Hands-on Learning, Nearby Nature

IOOBY (In Our Own Backyard)

Who: 2nd -6th grade classrooms
What: Four field trips and two classroom visits per year

Designed for second through sixth grade students, In Our Own Backyard is our award-winning environmental education program. IOOBY gets your students outside with four guided field trips throughout the school year to the same nearby natural space. 

IOOBY brings science lessons to life for your students. Immersion in nature provides opportunities for collaborative problem solving, confidence-building, and creative thinking. 

Led by LandPaths’ qualified and engaging field specialists, your students will each spend about 20 hours a year in nature, experiencing hands-on lessons centered around these themes:

  • Exploration and Discovery
  • Habitats 
  • Watersheds
  • Stewardship 

And we make your job easier by aligning IOOBY lessons with California’s Next Generation Science Standards, cutting down on your classroom planning and prep time.  Because you are visiting the same place throughout the year, students, teachers, and parent volunteers develop a lasting bond with the land. 

Questions

Want to get IOOBY at your school? Contact Youth Initiative Manager Rebecca Carrillo Steinrueck at [email protected]

Mark Mortensen, 4th grade teacher at McDowell Elementary School

" My students love our IOOBY experiences! The four pillars of Exploration and Discovery, Habitats, Watersheds, and Stewardship blend so well with our science lessons and with other programs in which our class is involved. By connecting to local natural spaces, often visited for the first time by them, I feel my students are more likely to feel a sense of stewardship that will last well beyond their school years. I only wish that all students could enjoy and benefit from this program. Our planet needs as many enlightened stewards as it can get! "

Thanks to these partners:

IOOBY is made possible by your generous donations and the following partners:

Stories from the Field

Enter the Big Tree Month Photo Contest – January 2024

Tags: , , ,

It’s time for the Big Tree Month Photo Contest!   Large and big old-growth trees in Sonoma County captivate LandPaths participants with their immense size and complex network …

Enter the Big Tree Month Photo Contest – January 2024 Read Article

Reflections: Slow Restoration Community Forestry Project for Women and Nonbinary Participants

Tags: , , , , ,

By Lara O’Herlihy, Stewardship Field Specialist This past October, fourteen strangers met for the first time at Riddell Preserve, LandPaths’ 400-acre protected open space preserve in the …

Reflections: Slow Restoration Community Forestry Project for Women and Nonbinary Participants Read Article

Students Make More Nature and Science Connections through New Environmental Education Pathways Project in Sonoma County

Tags: , ,

Students Make New Connections WithEnvironmental Education Pathways  On a brisk and sunny day at Glen Oaks Ranch, 3rd graders from Flowery Elementary School chat merrily as they hike …

Students Make More Nature and Science Connections through New Environmental Education Pathways Project in Sonoma County Read Article

Scroll to Top