Take a walk in the boreal forest. Sunlight filters through tall spruce and pine trees. It's cool and damp, even late in the summer. As you walk silently across the carpet of needles, you can hear the chatter of squirrels and the hammering of a woodpecker in the trees above you. Two snowshoe hares speed past you. Could a lynx be near? Discover this North American habitat and the plants and animals that call it home. Narrative text, striking images, and illustrations explore this critical biome.

An immersive, high-interest approach to the highly curricular topic of biomes

Take a walk in the rain forest. It's hot and humid and humming with life. Look up into the dense canopy of leaves above you. Tangled vines lead to the treetops, where parrots squawk and monkeys swing from branch to branch. A poison dart frog clings to a slippery leaf. A sloth creeps through the canopy. The dense rain forest overflows with life. Discover the plants and animals that depend on each other in this unique biome through narrative text, entrancing photos, and illustrations.

Take a walk in the prairie. This land of all grass and open sky is full of life. You can hear the warbling song of a meadowlark. At your feet, a grasshopper munches on a flower stem. How do the plants and animals of the prairie depend on one another for survival? Through narrative text, striking photos, and illustrations, discover a world of tall grasses and wildflowers that creatures from butterflies to badgers call home.

An immersive, high-interest approach to the highly curricular topic of biomes

An immersive, high-interest approach to the highly curricular topic of biomes

Take a walk on the tundra. In this cold, harsh biome on the top of the world, summer is short. How do plants and animals of the tundra live? Discover how they depend on each other for survival as you travel through this fascinating land.

A unique look at the boreal forest, Earth’s vast and vital wilderness. The boreal forest, the planet’s largest land biome, spans the northern regions like “a scarf around the neck of the world.” Besides providing homes for many species, the forest’s influence is far-reaching: its trees and wetlands clean our air and water and are helping slow global climate change. In this evocative tour, a lyrical fictional narrative is paired with informational sidebars that describe life in the forest throughout the year, from one country to another. One of the world’s most magnificent regions comes to vivid life through the art of storytelling.

Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding (BFSU) - BFSU is for teachers, homeschoolers, and other educators to deliver a first-rate science education to K-8 students and older beginning-science learners. Vol. I (here) is for grades K-2 and older beginning-science learners. Volumes II and III are for grades 3-5, and 6-8, and older progressing science learners. BFSU provides both teaching methodologies and detailed lesson plans embracing and integrating all the major areas of science. BFSU lessons follow structured learning progressions that build knowledge and develop understanding in systematic incremental steps. BFSU lessons all center around hands-on experience and real-world observations. In turn, they draw students to exercise their minds in thinking and drawing rational conclusions from what they observe/experience. Therefore, in following BFSU, students will be guided toward conceptual understanding of crosscutting concepts and ideas of science, as well as factual knowledge, and they will develop mind skills of scientific thinking and logical reasoning in the process. Implementing BFSU requires no particular background in either science or teaching. Teachers/parents can learn along with their children and be excellent role models in doing so. Already widely used and acclaimed in its 1st edition form, this second edition of BFSU contains added elements that will make it more useful in bringing students to master the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).