No Student Left Indoors is your opportunity to learn and teach about our planet by helping your students to create a field guide to your schoolyard. Whether you're a nature buff or nature-phobe, a literary genius or writing impaired, artistically talented or one who can't draw a straight line with a ruler, and teaching gift or challenged students in an urban, suburban, or rural school—you'll wonder why you didn't think of this before.
You'll learn:

• Who can participate in and benefit from a schoolyard study,
• What those benefits are.
• Where to look for nature in your schoolyard.
• When to conduct your studies.
• How to teach students to discover, observe, and record the nature in your schoolyard.
• Why everyone is talking about No Student Left Indoors.

This is a project for a class, grade, or entire school. It can be a long-term project based on inquiry, investigation, and hands-on learning, The project connects science, language arts, history, creative arts, and technology.

From David Mizejewski, National Wildlife Federation Naturalist, Author, and Animal Planet TV Host:
'Nature is not a destination,' says Jane Kirkland, author of this innovative educator's guide. I applaud her efforts to teach children that the nature in their neighborhoods is as exciting and important as the nature of exotic places they see on television. Now Jane extends her reach by helping educators to guide their students in the exploration and study of the plants and animals of their schoolyards. There is no greater investment we can make in our natural world than to plant the seed of knowledge.

From the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA Recommends)
Reviewed by Donald Logsdon Jr.
Online Instructor

Living in a complex, high technology society, we sometimes overlook the nature that is all around us. We don’t look closely at this natural environment, but children do. This can be an avenue for them to learn about plants and animals that share the world with us. This book describes how to create a field guide to the nature in your schoolyard. It is part of a series by the same author called Take a Walk. As the author notes, this book will help readers cultivate a series of places in which students can build a foundation for their lifelong appreciation of their local nature and our natural world.
The book includes six chapters, a foreword, six useful appendices, and a subject index. The chapters are filled with illustrations and copious side notes. For example, there is one note describing how to obtain a state wildlife salvage permit. The chapters include many forms that can be copied and used to make observations and record data. It is filled with references to useful resources including websites. It also includes comments from scientists, teachers, and students about the wonders of nature. The author recounts how she began this effort when a bald eagle flew over her head. She was in a suburban parking lot and had no idea that bald eagles actually lived in the area.
Developing a field guide can involve many academic areas, not just science. It includes language arts, math, the creative arts, and history. It is a relatively inexpensive way to get young minds interested in science, making it enjoyable both for teachers and students. This is a worthwhile investment for the elementary/middle school science classroom.
Review posted on 8/22/2007

TOC at a glance:
Chapter One, What is a Field Guide to Your Schoolyard,provides answers to the most-asked questions about a field guide project. Even if you were committed to creating a field guide to your schoolyard before you purchased this book, you'll find purposes and benefits to your project you might not have considered.

Chapter Two, Planning Your Field Guide prepares you to make informed decisions about the length and breadth of your field guide project. Here you'll learn that there's more than one way to conduct a Field Guide Project. You'll plan your project, assess your material needs, and create a budget. As you read the chapter you can (optionally) fill in the provided Planning Workbook.

Chapter Three, Observation and Data Collection discusses schoolyard nature observations: what to look for, when and how to observe nature, and suggestions for taking field notes, writing nature journals, and collecting data.

Chapter Four Creating Your Book presents options for designing your field guide. You'll find ideas for creating your pages by hand as well as instructions for using Microsoft PowerPoint for book layout. You'll also learn about scanning and sourcing images for your book.

Chapter Five, Exercises, Lessons, and Forms contains the companion Planning Workbook for planning your field guide as well as forms for your students to use when writing field notes or observation notes. You'll also find nature-related exercises and lessons from other teachers, organizations, and publications. Some forms may be reproduced—they are noted as such—and you can copy them directly from this book or download PDF files here at our website.

Chapter Six, Resources and Recommendations contains lists of recommended books, websites, and other resources, Here you'll also find coupons and special offers for supplies and equipment.

Appendices offer supplemental information for your Field Guide Project, including information on Take A Walk Books and programs, a report from Park Forest Elementary (one of our example schools), and information on schoolyard habitats and native plants.