Science Literacy Week September 21 - 27, 2020

Sow the seeds of science and wonder and inspire the next generation of Earth stewards The world needs young people to grow into strong, scientifically literate environmental stewards. Learning gardens are great places to build this knowledge, yet until now there has been a lack of a multi-grade curriculum for school-wide teaching aimed at fostering a connection with the Earth. The School Garden Curriculum offers a unique and comprehensive framework, enabling students to grow their knowledge throughout the school year and build on it from kindergarten to eighth grade. From seasonal garden activities to inquiry projects and science-skill building, children will develop organic gardening solutions, a positive land ethic, systems thinking, and instincts for ecological stewardship. The book offers: A complete K-8 school-wide framework Over 200 engaging, weekly lesson plans - ready to share Place-based activities, immersive learning, and hands-on activities Integration of science, critical thinking, permaculture, and life skills Links to Next Generation Science Standards Further resources and information sources. A model and guide for all educators, The School Garden Curriculum is the complete package for any school wishing to use ecosystem perspectives, science, and permaculture to connect children to positive land ethics, personal responsibility, and wonder, while building vital lifelong skills.

This resource is ideal for anyone working with young people in grades 9-12, whether in schools or in non-formal educational settings. Richly illustrated, it offers fifty teaching strategies that promote learning about natural systems and foster critical thinking about environmental issues, both local and global. It contains new approaches to learning, strategies for living sustainably, and numerous activities that promote interdisciplinary learning. In addition, the book provides suggestions for how best to green individual subject areas, develop integrated learning programs, or replicate exemplary programs created by innovative schools and communities. Containing contributions from over sixty educators from across North America, the book's strength lies in its diverse content. Readers learn how best to apply systems thinking, teach about controversial issues, and use a step-by-step approach to creative problem-solving in environmental projects. Also provided are instructions for measuring the ecological footprint of a high school, creating an indoor "living system" that cleans water, monitoring air quality with lichens, and using green technologies to help green school campuses. Many articles and activities engage teenagers in outdoor learning and community restoration projects. Suggestions are included for connecting students with special needs to the environment around them. Readers will find accessible background information and suggestions for many practical projects and activities. It is sure to appeal to a wide range of teachers, educators, and parents seeking innovative ideas for incorporating green themes into their programs. Tim Grant and Gail Littlejohn are the editors of Green Teacher magazine, North America's award-winning environmental teaching resource.

Derived from an undergraduate course taught by the author, this accessible book seeks to challenge and provoke readers by posing a series of topical questions concerning climate change and society. Topic summaries provide answers to technical, socio-economic and moral questions surrounding the deployment of climate science. These include how to build and test a climate model, whom and what is most at risk from climate change, and whether we should geoengineer the climate. Practical exercises and case studies provide deeper insights by taking readers through role-play activities and authentic climate change projects. Supporting materials, including notes for instructors and students, graphics, video-clips, games, and online resources, offer scope for further private study and group work. With a focus on applying climate science in practice, this book is ideal for students of geography, natural science, engineering and economics, as well as practitioners involved in the climate service industry.

We live in turbulent times, our world is changing at accelerating speed. Information is everywhere, but wisdom appears in short supply when trying to address key inter-related challenges of our time such as; runaway climate change, the loss of biodiversity, the depletion of natural resources, the on-going homogenization of culture, and rising inequity. Living in such times has implications for education and learning. This book explores the possibilities of designing and facilitating learning-based change and transitions towards sustainability. In 31 chapters contributors from across the world discuss (re)emerging forms of learning that not only assist in breaking down unsustainable routines, forms of governance, production and consumption, but also can help create ones that are more sustainable. The book has been divided into three parts: re-orienting science and society, re-connecting people and planet and re-imagining education and learning. This is essential reading for educators, educational designers, change agents, researchers, students, policymakers and entrepreneurs alike, who are concerned about the well-being of the planet and convinced of our ability to do better.

Taking what he calls OC a nature-centered worldview, OCO author Robert Stebbins blends activities, examples, and stories with his perspectives on the importance of dealing objectively yet compassionately with social and environmental problems. Even a quick glance through Connecting With Nature will make you wish you could give your students the joy of a day in the hills with the author. Failing that, you can use his book to instill a love of nature in your studentsOCoand rekindle it in yourself."

