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

Caring for the Land at Ya-Ka-Ama Indian Educational Center

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Story by Miles Sarvis-Wilburn, Senior Stewardship Field Specialist Stewardship is a strengthening of the relationship between person and land. When we steward, we connect directly with the […]

Dar y admirar: Vamos a Yosemite 2024 

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El grupo de Vamos a Yosemite con LandPaths llegó al emblemático parque nacional un viernes por la tarde, justo después de una breve tormenta de verano, en […]

Giving Back and Standing in Awe: Vamos a Yosemite 2024

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The Vamos a Yosemite con LandPaths group arrived at the iconic national park on a Friday afternoon, just after a brief summer rainstorm, in passenger vans rented […]

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