Category: The Buzz on Bees

The Buzz on Bees – Background

The hum of honeybees as they flit from flower to flower from spring through fall carries the promise of summer fruits and autumn harvest. ­­­ Many flowers depend on bees and other insects to transport their pollen, and that pollen is needed to fertilize the flower’s eggs so they can mature into seeds. The relationship also benefits the bees because they depend on nectar from flowers to make honey and to mix with pollen to feed to their young. When we look at the amazing adaptations of honeybees, both physical and behavioral, we learn much about the life and work of these busy, buzzy insects.

Honeybees are social insects, living in colonies of many thousands of bees. Each colony is a single family comprised of the queen and her offspring. Working together in a highly organized way, honeybees accomplish remarkable feats of construction, navigation, decision making, defense, and honey making – far beyond what an individual insect could do on its own.  Continue reading The Buzz on Bees – Background

The Buzz on Bees – Activities

FOCUS:  Honeybees are social insects, living in colonies of many thousands of bees. Working together in a highly organized way, honeybees accomplish remarkable feats of construction, navigation, decision-making, defense, and honey making – far beyond what an individual insect could do on its own.  Many fascinating adaptations, both physical and behavioral, are important in the life and work of these busy, buzzy insects.

INTRODUCTION
Objective: To begin to explore and ask questions about bees.

Give each child a dead honeybee worker in a jar lid to examine using a hand lens. Ask children what they notice and wonder about the bees.

Materials: dried, dead honeybee workers in jar lids, one per child; magnifying lenses.

BEE ANATOMY
Objective: To examine closely and compare different types of honeybees and their cousins.

Ahead of time, contact a local beekeeper and obtain some dead bees, both workers and drones, if possible. These should be dried completely and stored in a shallow cardboard box. Before class, place bees in jar lids, one for each child. Continue reading The Buzz on Bees – Activities

The Buzz on Bees – Puppet Show

It’s a Bee’s Life

 

Characters: Nellie Girl, Henrietta Honeybee, Earth Fairy, Nellie Bee, Queen Bee, Nellie’s Mom

Nellie  Hi there, Henrietta Honeybee. You sure are busy. You’ve been to every flower in this patch.

Henrietta Honeybee  Yes, I don’t want to miss a single drop.

Nellie  You must be collecting honey!

Honeybee  Honey? Oh no, there’s no honey in these flowers.

Nellie  You mean they’re empty? Continue reading The Buzz on Bees – Puppet Show

The Buzz on Bees – Standards

THE BUZZ ON BEES ALIGNMENT WITH
NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS

The activities in this unit help children understand the basic concepts in the Disciplinary Core Ideas listed here. You can use the following list as a guide for lesson planning. These Disciplinary Core Ideas are taken from Grade Band Endpoints in A Framework for K-12 Science Education. Additionally, our activities give children opportunities to engage in many of the Science and Engineering Practices and reflect on the Crosscutting Concepts as identified in the Next Generation Science Standards. Continue reading The Buzz on Bees – Standards