Third edition, 2022. This ebook is a digital download (pdf) that you can view on your computer or use to print a copy for your own use. Please do not print this file for others. This download includes the file for printing the color cards for the Tree-of-Life charts. (Please note that some of the prokaryote and protist images were taken with a scanning electron microscope, and these are in black and white. Electrons do not produce a color image.)

Help your children explore the diversity of life with this 206-page book.  It will help you confidently present the Tree of Life – the currently accepted classification - to elementary and middle school students. The content includes introductory lessons and learning activities for major branches of life plus the viruses. The prokaryotes and the protists are not designated as kingdoms, but they are grouped for convenient study. The fungi, animals, and plants are presented as kingdoms. And as for viruses, the book states, "A virus is a virus, and it is not a cell."  The Tree of Life charts are described in the ebook, and the files for printing them are available as a free download. This book is useful at the elementary and middle school levels. 

What's new in this edition:

• A new lesson on introducing the Tree of Life chart as a whole
• Updated protist lineages names
• New fungus kingdom lineages and names
• In the animal kingdom, the name “Spiralia” for a branch of protostomes
• In the plant kingdom, rearranged branches of bryophytes
• New listings of book resources and Internet sites

For lessons that use this learning material and information for integrating it into biology study, see Life Science Lessons for the Montessori Elementary Classroom by Cynthia Brunold-Conesa. https://georgeconesa.wixsite.com/lifesciencemont and lunalearningpress@gmail.com