Teach
Bumble Bee Life Cycle Coloring Sheet
Click below to download a free Bumble Bee Lifecycle Coloring Page by local artist Faith Williams.
Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults
Drawing from her experiences as an Indigenous scientist, botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer demonstrated how all living things--from strawberries and witch hazel to water lilies and lichen--provide us with gifts and lessons every day in her best-selling book Braiding Sweetgrass. Adapted for young adults by Monique Gray Smith, this new edition reinforces how wider ecological understanding stems from listening to the earth's oldest teachers: the plants around us. With informative sidebars, reflection questions, and art from illustrator Nicole Neidhardt, Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults brings Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the lessons of plant life to a new generation.
Eco-Cycle Carbon Farming Lesson Plan
This lesson example effectively demonstrates how to take more advanced topics such as soil health, carbon sequestration, and the carbon cycle, and distill them down into pieces that children from kindergarten through fourth grade can understand. This involves not only simplifying complex ideas, but also relating them to concepts that students of these ages are already familiar with.
Nature Lab
The Nature Conservancy and its 1000+ scientists have created Nature Lab to help students learn the science behind how nature works for us and how we can help keep it running strong. Check out their lessons plans, videos, and activity guides.
Meet Some of Our Youth Engagement Community Partners
Picture Books
We encourage you to borrow books from the library or a friend, buy them used, or shop at a local bookstore!
-
![Book cover thumbnail for "All Around Us"]()
All Around Us
by Xelena González, illustrated by Adriana M. Garcia
Grandpa says circles are all around us. He points to the rainbow that rises high in the sky after a thundercloud has come. "Can you see? That's only half of the circle. That rest of it is down below, in the earth." He and his granddaughter meditate on gardens and seeds, on circles seen and unseen, inside and outside us, on where our bodies come from and where they return to. They share and create family traditions in this stunning exploration of the cycles of life and nature.
-
![Book cover thumbnail for "A Day on the Mountain"]()
A Day on the Mountain
by Kevin Kurtz, illustrated by Erin E. Hunter
Rhyming verse and vibrant illustrations take readers up a mountain, from the forested bottom to the snow-covered top. While climbing, they witness the changing habitats and meet the plants and animals that live there. Learn about Black bears, Great Gray Owls, Garter snakes, Clark’s nutcrackers, Bighorn sheep, Hummingbirds, Yellow-bellied marmots, Mountain goats, Salamanders, and Snow fleas.
-
![Book cover thumbnail for "Over and Under the Pond"]()
Over and Under the Pond
by Kate Messner, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal
In Over and Under the Pond, 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 creatures—minnows darting, beavers diving, and tadpoles growing.
-
![Book cover thumbnail for "Listen to the Language of the Trees"]()
Listen to the Language of the Trees: A story of how forests communicate underground
by Tera Kelley, illustrated by Marie Hermansson
This captivating book explores the real connection and communication that runs underground between trees in the forest. The well-researched details about trees' own social network will help readers see that the natural world's survival depends on staying connected and helping others―just like us!
-
![Book cover thumbnail for "A Seed is Sleepy"]()
A Seed is Sleepy
by Dianna Hutts Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long
Award-winning artist Sylvia Long and author Dianna Hutts Aston have teamed up again to create this gorgeous and informative introduction to seeds. Poetic in voice and elegant in design, the book introduces children to a fascinating array of seed and plant facts, making it a guide that is equally at home being read on a parent's lap as in a classroom reading circle.
-
![Book cover thumbnail for "Under Your Feet"]()
Under Your Feet
by Marc Redmile Gordon & Jackie Stroud, illustrated by Wenjia Tang
Under Your Feet delves beneath the Earth's surface and explores the diverse wonders hidden there. Encounter creatures of the deep and marvel at the mind-boggling size of the humongous fungus - the biggest organism in the world. Learn how one handful of ordinary soil contains more organisms than there are people on Earth, and carry out experiments using dirt from your own back garden.
©2024 Cool Boulder Resource Library | All rights reserved