Desert Biome ~ Resources

What's Schoolin'?

As we finish up our desert study and head into Southwest Indian tribes I wanted to separate out the desert resources from this comprehensive biome post for easier access.  Below is a cut/paste from that post with a few edits.
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Here is a conglomeration of resources for Biomes Studies.  My plan is to just go through the different biomes using websites/resources listed here and library books.  There are so many wonderful books.  I will just post a few here [Note: this post contains affiliate links to books below].  I have a world biome pin map already in the geography cabinet and some cards. We also made a Biome Globe by painting over our homemade Land/Water Globe.

I think a lapbook for each that includes plants, wildlife (flora/fauna), geographical location, and climate description would be good.  I already have one for grasslands printed from In the Hands of a Child and desert animals from homeschoolshare.

General Resources (or may have several biomes)(Desert specific links below)

About half-way are the areas of study for within each biome as recommended in this Montessori Geography scope and sequence:
http://www.montessori.org/sitefiles/geography.pdf?PHPSESSID=efc852f7420ac8b6c249ffd63bab8286

Intro educational video:
http://www.zo.utexas.edu/faculty/sjasper/images/biomes.swf

Interactive World Biome map.  Use for each biome.
http://www.thewildclassroom.com/biomes/index.html

Nice graph showing how temp/rain affects the biomes located in those regions:
http://www.zo.utexas.edu/faculty/sjasper/images/biomesclimate.jpg

This is a great interactive resource for each biome:
http://www.mbgnet.net/index.html

This has pages for each biome:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/habitats

I *think* this is the one I used for my biome pin map.  I like the clear delineations and bright colors.  It would be a good guide for painting salt maps.
http://www.freemontessori.org/wp-content/uploads/world_biomes_large.pdf

Interactive World Biome map (can use for each biome):
http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/biomes/biome_main.htm

This has World maps showing specific biome locations (great to use to color in a world map for each biome study):
http://www.bio.utexas.edu/faculty/sjasper/Bio301M/biomes.html

Enchanted Learning desert page.  You can link to each biome from here.  Some are free and some are not.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/desert/desert.shtml

This takes you to short information, maps, and a few links for each biome:
http://www.worldbiomes.com/

Waseca has gorgeous materials. They sure are inspirational!
http://wasecabiomes.org/collections/all

At the end of this Waseca document are cards - sort of Who Am I? cards that could be made into a self-correcting game/review of biomes:
http://f.cl.ly/items/263i2c1J2g0b1N1x062s/WAC_masters_copy_.pdf

Ranger Rick online:
http://www.nwf.org/Kids.aspx?siteId=3&departmentId=78&articleId=934

Putting 'biome' in the search bar at homeschoolshare brings up several hits:
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/

Photos for each biome:
http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/levin/bio213/biomes/biomes.html

The 'next' page has a really good comparison graph showing the different biomes.  It also has good summaries for each biome:
http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/biomes.html

Deserts

Very comprehensive, informative, interactive site:
http://www.desertusa.com/life.html

Lots of videos:
http://www.neok12.com/Deserts.htm

Here you can create a presentation using photos.  You could also use these to make cards (the photos are creative commons)(I just double-checked this and it is now a subscription site.  I'm leaving the link in case it goes free again or anyone would like to access it).
http://www.neok12.com/pictures/Deserts.htm
http://www.neok12.com/diagram/Deserts-01.htm
http://www.neok12.com/jigsaw-puzzles/Deserts.htm

Interactive information website:
http://www.mbgnet.net/sets/desert/index.htm

Free desert animals lapbook:
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/desert_animals.php

Summary of deserts:
http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/desert.html


[This post has book affiliate links]