This inspiring text celebrates young children as 'emergent biologists' and explains how their natural inquisitiveness and curiosity can be harnessed to increase early understanding of scientific concepts, and so lay the foundations for future learning about the living world. Full of practical tips, suggested discussion points and hands-on activities, Emerging Biology in the Early Years is a uniquely child-focussed resource. Chapters provide key information on the physical environment, including weather phenomena and soils, plants, animals and human development, and prioritise the child's perspective to offer activities which are in line with their natural development, thereby provoking discussion, problem-solving and child-led investigations. From planting seeds, to classifying rocks, flowers and animals, to understanding growth processes and recognising anatomical features, this book takes a holistic approach to science which moves beyond the confines of the curriculum and the classroom and shows how biology can be taught in a fun, engaging and inexpensive way both at home and in the early years setting. Providing a rich collection of ideas, activities, and downloadable sheets, this will be an invaluable resource for early years practitioners and parents looking to develop young children's scientific skills and understanding.

Nature has monumental power on children’s growth and development. Recent studies show that as children spend less time in nature, they miss out on the profound benefits that outdoor play and learning experiences provide. Nature Sparks is filled with inspiration and instruction to help educators and caregivers of children ages three to eight reclaim and strengthen connections to the outdoors. This resource supplies ideas to create a nature-oriented classroom and curriculum, incorporates Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences to encourage children’s individual talents as they experience the natural world, and includes more than fifty sensory-integrated activities, crafts, and instructional strategies.

Recently, thousands of North American schools have begun to take a critical look at their grounds and realize the enormous potential for transforming barren expanses of asphalt into a diversity of exciting natural spaces for learning and playing. This compendium of articles from Green Teacher , North America's leading environmental education magazine, brings together the best strategies for school-ground renewal. Greening School Grounds provides an overview of the school grounds greening movement, complete project plans, and subject integration. From vegetable and butterfly gardens to an amphibian oasis and avian attractors, this comprehensive guide offers a trove of curriculum tie-ins, activities, and plans for educators, parents, and students. Includes extensive resources.

Nature-Based Learning for Every Preschool Setting is designed to provide ideas for all early childhood educators ranging from novice to highly experienced in a wide range of ecosystems, including forests, cities, prairies, coastal, urban, and deserts. It includes background information on a range of nature topics, reproducible parent newsletters, sample play-based lesson plans, guidance and health and safety issues related to nature activities, ideas for free/inexpensive equipment and materials and for big-ticket items, ideas for family involvement, and connections to early childhood learning standards. Chapters are divided by nature topic, so readers can dip in right away where they want to start exploring.

Hands-on lessons can be fun and compelling, but when it comes to life science, they aren't always possible, practical, effective, or safe. Children can't follow wolves as they hunt elk, visit a prehistoric swamp, or shrink down to the size of a molecule and observe photosynthesis firsthand.  But they can explore a whole world of animals, plants, and ecosystems through the pages of beautifully illustrated, science-themed picture books. Perfect Pairs, which marries fiction and nonfiction picture books focused on life science, helps educators think about and teach life science in a whole new way. Each of the twenty lessons in this book is built around a pair of books that introduces a critical life science concept and guides students through an inquiry-based investigative process to explore that idea--from life cycles and animal-environment interactions to the inheritance of traits and the critical role of energy in our world. Each lesson starts with a "Wonder Statement" and comprises three stages. "Engaging Students" features a hands-on activity that captures student interest, uncovers current thinking, and generates vocabulary. The heart of the investigative process, "Exploring with Students," spotlights the paired books as the teacher reads aloud and helps students find and organize information into data tables. "Encouraging Students to Draw Conclusions" shows students how to review and analyze the information they have collected. Bringing high-quality science-themed picture books into the classroom engages a broad range of students, addresses the Performance Expectations outlined in the Next Generation Science Standards, and supports the goals of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. Even if you are science shy, Perfect Pairs can help you become a more confident teacher whose classroom buzzes with curious students eager to explore their natural world.

Dandelion Bubbles, Rain Drums, Seed Bomb Lollipops and more! Bursting with creative hands-on outdoor science and art activities, A Little Bit of Dirt is full of motivation to get outside and explore. Whether you're investigating the health of your local stream, making beautiful acrylic sunprints with leaves and flowers, running an experiment with your backyard birds, or concocting nature potions, you'll be fostering an important connection with nature. The engaging activities encourage the use of the senses and imagination and are perfect for all ages. Discover more about the natural world waiting just outside your door!

This timely update of the popular Environmental Science Activities Kit includes more than 35 lessons for middle and high school science teachers on the most compelling and relevant environmental topics, such as global warming, food and water production, alternative energy sources, endangered species, land-use issues, and many more.

