This summer, we are in the midst our summer Earth Party class, using the Earth Party curriculum. It has been so enjoyable to explore life on the planet from single-celled life through the animal kingdom. What resources do you have that allow you to explore life? Here are a few of our favorites!
All About Birds: How to identify a bird
Check out All About Birds, tied in with the Cornell Ornithology Lab, to classify birds you observe, wherever you are! You can put the app on your phone and when you are out on trails, simply open it up to find out what you saw! This site has tons of videos of many species, and recordings and videos of many songs and calls, which are super helpful to identifying birds. Also, they host a Bird Academy, with online games and activities for kids, formatted in a nice large font.
American Museum of Natural History: Games and resources for kids on OLogy
The OLogy site has many resources on biodiversity, ranging from games on endangered species, to the Tree of Life and ocean animals. Also, there are resources that explore anthropology, zoology, and fossils. Additionally, look for a variety of modes of learning: Games, videos, hands-on activities, and stories. Homeschool teachers and families will appreciate curriculum broken down by grade level. This site comes from the American Museum of Natural History, located in Manhattan. Above is a video from a recent museum exhibition on deep sea bioluminescence.
Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS): A bit geeky, but very complete
If you want to know all the levels of taxonomy for a species, this is it! It is the authoritative site that will explain schools of thought as to why an organism is classified in a certain way, and — if there is any controversy about it. If you want the correct answer, check ITIS out! Additionally, ITIS points to the more visual Encyclopedia of Life (EOL link), which has more resources like info cards that young, budding biologists would find compelling. EOL features an amazing article about the imperiled monarch migration, which everyone should know about, which includes some interesting graphics on the monarch and it’s food web. They also have lesson plans and more!
What are some of your favorite biology sites?
One thing we really welcome is engagement! Check out our Instagram @carriershellcurriculum, to find lots of fun photos of various organisms and communicate with us via DM. Also, later in summer, we will host a variety of webinars on a number of topics. And, if you want a roadmap to study the kingdoms of life, check out our Earth Party! curriculum and our online classes, beginning in the fall.