Classroom resources
Lessons & Classroom Activities
Resources by grade level
- MIddle School Vocabulary Quiz Generator
- High School Vocabulary Quiz Generator
- Use The News: K-4 | 5-8 | 9-12
- e-Edition Super Skills: K-5 | 5-8 | 9-12
Blogs
Interactive features
Teacher- AND student-friendly
- News Video
- Daily Science Webcasts
- Interactive News Quiz
- Cartoons for the Classroom
- Geography in the News quiz
Online Reference Guides
- Seeking solutions to global warming which poses a major threat to the nation’s wildlife
- Protecting and restoring wildlife habitat, especially habitats that provide a home for threatened and endangered species
- Connecting children to nature for a nation of happier, healthier kids. These connections in early life will teach children to appreciate and respect the natural world so they can be good conservation stewards in the future.
May is Garden for Wildlife Month! Plant a Schoolyard Garden at Your School
More than 5,000 schools and other educational settings in all 50 states have been certified by NWF since 1997 when the program began and serve close to 300,000 students per year. These educational gardens and outdoor classrooms are created by student/teacher/parent volunteer teams and enhance student motivation for learning along with promoting student achievement in all subject areas. They enable a multi-disciplinary approach to learning giving students the opportunity to learn nearly any subject while gaining an appreciation and understanding of the natural world.
Research shows that Schoolyard Habitats have multiple benefits.
- Improve classroom behavior
- Help students to learn across disciplines and make them better real-world problem solvers
- Improve classroom performance in math, science, reading and social studies
- Increase scores on statewide standardized tests in basic skills, reading, science and math
- Helps educators to meet the needs of students with different learning styles or who have difficulty in a classroom setting
- Provides a range of realistic problems to address that engage students in hand-on-opportunities to apply and reinforce concepts taught in the classroom
- Foster a caring attitude about all living things making students better stewards of the earth
Learn more about NWF’s Schoolyard Habitat certification program at www.nwf.org/schoolyard.
Lessons and Activities
Brought to you with permission by the National Wildlife Federation
- Habitat for Sale (K-2, 3-8)
- What’s your Habitat? (K-4, 5-8)
- Habitat Web (K-6)
- Tree Detective (3-6)
- Woodland Chase (3-6)
- Habitat Hunt (3-6)
- Sensory Discovery Walk (K-6)
- Water Water Everywhere (3-8)
- Wind Power (3-4, 5-8)
- Who Can Live Here? (9-12)
Additional Lessons
Ecosystems
Lessons that explore ecosystems within the United States.
Artic
- Plants and Animals of the Arctic (K-2, 3-4, 5-8)
- Life in the Cold: Arctic Climate Challenges (K-2, 3-5, 5-8)
- Where in the World is the Arctic? (K-2, 3-4, 5-8)
- Summer Midnight Sun (3-4, 5-8)
- Arctic Environment (background information)
Watersheds
- Water, Water, Everywhere? (K-2, 3-4, 5-8)
- Watershed Web: A Field Trip (K-2, 3-5, 6-8)
- The Water Cycle (2-8)
- How Do You Feel About Water? (3-4, 5-8)
- Danger from Afar: Non-point Source Pollution and the Lake Superior Basin (3-8)
- Go with the Flow (6-8)
Wildlife
Lessons that introduce students to wildlife and wildlife behavior.
Amphibians and Reptiles
- Call of the Wild (K-4)
- Box Turtle Interview (3-8)
- Call of the Wild (5-8)
- Gator Hole Graphics (5-8)
- Lizard Lair
Birds and Butterflies
- Massive Migrations (K-4)
- Butterfly Life Cycle (k-4)
- Massive Migrations (K-8)
- Fill the Bill (k-8)
- Bird Behavior Hike (3-6)
- Pelican Activities (3-8)
- Massive Migrations (5-8)
- Massive Migrations (9-12)
Endangered and At-Risk Species
- Prairie Chicken Pageant (K-8)
- Endangered species: What and Where? (K-8)
- At Risk Species (3-8)
Insects, Spiders & Invertebrates
- Spider sensations (K-6)
- Soil Decomposers (K-8)
- Science Fiction, Fantasy and Fact (9-12)
Mammals
- Tricky Tracks (K-4)
- Night Friends – Bat of the Americas (Background information and lesson plans: K-8)
- Bison Mystery Box (K-8)
- Bats: Maligned or Malicious (K-8)
- Where Do Polar Bears Live? (1-6)
- What Color is a Polar Bear? (2-5)
- How do Polar Bears Stay Warm? (2-6)
- Build a Bat House (2-8)
- Investigating Bat Adaptations (3-6)
- Controversy Over Wild Cats (3-8)
- Where in the World is the Polar Bear? (4-6)
- How Much Do You Know About Polar Bears? (4-6)
- How Many Bison? (7-10)
Fish
- Create a Fish (3-8)
- Fish and Ladders (5-8)
- Fish and Ladders (9-12)
Pollinators
- The Pollinator's Journey (K-8)
- The Pollinator's Journey (K-4)
- The Pollinator's Journey (5-8)
- The Pollinator's Journey (9-12)
Marine Wildlife
- Wonderful Whales (K-4)
- The Wheel of Trouble (K-2)
- The Wheel of Trouble (2-6)
- Horseshoe Crab Fun (3-8)
- Sea-going Supermarket Hike (5-8)
- Manatee Endangered (9-12)
- Planning Your Research (9-12)
Variety of Wildlife
- Links in a Food Chain (K-4)
- Who is Faster? (4-6)
- Wildife Burrows (6-12)
- Links in the Chain of Life (6-12)
- Pond Life (9-12)
National Wildlife Lesson Archives
Select a lesson below:
Distributed by NIEonline.com with permission
About the National Wildlife Federation
The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is America's largest conservation organization, inspiring Americans to protect wildlife for our children's future. NWF programs educate and inspire people to protect wildlife and wildlife habitat. For more information: http://www.nwf.org/What-We-Do/Kids-and-Nature/Programs.aspx.