This lively collection of fascinating facts and fables, colorful cartoons, and dynamic illustrations explains how everything on Earth is connected. Since its original publication, concern for the environment has grown, and although environmental damage has increased, so too have "green" strategies. This new edition reflects these changes, with expanded discussion of environmental issues and new technologies, as well as many more activities. New sidebars offer extra facts, tips, and real-life examples of things other budding ecologists have done to make the world a better place.

If every known species on Earth were a leaf on a tree, that tree would have 1 750 000 leaves. Since humans count for just one leaf on the tree, we have a lot to learn about the millions of other forms of life with which we share the world. A dazzlingly illustrated and child-friendly introduction to biodiversity, Tree of Life shows how living things are classified into five kingdoms --- and how each has much to tell us about all aspects of life on our planet. Tree of Life is part of CitizenKid: A collection of books that inform children about the world and inspire them to be better global citizens.

You don't have to live in the Great Bear Rainforest to benefit from its existence, but after you read Nowhere Else on Earthyou might want to visit this magnificent part of the planet. Environmental activist Caitlyn Vernon guides young readers through a forest of information, sharing her personal stories, her knowledge and her concern for this beautiful place. Full of breathtaking photographs and suggestions for ways to preserve this unique ecosystem, Nowhere Else on Earthis a timely and inspiring reminder that we need to stand up for our wild places before they are gone. Visit http://www.greatbearrainforest.cato find teacher and student resources, view the online photo gallery, or read a sample chapter from the book. To access the free teacher's guide for Nowhere Else on Earth,click here:http://orcabook.com/nowhereelseonearth/guides/teachersguide.pdf.

There are at least eight million species on Earth, including about 5500 mammals, 10,000 birds, 32,400 fish, 1,000,000 insects, and over 300,000 plants. Habitat lose affects 85% of all species threatened with extinction. Between 200 and 2000 species become extinct each year.

From tracking butterfly migration and documenting local biodiversity to hunting for comets using archived telescope images, this book encourages kids to make an impact as citizen scientists. Readers will discover how they can use their talents, skills, and interests to help answer real-world questions and take an active role in the scientific community. The book includes step-by-step instructions to help readers sharpen their observation skills, create their own field journals, and get involved in hands-on projects of their own.

It's not too late! The natural world can still be healed.  Rewilding is an important environmental movement to restore habitats to their natural state in order to support native species and make room for animals to move freely. In this comprehensive look at rewilding, the authors present examples from around the world where endangered animals have been rehabilitated and returned to their natural habitats. From pandas and peregrine falcons to jaguars and wolves, the story of these animals testifies to the fact that with good management, the extinction of species can be avoided. This book also relates how cities have begun to restore nature by planting everything from tiny rooftop gardens to huge parks on disused land. Written for 9 to 12-year olds, this book serves as a great resource for projects as well as a fascinating book to read or browse.

Though it was discovered almost 500 years ago, few people have visited Sable Island. Despite modern navigational tools, excessive fog and stormy weather still make travelling to Sable a challenge. Add government restrictions limiting visitors to the remote island and prohibitive travel costs, and Sable is virtually inaccessible. But the island is part of Maritime lore--dubbed the "graveyard of the Atlantic" because of the number of ships wrecked on its shores. Sable Island also hosts wild horses, tens of thousands of seals, and enchanting "singing" sands and "wandering" dunes. With 18 species of sharks patrolling Sable Island's waters and the regular fights between bands of horses, not to mention the treacherous patches of quicksand, the island is as dangerous as it is alluring. In this colourful book, author Wendy Kitts introduces the wonders and stark realities of this wild place. Full of photographs and sidebars, Sable Island: The Wandering Sandbar is an accessible and exciting look at this unprotected, untamed ecosystem.

One fall day, Kate goes with her father, a fish biologist, to the river where he works -- a river in the Pacific rain forest -- the "salmon forest," as he calls it. Together they watch the sockeye salmon returning to the river to spawn, and witness a bear scooping up a salmon. Next, Kate and her dad run into a Native boy named Brett and his family fishing at a pool in the river. From her adventures, Kate discovers how the forest and the salmon need each other and why the forest is called the salmon forest. David Suzuki and Sarah Ellis's charming and informative text and Sheena Lott's watercolors magically evoke the spirit and mystery of the West Coast rain forest.

