Nature School: Planet Earth: Lessons and Activities to Inspire Children’s Fascination with Our Planet’s Geology, Geography, Atmosphere, Weather, an

Inspire a child’s love for our planet and its place in the universe through fascinating bite-size facts, captivating illustrations, and more than 30 hands-on activities.

From the expansive universe to tiny micro-ecosystems, Nature School: Planet Earth explores the intricacies of the planet we call home. Discover details about Earth’s stunning structure, its amazing atmosphere, and the foremost features that enable it to support life. Learning through both physical and life science lenses, you will come to truly appreciate planet Earth.

Following the format of the award-winning Nature School: Lessons and Activities to Inspire Children’s Love for Everything Wild, each chapter of this book concludes with a series of suggested hands-on activities. Great for both home and school settings, it is the perfect guide for families and children ages 6-12 who are looking for an introduction to Earth science that includes the location, structure, atmosphere, and biosphere of our planet. The book explores:

• Earth’s place in the universe with a quick overview of what we know about our universe, the Milky Way galaxy, and our solar system and a discussion of Earth’s relationship with our Moon, the Sun, and how Earth moves in space.
• The composition of Earth, covering topics such as the size and shape of Earth, gravity, Earth’s magnetic field, and geographical characteristics.
• Earth’s atmosphere, including its composition and physical properties, weather, and what we see in the night sky.
• All the elements and circumstances that make life on Earth possible: our natural resources, energy flow, life at different latitude and longitudes, and various life cycles.
• Earth as a community: interconnection, ecology, and biomes, the amazing variety of life--their connections through their communities and food webs, our ever-changing Earth, and viewing the Earth as part of the wider universe.

Nature School: Planet Earth helps children and families relate to these topics in a meaningful way and ultimately understand the science behind what makes life on Earth possible.

Lauren Giordano is an author, illustrator, and owner of Chickie & Roo, an educational curriculum and resource company for families and schools. She home educates her two children in Florida and taught in her local homeschool co-op community, where she led nature classes. Lauren is passionate about bringing children closer to nature and helping them develop a deeper understanding of our natural world. Her work has been featured in The Peaceful Press, A Year of Learning, Chickadees Wooden Toys, Wild & Free Co., FunSchooling Books, and more. You can find her work at chickieandroo.com.

Stephanie Hathaway is a Kansas City-area artist who specializes in creating educational content inspired by our natural world. She believes in using beautiful, dynamic illustrations to make learning about science and nature exciting and accessible to children of all ages. She is guided by the notion that many of life’s valuable lessons can be learned from nature. It is her hope that her work will inspire families to explore and learn from the natural world right outside their own door. You can see more of Stephanie’s educational nature-based studies and original artwork at stephaniehathawaydesigns.com.

Laura Stroup is the founder of Firefly Nature School, a nature study curriculum designed for homeschooling families, co-ops, and classrooms found online at fireflynatureschool.com. Laura has a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Ecology from Iowa State University with an emphasis in natural resource education. A former museum educator and upper school science teacher, she now directs School of the Wild, an immersive nature school that serves her local community. Laura resides in the countryside near Springfield, Missouri, with her family.