• The activities associated with the creation, use and maintenance of a schoolyard habitat must be specifically linked to curricular outcomes. In Maryland it is essential that activities associated with the project are linked to the Maryland State Voluntary Curriculum and Core Learning Goals in many subjects.

• In excellent, student-driven projects students collect authentic data to assess the natural systems of their schoolyard and investigate how they can improve the schoolyard's impact to the local ecosystem.   Some of the data that students can collect includes information on existing wildlife diversity, steep slopes, land use, erosion problems and naturalized spaces.

• Several nationally recognized studies demonstrate that schools who use the school grounds as a place for learning and make a school-wide commitment to the study of the environment, are schools that have higher reading and math achievement on standardized tests.

Below you will find a number of resources, including standards based habitat lessons and activities, to help you use your habitat project(s) to achieve curricular goals in an engaging and effective way.

Integrating Habitat Projects and Curriculum

•  Voluntary State Curriculum Indicators: What do our students need to know and be able to do PreK-8?
•  MSDE Voluntary State Curriculum Environmental Science Toolkit PreK-8: COMING SOON!   See a sample page

Standards-Based Schoolyard Habitat Lessons, Resources and Activities

•  A Forest for Every Classroom
•  An Inconvenient Truth Educator's Resource
•  Best Science Web Sites -- George Radcliffe, Centreville Middle School
•  Biodiversity monitoring -- amphibian: CMS amphibian, Frogwatch USA
•  Biodiversity monitoring -- birds: Breeding atlas, Cornell Ornithology Lab

• Earth Partnership for Schools: Restoration Based Research Activities for the Classroom
• Earth Partnership for Schools: Rain Garden Curriculum

•  Environmental Protection Agency Kids Club
•  Low Impact Development Sustainable School Projects
•  Maryland Department of the Environment Kids Club
•  Mr. Radcliffe's Smart Center - Centreville Middle School
•  MSDE Voluntary State Curriculum Environmental Science Toolkit

• National Gardening Association Thematic Explorations

•  National Wildlife Visitor Center School Program - Themes tied into Voluntary State Curriculum
•  Project Learning Tree
•  Project WET
•  Project WILD
•  Resources & Activities for Teachers - Chesapeake Bay Foundation
•  Schoolyard Permeability Investigation - Chesapeake Bay Foundation
•  Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center
•  Water Quality Monitoring - George Radcliffe, Centreville Middle School
•  Water Quality Monitoring: Team Mud Busters - Chesapeake Bay Foundation
•  Water Monitoring: MD DNR Eyes on the Bay
•  Wonders of Wetlands (WOW) & Planning of Wetlands (POW) Trainings - Environmental Concern

Professional Development Opportunities to Help You Tie Habitat Projects into Curriculum

• The Schoolyard Habitat Partnership : MAEOE workshops for educators
• MAEOE calendar of events & trainings
• Chesapeake Classrooms - The Chesapeake Bay Foundation
• Chesapeake Connections - Arlington Echo Outdoor Education Center
• Earth Partnership for Schools: RESTORE Institute
• Field Opportunities