Outdoors Maryland Lesson Starters
Explore Maryland's natural resources – from the beaches of Assateague Island to the mountains of Western Maryland and everywhere in between.
Use these lesson starters to help elementary students discover wildlife and meet the people who protect the region's diverse ecosystems. Select a topic below to find video clips, essential and guiding questions, learning extensions, and other student supports to use in your classroom.
Have you ever wondered how people keep track of animal populations? It takes a lot of people. They need to use good observation skills and mathematics to get a big picture of how groups of animals live in their environment.
» Go to Birding Buddies Lesson
Birds rarely stay in the same location for a full year. Groups of birds typically make long flights together during seasonal changes, a process known as migration. But why do these birds group together in order to migrate? Why do they travel in flocks and not alone?
» Go to Birds Flocking and Migration Lesson
Like all animals, butterflies and insects have unique life cycles. They are born, they grow, and they will eventually die. What are the similarities and differences between the life cycles of butterflies and other organisms?
» Go to Butterflies and Life Cycles Lesson
Assateague Island is home to a variety of species, especially on its shores. What animals interact and live on Assateague shores? And how do biologists help protect some Assateague bird species from predators?
» Go to Assateague Shore (Food Web) Lesson
Wood turtle numbers have been decreasing over time. Zoo biologists and scientists are trying to help restore the declining turtle population by raising turtle hatchlings before releasing them into the wild.
» Go to Turtle Hatchling Life Cycles Lesson
Paleontologists are scientists who study the history of the world by excavating dirt and rock layers in search of fossils from ancient plants and animals. Sometimes these paleontologists have to wait years for a cliffside to change its formation so that more of a fossil is revealed.
» Go to Fossils and Rock Layers Lesson
Mushrooms are typically found on the ground, logs, and trees of forests. Many people hunt mushrooms in order to use them as cooking ingredients. However, that’s not the only good thing about mushrooms.
» Go to Mushrooms and Decomposers (Food Web) Lesson
Did you know it takes a lot of teamwork to grow the trees that help protect our environment? Every step is important from collecting seeds to planting and caring for young trees. Natural resource planners and nursery managers play a big role in this process.