REAP Lessons Buzz on Bees Lesson Overview Buzz on Bees introduces pollinators and pollination to students. It connects food production to pollination and helps students understand how the process works. They will learn about the importance of pollinators, specifically bees, and how they collect nectar and make honey. Objectives Students will learn 1. What role pollinators play in growing food and the process of pollination (WI Standards for Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources PS3.a.3.m and PS3.a.4.m; Next Generation Science Standards 2-LS2-2) 2. How bees simultaneously pollinate and make honey Lesson Introduction Using the PowerPoint slides on pages 8-13, show students the images of pollinators and pollinated items and ask them to silently think about how they might be related. Once everyone has had time to think, go through the images. Identify what insects and plant products they see, then ask why they think they go together - students will understand that pollinators all participate in pollinating very diverse plants. Then, continue to name different fruits and vegetables that rely on pollinators to become food. After making the connection that plant products rely on pollination, begin activities that explain the actual process. Activities -Act out why bees pollinate play -Flowers and Pollinators Art/Game -Buzz on Bees powerpoint + facts -Read a book -Buzz on Bees Rap -Pollinating Teamwork Activity -Bee Theater and Flower Anatomy Snack suggestions If possible, serve a local seasonal snack. - crackers with honey (try to bring multiple kinds of honey) - yogurt mixed with honey - fruit or veggie with honey drizzled on top - popcorn with honey drizzled on top - honey taste-test Book suggestions -The Beeman by Laurie Krebs. This book tells the story of a beekeeper and is a good way to talk about apiaries. It also contains informational glossary that talks about how bees communicate, how hives are structured, and the roles of different bees. -The Magic School Bus: Inside a Beehive. This book is informative and mainly focuses on the structure of a beehive. Conclusion By the end of this lesson, students should understand the importance of pollinators in our food system. They will know how and why bees make honey and how the process of pollination works. Students will also understand how much of our food depends on pollination and why we should care about pollinator health. page 1
REAP Lessons -Buzz on Bees Buzz on Bees - Lesson Planning Keep in mind that these lessons are best formatted to a 45 minute time slot. The approximate activity time can be adjusted to your preferences. It is suggested that you choose one introduction option to pair with a few activities. Happy planning! snack Materials Checklist Introduction Activity 1 Activity 2 Activity 3 Conclusion Notes page 2
REAP Lessons - Buzz on Bees Buzz on Bees - Introduction Using the PowerPoint slides on pages 8-13, show students the images of pollinators and pollinated items and ask them to silently think about how they might be related. Once everyone has had time to think, go through the images. Identify what insects and plant products they see, then ask why they think they go together - students will understand that pollinators all participate in pollinating very diverse plants. Then, continue to name different fruits and vegetables that rely on pollinators to become food. After making the connection that plant products rely on pollination, begin activities that explain the actual process. Pollination - The process by which the pollen is transferred from the male part of the plant (anther) to the female part of the plant (stigma) where it can be fertilized and reproduction can take place. Or, the process by which insects/other pollinators help plants to make seeds. Pollinator - Animals of all types (insects, bats, birds, etc) that visit flowers and take away their pollen and deposit it into other flowers; the animals that carry out the process of pollination Buzz on Bees - Activities Why Bees Pollinate Play (gr 1-5) Assign roles to students by giving them nametags and having them hold images to represent their character. Narrate the following scene: Bees start making honey, which is their food, by visiting flowers. They collect a sugary juice called nectar from the blossom by sucking it out with their tongues. They store it in what s called their honey stomach, which is different from their food stomach. When they have a full load, they fly back to the hive. There, they pass it on through their mouths to other worker bees who chew it for about half an hour. It s passed from bee to bee, until it gradually turns into honey. Then the bees store it in honeycomb cells, which are like tiny jars made of wax. The honey is still a bit wet, so they fan it with their wings to make it dry out and become more sticky. When it s ready, they seal the cell with a wax lid to keep it clean. Supplies -nametags / images Time - 10 to 15 minutes So that s how bees make honey. They don t make very much of it, though. It takes at least eight bees all their life to make one single teaspoonful. Fortunately for us, they usually make more than they need, so we can have some, too. page 3
