Backyard Biology: Discover the Life Cycles and Adaptations Outside Your Door with Hands-On Science Activities

by Donna Latham, Michelle Simpson (Illustrator)

Offering a deep peek into the world right outside your door, this life science book for middle readers gets kids excited about the natural world with fantastic hands-on science experiments!

Where can you study biology? Everywhere! Do you need special equipment? No!

Biology is the study of life, and life is all around you. You can find life thriving in the city and in the country, teeming in ecosystems around the planet--in deserts, oceans, and even the Arctic. Backyard Biology: Discover the Life Cycles and Adaptations Outside Your Door with Hands-On Science Activities introduces readers ages 9 to 12 to the amazing world of life science right outside their doors, no matter where they live. Plentiful text-to-self and text-to-world connections provide foundational learning.

- Backyard Biology: Discover the Life Cycles and Adaptations Outside Your Door with Hands-On Science Activities invites readers ages 9 through 12 to investigate living things in their own environments, including yards, parks, nature areas, and playgrounds.
- Backyard Biology turns readers into Nature Detectives with activities and projects that encourage children to build on a foundation of textual discovery and apply their knowledge to real-world problems and solutions.
- Activities include constructing a plankton net to collect pond samples and growing microorganisms in a Winogradsky column.
- Projects use materials already in most homes, reimagining and repurposing everyday items, as well as mining the recycling bin!
- Essential questions, short sidebars, and links to online primary resources help readers learn about the natural world around them and connect that natural world to the very survival of the human species.

About the Build It Science set and Nomad Press

Backyard Biology is part of a set of four Build It Science books that explore accessible science. The other titles in this set are Fairground Physics, Climate Change, and Kitchen Chemistry.

Nomad Press books in the Build It series integrate content with participation. Combining content with inquiry-based projects stimulates learning and makes it active and alive. Nomad's unique approach simultaneously grounds kids in factual knowledge while allowing them the space to be curious, creative, and critical thinkers.

All books are leveled for Guided Reading level and Lexile and align with Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards.

All titles are available in paperback, hardcover, and ebook formats.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

128 pages, Hardcover

Published March 10, 2020

Reviews

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guide provides information about cells, microorganisms, plants, and other biology topics in a textbook-like format. It sets itself apart from traditional textbooks with its conversational style, comic-style illustrations and color photographs, and QR codes linking to more photographs. Also included are many activities that illustrate the included biology topics, which clearly state the supplies and instructions needed to be successful. The book has many helpful nonfiction text features, including a table of contents, a map, glossaries both alongside the text and at the back, additional resources, and an index. Students in grades 5-8 will enjoy learning about biology topics from this book, while teachers will also find a plethora of helpful information and activities as well.

[Jenni · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an update to Backyard Biology Investigate Habitats Outside Your Door With 25 Projects by Donna Latham from 2013. The new edition includes more graphic novel style illustrations as well as color photos. The information is more densely packed in the new edition because it is trying to stay about the same length, however the use of sidebars and color help to keep the reader engaged in the material. There are QR codes sprinkled throughout the text and experiments allowing the reader to be introduced to even more dynamic information. The National Geographic QR codes appear to only take you to the front page of National Geographic but the rest appear to work correctly. There are a few new experiments for the reader to do as well. Overall, this is a great replacement to the original title and a good addition to collections that are looking for more hands on material for biology. A solid addition to most library and school collections.

[Cecile · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5. A couple of butterfly projects you can figure out without this book and one other interesting one of which I had not yet read or heard.