"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe."-- John Muir, 1838-1914
The John Muir Day Study Guide was prepared to help teachers commemorate John Muir Day each April 21 with their classes. California teachers are encouraged to recognize John Muir Day by statute (see below), but people all over the world celebrate John Muir's Birthday on April 21! In addition, the guide is produced with the idea that it may be used throughout the school year, integrated with a variety of curriculum topics, to set a tone of caring about our environment. It can be used outside of California as well as within, since only the fourth grade unit is California-specific.The academic focus of the John Muir Day Study Guide is History - Social Science.
Please see the following for additional Muir-inspired lesson plans for other academic subjects.More Standards-Aligned John Muir Lesson Plans
- English - Language Arts
- Power Quotes and Essay Writing (Grade Five)
- Make a Nature Journal (Grades K-8)
- More coming soon
- Science
- John Muir Lesson Plans Home
If you live outside of California, we suggest you use the Sixth Grade John Muir Geography Cards and the Places Important to John Muir page to find out if Muir ever traveled in your state or country, and then you can create a lesson plan for your own geographic location.
Each chapter of the John Muir Day Study Guide is available FREE for downloading in Adobe Acrobat file format (necessary for graphic-intensive pages), and in standard Web HTML (for text portions) below.
You may also order the John Muir Day Study Guide in a printed booklet form by sending $7.00 post-paid, plus 31 cents California sales tax for California shipping addresses, to:
Sierra Club California
1414 K. St., Suite 500
Sacramento, CA 95814
If you order the printed version, please be sure to download our 2001 Update supplement first.
You can also order John Muir Day Study Guide with a Visa or Mastercard toll-free from the California Department of Education, Publications Unit: (800) 995-4099.
-- California Government Code Section 6714
". . . All public schools and educational institutions are encouraged to observe . . . April 21 of each year as John Muir Day . . . and to conduct suitable commemorative exercises . . . stressing the importance that an ecologically sound natural environment plays in the quality of life for all of us, and emphasizing John Muir's significant contributions to the fostering of that awareness and the indelible mark he left on the State of California."
-- California Education Code Section 37222 (a)(2) and (b)(2).
This guide produced under the auspices of Sierra Club California and the California Department of Education.
This on-line version of the Study Guide contains the instructional text from the paper document. In addition to this text, there are materials of a graphical nature that are to be used in the suggested activities. These are available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format and are linked to the appropriate units. Furthermore, there are Acrobat files for each unit -- available at the bottom of each unit page -- as well as a single file for the entire Guide. The purpose of these on-line, hyper-text documents is to give you a good idea of what's in the Study Guide. If you want to use (a unit of) the Guide, then download the PDF files that are most useful to you.
Unifying Concept: John Muir, explorer, scientist, and author, studied ecosystems worldwide and expressed his views, helping establish the modern environmental movement.
Kindergarten - Grade 1 : John Muir: Long Ago and Now
John Muir showed he cared about nature by writing, drawing, and speaking to others.
Grades 2 - 3 : John Muir: One Person Who Made a Difference
John Muir had many experiences which gave him the vision to save wilderness areas.
Grade 4 : John Muir in California
John Muir, an immigrant to California, encountered environmental problems and found solutions.
Grade 5 : Speaking Out for Conservation
John Muir, an immigrant to the United States, spoke out about his experiences and his visions for conservation.
Grade 6 : John Muir: Around the World in 76 Years
John Muir traveled around the world to compare and contrast natural phenomena and to speak out about preserving ecosystems.
Grades 7 - 9 : John Muir in Yosemite
John Muir's vision led to the establishment of the National Park System.
Grades 9 - 12 : John Muir's Vision Lives On
John Muir's vision for the preservation of an ecologically sound natural environment persists today.
The Study Guide in Adobe Acrobat Format