US National Parks Unit Study Adventures with Lizzy Jane

Our National Parks of the United States of America: Adventures with Lizzy Jane delivers — a complete, 20-week semester unit study built around 19 original hand-illustrated narrative letters written from inside twelve of America's most spectacular national parks and from seven of the remarkable people who fought to protect them. Every letter features exclusive original artwork. Every lesson plan is written and ready. Everything your student needs for a full semester of rich, cross-curricular learning is included in one beautifully crafted package.

This is not a worksheet packet. It is not a reading passage with comprehension questions. It is an immersive, story-driven learning experience that treats curious students like the explorers they are — and gives homeschool parents, co-op teachers, and classroom educators everything they need to deliver it with complete confidence.

WHO IS LIZZY JANE?

Lizzy Jane is a fictional explorer and storyteller who writes vivid, illustrated letters from the places she visits. She is named after the real American trailblazer Nellie Bly — whose birth name was Elizabeth Jane Cochran — a pioneering investigative journalist and the first woman to race around the world, completing the journey in just 72 days in 1889. Nellie Bly believed that the best way to understand the world is to go see it for yourself. That belief is Lizzy Jane's guiding philosophy and the animating spirit of this entire curriculum.

Students meet Nellie Bly in Lesson 1, learn the story behind their narrator's name, and carry that thread of curiosity and adventure through all twenty weeks. By the time they reach the capstone in Week 20, they are not just learning about national parks — they have become Explorers themselves.

12 NATIONAL PARKS. 7 HISTORICAL FIGURES. 20 WEEKS.

The Parks:
Yosemite · Yellowstone · Grand Teton · Glacier · Olympic · Great Smoky Mountains · Acadia · Zion · Bryce Canyon · Rocky Mountain · Joshua Tree · Grand Canyon

The People:
Nellie Bly · Theodore Roosevelt · John Muir · Thomas Moran · Sequoyah · Enos Mills · John Wesley Powell

WHAT YOUR STUDENTS WILL LEARN

Over 20 weeks this curriculum builds skills and knowledge across five subject areas simultaneously — which makes it particularly powerful for co-op settings where teaching time is precious and every session needs to count.

Geography and Map Skills
Students build a genuine mental map of the United States through weekly mapping activities, state and regional identification, physical landform labeling, and exploration of how geography shapes ecosystems, climate patterns, and human history. By the final lesson, students have placed markers on a classroom map spanning every major region of the country.

Natural Science
Each park lesson includes a hands-on science extension activity connecting the park's landscape to real scientific concepts students can see, touch, and test. Over the semester they work through erosion and glaciation, geothermal systems and geyser pressure, fault-block mountain formation, the rain shadow effect, intertidal zone ecology, atmospheric chemistry and natural vapor formation, frost wedging and mechanical weathering, altitudinal life zones and the tree line, desert adaptation and ecological mutualism, and geological stratigraphy.

American History and Conservation
The Heritage Letters make history personal. Students hear from Theodore Roosevelt about why he set aside 230 million acres of public land. They read John Muir's passionate defense of Yosemite in his own words. They discover how Thomas Moran's paintings of Yellowstone hung in the U.S. Capitol and directly influenced Congress to protect the land. They learn that Sequoyah, working alone for twelve years, created a complete writing system for the Cherokee language — and that the towering sequoia trees and the mountains of the Smokies carry his name. Every Heritage Letter turns a historical figure from a name in a textbook into a person with a story worth remembering.

Writing and Language Arts
Students practice postcard writing with correct address formatting and vivid descriptive language, informational writing through the travel brochure activity, sensory and creative writing through the Explorer Activity, and research-based writing and oral presentation through the capstone project. The included Postcard Writing Mini-Unit provides complete instruction from anchor chart through final draft.

Visual Art
Students create original illustrations of each park, study Thomas Moran's role in saving Yellowstone through art, and design their own travel brochures — developing observation skills, descriptive vocabulary, and creative confidence alongside every other subject area.

EVERYTHING THAT'S INCLUDED

This curriculum is designed to be genuinely complete. Open the files, print what you need, and teach. Nothing sold separately. Nothing missing.

The complete package includes the 20-week teacher guide with full lesson plans for every session; 12 original hand-illustrated Adventure Letters written by Lizzy Jane from inside each national park; 7 original hand-illustrated Heritage Letters from the historical figures who shaped the park system; 19 matching illustrated postcards featuring the same original artwork, sized for real mailing; 19 five-activity packs covering postcard writing, US map skills, travel brochure, park illustration, and the Explorer sensory activity; hands-on science extension activities for all park lessons; the complete Postcard Writing Mini-Unit with anchor chart, writing checklist, planning graphic organizer, and rubric; the Student Explorer Research Guide for the capstone project; a capstone presentation rubric scored out of 24 points; a dual grading rubric in both 4-point teacher and 3-point homeschool-friendly versions; the Home Extension Guide with book recommendations and science activities for every lesson; a parent overview letter ready to send home on the first day; a capstone parent note with full project expectations and a preparation checklist; a Parent Showcase Day invitation; and the Meet Lizzy Jane one-page insert for students and families new to the series.

DESIGNED FOR CO-OPS — BUILT FOR EVERYONE

This curriculum was designed specifically for homeschool co-ops that meet once weekly — a format that is growing rapidly and almost completely underserved by existing curriculum resources. The lesson structure, pacing options, parent companion documents, and capstone showcase event are all built with the co-op context in mind.

Independent homeschool families will find the teacher guide does all the planning work for them — no background knowledge in geology, conservation history, or postcard writing format required. Everything is explained, everything is structured, and the lessons are designed to be as enjoyable for the parent facilitating them as for the students experiencing them.

Classroom teachers in grades 4–6 will find the standards-aligned lesson plans, grading rubrics, and cross-curricular structure immediately useful for geography, science, and social studies units, with built-in flexibility for both 45-minute class periods and longer block schedules.

PACING AND FLEXIBILITY

The standard pacing is one 60–75 minute session per week over 20 weeks — a full semester. Three additional pacing options are built into the curriculum: a condensed 16–17 week version for shorter co-op seasons; a 45-minute session adaptation that shifts the book read-aloud and science extension into a weekly Home Extension email for families (the Home Extension Guide is included); and an extended year-long option where each lesson expands to two weeks across 34 sessions.

A NOTE ON THIS MOMENT IN TIME

This curriculum launches during a genuinely historic window for America's national parks. National Parks Week 2026 runs August 22–30, themed "Celebrate America's Story" in honor of the nation's 250th anniversary. National Junior Ranger Day is August 22. The National Park Service celebrates its 110th birthday on August 25 with free admission to every national park in the country. There has never been a more meaningful time to put America's wild places at the center of your curriculum — and there has never been a resource quite like this one to help you do it.

STANDARDS ALIGNMENT
NCSS Curriculum Standards: Themes 2, 3, 8, 9 · National Geography Standards: 1, 4, 7, 8, 14 · NGSS: ESS2.A, ESS2.B, ESS3.C, LS2.C · Common Core ELA Grades 4–6: RI.4-6.3, RI.4-6.7, W.4-6.2, W.4-6.3, W.4-6.7, SL.4-6.4, L.3.2b

Format: PDF digital download — print ready
Grade Level: Grades 4–6 (adaptable for advanced 3rd grade and middle school enrichment)
License: Single classroom or family use. Contact us for use in multiple classes or co-op group licenses covering multiple families.

*Instant digital download. This is a non-refundable purchase due to the nature of digital download products.