So, you’ve decided you want to apply for a Schoolyard Habitat Grant, but have no idea where to start. The following are great resources to get you motivated and give you confidence as you help your students plan a project.
National Wildlife Federation—The perfect starting place. The National Wildlife Federation provides excellent resources to help you learn about schoolyard habitats, spark ideas to create a certified schoolyard habitat, as well as provide lesson plan ideas for you to use with your students.
The Habitat Gardner—Get acquainted with the native plants of Colorado’s Front Range and the costs to purchase them so you can create a reasonable budget based on your needs. The Habitat Gardener website is worth a visit when planning a garden project.
The Acorn Naturalists—Planning Guide for Habitat Enhancement on School Grounds will help you involve your students with the planning, implementation, and maintenance of your project through expanding upon activities developed by Project WILD.
What Teachers Say About Schoolyard Habitat Grants
"Receiving the Schoolyard Habitat Grant brought attention to our school garden among people in our community. After the parents learned of our project, many helped out by
donating three brand new picnic tables and forming a garden club to get planting done."—Big Thompson Elementary teacher
"Some of the accomplishments so far include adding beauty to our school by transforming a vast, dead area, to a lovely, welcoming environment. This project gave our community an opportunity to work together, building connections between parents, children, and the teachers who participated."—Horizons K-8 School teacher
"The Schoolyard Habitat Grant project was easy to implement, with plenty of community support and will provide an outdoor classroom for years to come!"—Las Animas Middle School teacher
"This grant allowed students to become directly involved with planning, planting, and maintaining an ecosystem. This allowed students to do direct observations vs. indirect textbook study."—Iron Horse Elementary School teacher
URLs linked to on this page:
Colorado Parks and Wildlife is the state agency responsible for protecting and managing wildlife and its habitat, as well as providing wildlife-related recreation. CPW is funded by hunting and fishing license fees, federal grants, and Colorado Lottery proceeds through Great Outdoors Colorado.