Vladyana Krykorka brings the arctic world to life with her signature illustration style. This board book focuses on a particular aspect of arctic wildlife—often showing a mother with her young—and pairs lovely watercolor paintings with simple and expressive language. Arctic Sky introduces young readers to birds, such as swooping owls and graceful, gliding swans. 978-1-55451-345-1

Over the snow, the world is hushed and white. But under the snow exists a secret kingdom of squirrels and snow hares, bears and bullfrogs, and many other animals that live through the winter safe and warm, awake and busy, under the snow. Discover the wonder and activity that lies beneath winter's snowy landscape in this magical book.

"Playful and lovely to read aloud. Even older budding naturalists will find something to enjoy here." -- School Library Journal A secret underwater world brought to life: In this book, readers will discover the plants and animals that make up the rich, interconnected ecosystem of a mountain pond. Over the pond, the water is a mirror, reflecting the sky. But under the water is a hidden world of minnows darting, beavers diving, and tadpoles growing. These secrets and many others are waiting to be discovered.over and under the pond. * An entertaining and educational look at the beauty the ecosystem has to offer. Stunning illustrations paired with an easy-to-follow storyline make this a great read for any early elementary school student * Includes a glossary of animals that live in, near, and around the mountain pond to enrich the reading experience * Inspires a love of nature and encourages young minds to explore the world around them A gorgeous companion to the acclaimedOver and Under the Snow andUp in the Garden and Down in the Dirt,Over and Under the Pond is an excellent addition to any emerging readers collection. "A contemplative journey through an ecosystem." --USA Today * Great read-aloud book for families and classrooms * Books for kids ages 5-8 * Early elementary school books * Books for grades 1-2

Flowers are calling to all the animals of the forest, "Drink me!"--but it's the pollinators who feast on their nectar. In rhyming poetic form and with luminous artwork, this book shows us the marvel of natural cooperation between plants, animals, and insects as they each play their part in the forest's cycle of life.

"Considering the fresh attention being paid to teaching a skeptical approach to information evaluation, this series opener couldn't be better timed. A brief but savvy guide to responsible research methods adds further luster to this crowd pleaser." --ALA Booklist (starred review) Two Truths and a Lie is the first book in a fascinating new series that presents some of the most crazy-but-true stories about the living world as well as a handful of stories that are too crazy to be true--and asks readers to separate facts from fakes!  This nonfiction chapter book is an excellent choice to share during homeschooling, in particular for children ages 7 to 9 who are reading independently. It's a fun way to keep your child engaged and as a supplement for activity books for children. Did you know that there is a fungus that can control the mind of an ant and make it do its bidding? Would you believe there is such a thing as a corpse flower--a ten-foot-tall plant with a blossom that smells like a zombie? How about a species of octopus that doesn't live in water but rather lurks in trees in the Pacific Northwest? Every story in this book is strange and astounding. But not all of them are real. Just like the old game in this book's title, two out of every three stories are completely true and one is an outright lie. Can you guess which? It's not going to be easy. Some false stories are based on truth, and some of the true stories are just plain unbelievable. And they're all accompanied by dozens of photos, maps, and illustrations. Amaze yourself and trick your friends as you sort out the fakes from the facts! Acclaimed authors Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson have teamed up to create a series of sneaky stories about the natural world designed to amaze, disgust, and occasionally bamboozle you.

Robert F. Sibert Medal winner Bugs, of all kinds, were considered to be "born of mud" and to be "beasts of the devil."  Why would anyone, let alone a girl, want to study and observe them? One of the first naturalists to observe live insects directly, Maria Sibylla Merian was also one of the first to document the metamorphosis of the butterfly. In this visual nonfiction biography, richly illustrated throughout with full-color original paintings by Merian herself, the Newbery Honor-winning author Joyce Sidman paints her own picture of one of the first female entomologists and a woman who flouted convention in the pursuit of knowledge and her passion forinsects. Booklist Editor's Choice Chicago Public Library Best of 2018 Kirkus Best book of 2018 2018 Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book Junior Library Guild Selection New York Public Library Top 10 Best Books of 2018  

Young readers will be fascinated to learn about the activity going on under their very feet. Underground Habitats takes a look at the exciting array of plants and animals that make their homes under ground.

The Great Bear Rainforest is a majestic place full of tall trees, huge bears and endless schools of salmon. Award-winning photographer and author Ian McAllister's luminous photographs illustrate the story of a lone wolf who swims to one of the small islands that dot the rainforest's coast. The island provides him with everything he needs--deer, salmon, fresh water--everything, that is, but a mate. When a female wolf arrives on the island's rocky shores, she and he start a family and introduce their pups to the island's bounty.