Scientist Karen visited our classroom today and set up 5 really cool Bee activity centres to help the students learn about 'the Bee' and how important they are to the environment. The students looked through microscopes at the bee and learned about the queen bee, worker bees and drones. The job of the queen is to lay eggs (1000 a day), the drones (male bees) mate with the queen and the worker bees protect the hive, feed the baby bees, fan the hive, repair the hive, clean the hive and gather nectar. Worker bees are female.
Honey tasting centre
Bees make honey. The flavour depends on the region and time of year (which flowers are in bloom). The students smelled and tasted 4 different kinds: clover, alfalfa, buckwheat and wildflower.
Bee Making Centre
The bee has 2 antennae, 3 body parts, 4 wings, 5 eyes, 6 legs. The children made puppets using all the correct number of body parts. Then, they sorted a sack full of animals into insects and not insects.
The Life cycle of the Bee
The life cycle of the bee has 4 steps: egg, larvae, pupa and adult.
The Drama Centre
Bees have a special dance they do to tell other bees where the pollen and nectar is and how far away it is.
Our little scientists at work looking at the many different sections of the bee up close.
Students learnt how bees pollinate and cross pollinate different types of flowers.
