September 13-19, 2020 is Iowa Prairie Heritage Week! Iowa’s landscape was once covered by vast rolling hills of prairie. An estimated 85% of the land was prairie grass and flowers when European settlers first arrived. Since that time the Iowa landscape has changed drastically and today only 1/10 of 1% of our native prairie remains. … Read more Celebrate Iowa’s Prairie Heritage
“Many of the events of the annual cycle recur year after year in a regular order. A year-to-year record of this order is a record of the rates at which solar energy flows to and through living things. They are the arteries of the land. By tracing their response to the sun, phenology may eventually … Read more Classroom Phenology Notebook
Celebrate National Catfish Day (annually on June 25) by learning more about Iowa’s most abundant and widely distributed sport fish. Catfish are opportunistic bottom feeders that are active at night. They eat all types of living or dead animal and plant material and are most often attracted to odoriferous or “smelly” morsels of food. They … Read more Celebrate Iowa’s Catfish
Wildlife is everywhere – even on your school grounds, in your yard, a ballfield, or city park! Wildlife scientists and urban biologists study wildlife to learn how they live and interact with the environment. These scientists may focus on one wildlife species or a group of species during their studies. They record observations made with … Read more Urban Nature Search
April is National Poetry Month! Celebrate with a study of nature poetry! Start by reading nature poems. Depending on the age and level of students make a study of the mechanics of poetry and how to write different kinds of poetry. Check out the list of books tagged ‘environmental writers‘ in our book database to … Read more Nature Poetry
Outdoor experiences in nature increase students’ problem solving abilities and motivation to learn in social studies, science, language arts, and math. Conducting field investigations help students become systems thinkers, learn the skills of scientific inquiry, and understand that science doesn’t only happen in a laboratory or classroom. The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies developed … Read more Resources to help with field investigations
Why a school garden? School gardens provide hands-on learning in a wide variety of disciplines including science, math, language arts, and visual arts. Being involved in school gardens gets students active, engaged, and teaches them important life skills such as responsibility. School gardening of fruits and vegetables also positively influences students’ health and nutrition attitudes … Read more School Gardens
Watching birds, feeding birds, and learning about birds is a great way to get students excited! These activities can carry over to family time as well. Feeder birds (song birds) can be attracted to your school through habitat improvement and the addition of bird feeding and watering stations. Citizen science activities like the Great Backyard … Read more Citizen Science – Great Backyard Bird Count
The Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is an annual event sponsored by Audubon. All Christmas Bird Counts are conducted between December 14 to January 5, inclusive dates, each season. This will be the 120th Christmas Bird Count! This longest running Citizen Science survey in the world provides critical data on population trends. It is organized into … Read more Help gather information for bird conservation
Do you like to go fishing and eat fish? If so, then you harvest food from a local aquatic resource. In Iowa. Anglers harvest millions of fish each year for consumptive use. Species harvested include bluegill, bass, crappie, and catfish. Other aquatic animals such as frogs and crayfish are also harvested. Iowa is also home … Read more Water we eating?
Lead students on a walk through a wooded area, schoolyard, local park, or neighborhood sidewalk to look for signs of fall and investigate why leaves of deciduous trees change color. Point out the differences between deciduous and evergreen trees. Ask students to look for signs that indicate winter is approaching and have them record their … Read more Signs of Fall
“There will always be pigeons in books and museums, but these are effigies and images, dead to all hardships and all delights. They know no urge of the seasons, they feel no kiss of sun, no lash of wind and weather.” Aldo Leopold The very last passenger pigeon, Martha, died at the Cincinnati Zoo in … Read more The Very Last Passenger Pigeon