Dear All,
This week we began reading about bees. The children knew that a bee stings, buzzes, and collects pollen and nectar to make honey. We read about how many wings, legs, and body parts they have, the same as ants which classifies them as insects. We made flowers by cutting
construction paper and gluing smaller paper for petals, squares and golden strings for pollen.
The next day we made more flowers for our bees. We used felt, foam, and sequins. They’re all growing on the classroom wall.
While some friends made music with Alex in the big room, the rest of us looked for pictures of bees in our books. Two children debated energetically about whether or not the letter B counted as a bee. We agreed they were indeed B’s but not bees. After studying the pictures we talked about patterns. Many children identified the black, yellow, black, yellow pattern on the bee. They were also able to name other patterns. We heard: pink, purple, pink, purple, big, little, big,
little, and red, rainbow, three, red, rainbow, three, to name a few. We used pipe cleaners, wax paper, and googly-eyes to construct our own bumblebees. They are buzzing near our flowers.
Holly came in and read The Beeman during circle. We had lots of questions. How do the bees get in the hive? If you take the honey out and put it in jars how do the bees eat it? Why do they wear those funny hats? Holly showed us her bee-keeping hat and two videos of the bees she has on her roof. We saw how they build honeycomb, a bee with pollen on its legs, and how pollen is different colors inside the honeycomb. Holly told us when she got her bees, the queen was kept in
a special cage so the other bees would be familiar with her smell. The bees have to eat through a tunnel so the queen can be free. Holly showed us the cage. One friend didn't know that bees had queens too (like ants), they thought it was only something in stories and were excited to learn something new. We passed around a piece of honeycomb from Holly's hive and one from the Co-op that had lots of honey in it. We all ate a bit of honey and wanted more.
Friday we reread The Beeman. We recalled things we learned about bees. One friend said bees live in a hive with a blanket around it to protect it. The class remembered this is to keep them warm because bees can’t fly in the cold.
Outside, the sandbox continues to be a big hit, full of construction sites, rivers, and busy kitchens where the cooks are making enchiladas and burgers. Yum!
Have a buzzy weekend,
Therese and Anna