REAP Lessons - Buzz on Bees Buzz on Bees - Activities Flowers and Pollinators Art/Game (gr 3-5) Stage 1: Drawing Divide the class in two and supply everyone with a piece of paper and markers. One half is the pollinator group, the other is the flower group. Each student draws either a pollinator (bee, butterfly, beetle, bird, etc.) or a flower on their paper, depending on their group. Optionally, students can cut out their drawing and tape it to their shirt. Once the drawing is finished, put two pieces of doubled up masking tape in the center of each flower, so that there s a sticky side pointing out. Stage 2: Pollinating Give each flower student five pieces of pollen/pompoms and instruct them to spread out across the classroom and stand still. The pollinator students will walk from flower to flower. When a pollinator comes to a flower, if the pollinator has already collected pollen, they stick it to one of the pieces of masking tape and get a new piece of pollen from that flower, then keep walking. If they have no pollen yet, the flower gives them one of their pieces and the pollinator keeps walking. When a flower has two pieces of pollen stuck to it, they sit down and become a fruit. Game ends when all flowers are seated. Supplies -One piece of blank paper per student -Safety scissors (optional) -Markers, crayons, etc. -Masking tape - Pollen pom poms Time - Stage 1: 10 to 20 minutes Stage 2: 5-10 minutes Buzz on Bees Powerpoint + Facts (Gr k-5) This slide show helps students identify different pollinators and learn about what crops are pollinated by them. It includes facts (in the notes) so that students can learn how often bees visit flowers, how far they travel to them, how many flowers it takes to fill up their nectar stomach, and how many bees are needed to make a jar of honey. This visual aid can help in the introduction, or it can be its own activity where the focus is on the facts. Supplies -Buzz on Bees powerpoint Time -5 to 10 minutes Reading A Book (gr k-5) Reading a book can be a great way to reinforce this lesson. The Beeman is a story about a beekeeper that includes an informational glossary at the end. Be sure to ask guiding questions to ensure that students understand the story and what being a beekeeper entails. Supplies -The Beeman book Time - 5-1o minutes page 4
REAP Lessons - Buzz on Bees Buzz on Bees - Activities Buzz on Bees Rap (gr 3-5) This activity connects information learned about the importance of pollinators to our food system to language arts through the development of a rap, poem, mini-play, or song about pollinators! Students will enjoy coming up with rhymes and other stories with their classmates about our friends the bees. Separate students into groups of 3-5. Instruct that they will be creating raps, songs, mini plays, chants, or songs about bees. Encourage them to feature at least 1 fact from the list below. Encourage creativity by brainstorming rhyming words with common pollinator terms such as bee, nectar, pollen, and fruit. Have them work as a team to develop the songs and write them down. Also encourage students to make motions to go along with their rap. Supplies -Worksheet with directions and facts -pencils Time - 15 to 20 minutes Once everyone is amply prepared, have groups come up and share their rap in front of the class. While students do not have to present, create a supportive environment for them to share. For those that do present, acknowledge how brave they are! It can be hard to get up in front of the class, so try to have students practice public speaking in this informal way. Remind them to use louder voices and have groups rehearse before presenting. Notes: Teachers can use this lesson to emphasize collaborative group work concepts such as cooperation and active listening. This activity is best used after completing the Buzz on Bees lesson with your class. Teachers can further tailor the lesson by connecting it to other language arts subjects being studied at the time (e.g. poetry, plays, rhyming, rhythm, fiction, non-fiction, illustrated stories, etc.). Facts to incorporate into raps: Bees, birds, bats, and butterflies are all pollinators. Pollinators help keep us healthy by pollinating important plants that create fruits that we love to eat. Bees make honey out of nectar from flowers. Bees pollinate so many fruits that we love such as asparagus, cantaloupes, cucumbers, pumpkins, blueberries, watermelons, almonds, apples, cranberries, cherries, and cocoa (that is used to make chocolate)! We can take care of bees by planting many different colors of flowers that bloom at different times of the year so that they can eat nectar all season long. page 5
REAP Lessons - Buzz on Bees Buzz on Bees - Activities Pollinating Teamwork Activity (JB s Flower Cups) (gr 3-5) Preparation: REAP office has cups for this activity. To make your own, print out, draw, or cut felt pieces to make images of different flowers that become edible fruits. Glue these to paper cups. On the bottom, write what edible fruit (apple, squash, corn, strawberry, etc.) the flower will turn into. Supplies - Eight to ten cups representing different flowers. - Pollen pompoms (number of pieces = (number of students) x (four or five) ) Calculate your pollen numbers. Four or five pieces of pollen per student is generally a good number for an average size class. The amount of pollen required to pollinate a flower (x) should be a little less than the number of pieces each flower would get if the pollen is evenly divided amongst them (ed). I.e. x < ed; ed = [number of students] x [pollen per student] / [number of flowers] If you have fifteen students, give each five