Novel Schiff base cellulose derivatives were successfully prepared by a bridge-coupling reaction from dialdehyde cellulose (DAC), which was obtained by the selective oxidation of sodium periodate to cotton fibers, in which the glycine (Gly) was bonded onto the DAC chains by a Schiff base reaction with p-nitrobenzaldehyde as a bridge. The structures of the graft copolymer (DAC-gGly) were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, solid-state NMR, and scanning electronic microscopy. The thermodynamic properties were analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry, and the biodegradability was also tested by the microbial degradation and the active sludge method. The results indicate that Gly was connected to DAC by chemical bonding, which changed the thermal stability, and that DAC-g-Gly could be biodegraded significantly.