Salvador. They miss their garden in their home country and dream of starting a flower shop. Based on a true story, this book, told in both English and Spanish, tells of people’s connections to the earth and to each other as this family puts down roots in a new country.

Bial, Raymond. A Handful of Dirt. Walker & Co. 2000.

Richly illustrated with photographs, A Handful of Dirt discusses the ecology of soil, its importance and the many forms of life it supports.

Bunting, Eve. Sunflower House. Harcourt Brace & Company. 1996.

A child plants a ring of sunflowers, creating a fort for the neighborhood children. The story illustrates the life cycle of annual plants.

Cooney, Barbara. Miss Rumphius. Puffin Books. 1982.

Her grandfather tells a young Miss Rumphius that she must do something to make the world more beautiful. It takes a lifetime for her to figure out what that could be – and her answer is one that inspires her Grand-Niece Alice to follow in her footsteps.

DiSalvo-Ryan, DyAnne. City Green. Morrow Junior Books. 1994.

Marcy and Miss Rosa begin cleaning a vacant lot on their block and turn it into a community garden, warming the heart of Old Man Hammer who grew up in the building that once stood there.

Heller, Ruth. The Reason for a Flower. Penguin Putnam. 1983.

This book, available in a poster size format, illustrates the variety of flower types and methods of seed dispersal. There are very good pictures of flower parts and the development of fruit from a flower.

Himmelman, John. A Pill Bug’s Life. Children’s Press. 1999.

The life cycle of the pill bug, or roly-poly, is described in detail. This book answers many questions children might have about this resident of the compost pile.

Lavies, Bianca. Compost Critters. Dutton’s Children’s Books. 1993.

This book features fantastic close-up photographs of worms, mold, millipedes, and the other organisms in the compost pile, as well as information on their life cycles.

Leahy, Christopher. Peterson First Guide to Insects. Houghton Mifflin. 1987.

Insects are often hard to identify beyond the general categories of “bee,” “butterfly,” and “bug.” The Peterson First Guide shows the more common insects and helps children move beyond these generalized categories.

Mazur, Anne. The Salamander Room. Knopf. 1991.

When a young boy decides to take home a salamander, his efforts to give his pet all it needs to survive transforms his bedroom into a forest. A favorite with young children, this book illustrates the variety of needs living things have.

Micucci, Charles. The Life and Times of the Apple. Orchard Books. 1992.

This wonderfully illustrated book presents a variety of facts about apples, including grafting, harvesting, crop production and varieties. There are excellent illustrations of flower parts, pollination and the development of fruit.

Pascoe, Elaine. The Ecosystem of An Apple Tree. The Rosen Publishing Group. 2003.

Using an apple tree as the center of a small ecosystem, this book explores complex concepts in simple and precise language. Wonderful photographs compliment the descriptive text.

Silver, Donald M. One Small Square Backyard. W.H. Freeman & Co. 1993.

As Silver writes, “A backyard is one of the most amazing parts of nature.” This book examines the ecology of the backyard, and its teachings can be applied to the schoolyard as well. Life cycles, food chains, winter investigations and more are explored.

Stewart, Sarah. The Gardener. Farrar, Straus Giroux. 1997.

During the Depression, young Lydia Jane moves to the city to work in her Uncle Jim’s bakery while her father searches for work. There she gardens, in pots and window boxes and finally on her rooftop. This wonderfully illustrated book is told in the form of letters Lydia Jane sends home to her family.

Wright, Amy Bartlett. Peterson First Guide to Caterpillars. Houghton Mifflin. 1993.

This simple guide helps children identify caterpillars and shows into which butterfly each will change.

Zim, Herbert S. and Alexander C. Martin. Trees: A Guide to Familiar American Trees (Golden Guide). Western Publishing. 1956.

The Golden Guide series should be a staple in any classroom, and this book is no exception. These guides are written in easily understood language and are richly illustrated. While the guide does not offer complete information on tree natural history and identification, the accessibility for children far outweighs this lack.

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