pieces of pollen, and hide ten cups, then: ed = 15 x 5 / 10 = 7.5. So tell students each flower needs 6 pieces (a little under 7.5) to be pollinated. Time - ~10 minutes Directions: Place the cups around the lesson area (classroom, garden, etc.). Depending on the students age, make them somewhat tricky to find. Tell the students that they are now a hive of bees, working together to gather nectar and pollinate flowers. Around the room are cups that represent different flowers. Each flower needs x pieces of pollen to be pollinated and become a fruit. Each bee will start the game with y pieces (four or five is often good), and walk around, distributing pollen to the flowers. Don t take pollen out of the flower cups! You can only put in the pollen pieces you get at the start of the game. If we want to get the most fruits possible, we need to make sure all the flowers get a medium amount of pollen, instead of some flowers getting a whole lot and some getting none at all. Now, can bees talk? (no). But do you think that bees communicate? (yes). Bees communicate by moving their bodies, for example doing a waggle dance. If you find a flower, you can let the other bees know by your buzzing, and by dancing. Once you have no more pollen left, come back to the hive (the carpet or other designated area) and sit down. After the students finish pollinating flowers, collect all the cups and find out which were pollinated! Going one by one, check what fruit the flower will become by reading the bottom of the cup ( this flower, if pollinated, will grow into a! ), then count out the pieces of pollen it has to find out if there will be fruit. Counting together as a group can be fun and heighten the anticipation. page 6
REAP Lessons - Buzz on Bees Buzz on Bees - Activities Bee Theater and Flower Anatomy (gr k-5) Objective: Internalize how pollination happens through creative play and visual aids. Directions: Note: Depending on age of the students, adjust the amount of new vocabulary and complexity of pollination that you introduce. Introduce pollination to your students. You might ask for a show of hands on who likes different fruits that are insect-pollinated, then announce that without bees and other pollinators, we couldn t eat these fruits. But how does pollination actually happen? Draw a flower on whiteboard, or show one of the 3D flowers. A flower has three important parts for pollination: the stamens (male, consisting of anther and filament) the pistil (female, consisting of stigma and style), and the ovary, which becomes a fruit if the flower is pollinated. The stamen makes pollen. The pistil needs pollen. When pollen lands on top of the pistil (on the stigma), the pollen creates a pollen tube to burrow down the pistil (through the style) and to the ovary, which can now start becoming a fruit. If the pollen came from the same flower, it s called self-pollination. If the wind or an animal carried it from a different flower, it s called cross-pollination. Many flowers attract pollinators like bees by producing a sweet nectar for them to eat. If using a white board, draw a second flower and a bee, and draw out this process as you describe it. If using props, get them out here and recruit three student volunteers to act out a bee collecting and depositing pollen, and drinking nectar from each of the two flowers. The bee gets the bee scarf and the proboscis. The flowers get a 3D flower each with pollen pompoms attached. The bee will go to the first flower, mime drinking nectar, collect the pollen and put it in the leg baskets on scarf. Then the bee goes to the second flower, mimes drinking nectar, spills a bit of the pollen from the baskets onto the pistil (you may want to be the wind, and assist with the spilling to make sure it goes on the correct flower part) and collects the rest of the pollen, then flies away. The spilled pollen travels down the 3D flower s hollow style, then the petals and flower parts are tucked into the hollow ovary, filling it out to make a fruit. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pollen_tube http://www.mbgnet.net/bioplants/pollination.html Supplies - EITHER a whiteboard and markers, - OR Bee Theater props: Two 3D flowers/fruits (convertible) Bee scarf with leg baskets for pollen. Pollen pieces (pompoms) Drinking straw proboscis Time - 5-10 minutes page 7
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How many miles do bees fly to get to flowers? (up to 5 miles) / How many trips do bees make to flowers in a day? (10) / How many flowers does it take to fill a bee s nectar sac? (100-150 flowers) page 10
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How many bees does it take to fill a honey jar? (22,000) page 13
REAP Lessons Spanish Pollination Vocabulary pollination self-pollination cross-pollination pollinate pollinated pollinator(s) pollen nectar stamen(s) anther(s) filament(s) pistil stigma style pollen tube ovary ovule flower fruit (n.f.) polinización (n.f.) autopolinización (n.f.) polinización cruzada (v.) polinizar (participle) polinizado/a(s) (n.f.) polinizadora(s) (n.m.) polen (n.m.) néctar (n.m.) estambre(s) (n.f.) antera(s) (n.m.) filamento(s) (n.m.) pistilo (n.m.) estigma (n.m.) estilo (n.m.) tubo de polen / tubo polínico (n.m.) ovario (n.m.) óvulo (n.f.) flor (n.f.) fruta bee butterfly beetle insect bat bird (n.f.) abeja (n.f.) mariposa (n.m.) escarabajo (n.m.) insecto (n.m.) murciélago (n.m.) pájaro page 14