Tech Tool Review: Wild Classroom

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Hello! Our tech tool of the week is Wild Classroom, a free resource hub run by the World Wildlife Fund to help educators and families connect students with the natural world. The program is designed for all grades and subject areas. Wild Classroom offers lesson plans, activity guides, printables, videos, and games that focus on topics like wildlife conservation, ecosystems, climate change, biodiversity, and sustainable living. The goal of the program is to inspire students to care about the environment and to empower them with the knowledge and skills to protect it. One feature that I also enjoyed in Wild Classroom is the Adoption Center. This is where students and families can symbolically “adopt” an animal (like a sea turtle, red panda, or emperor penguin) to support conservation efforts. While the adoption itself is a donation based program run through WWF, it can be a meaningful impact on the classroom. Teachers can incorporate it into fundraising projects, writing activities (like persuasive letters or research reports about the adopted animal), or as a way to celebrate classroom milestones with a purpose. This is a completely optional element of the website.

In the school library, I can easily see Wild Classroom being used for research projects, themed book displays, or Earth Day activities. For example, students could explore the Food Waste Warrior toolkit to learn how much food their school throws away each week, and then can draft a school-wide campaign to reduce it. For clubs or makerspace settings, the wildlife trading card activities or biodiversity scavenger hunts would be a fun way to blend science, art, and storytelling.

In classrooms, the resources can fit into science, social studies, or even ELA units. Younger students might explore animal habitats with coloring sheets and simple sorting activities, while older students could tackle data based projects, write persuasive essays on different issues, or create PSAs using the discussion guides and fact sheets. It’s also a great fit for project based learning and inquiry units; especially those with a sustainability or global citizenship focus.

Best of all, Wild Classroom is completely free. There are no logins or subscriptions required, and educators can download materials as needed. The site is regularly updated with seasonal themes and timely topics, and it includes access to high-quality visuals, videos, and real WWF data. Wild Classroom is a rich, ready to use resource for anyone hoping to build students' curiosity about the natural world. Whether you’re planning a science unit, celebrating Earth Day, or just looking for meaningful ways to engage students with real world topics, Wild Classroom is a fantastic go to.

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