Author: Toni Dauwalter
Learn or Do Something NEW!
I LOVE learning! And I LOVE nature, so becoming a ‘hobby’ beekeeper was a super fun learning experience I started a few years ago. In that time I have learned SO much about the amazing BEE and I know that I still have LOTS more to learn. Teachers have the power to influence their students to be curious and learn something new. I hope as my own kids grow up, their curiosity continues to encourage them to ‘learn or do something new’ their whole life.
Check out Anna from BCE Elementary School filming a quick video with me while I put my new hive together to share with her students. She is the one who coined “Learn or Do Something New” & I just love it!
Connecting!
My favorite part of being a Regional Curriculum Specialist at MAITC is connecting teachers to great resources and my absolute favorite connection during the Covid-19 Distance Learning time was when a teacher reached out to get resources on BEES the exact week that I was putting my new bees into my home hive. I was able to give her some great resources to use with her students and I also hosted a zoom ‘Virtual Field Trip’ to my beehive with her classroom! The kids loved it and I was so happy to connect again (in real life, 6 feet apart of course).
Learning!
Pollinators (including honey bees) are fun to learn about and MN Ag in the Classroom has many great resources for teachers. Our Curriculum Matrix has lessons for K-12 that are interactive, connected to standards, and easy to use. While we are at the end of the distance learning (school is almost out!) I want to also share a few distance learning resources with you that you could use now, or adapt for your classroom next year when the kids are back. I also have some great videos of my own bees!
Here are some un-BEE-liveable resources you can use in your classroom (now OR next year!):
For those of you that use SeeSaw, Debi from World Learner School in Chaska, MN created this activity for her students the week that they virtually visited my hive 🙂 Thanks for sharing Debi!
Here is the hexagon activity in a google slide from the SeeSaw lesson: The Beehive Google Slides
The MAITC video library on our website has a GREAT video about honey production from the Beez Knees (don’t you just love their name!) 'That's so Sweet' about honey production in the Twin Cities (The Beez Kneez): Video 'That's So Sweet'
One of my favorite activities from our website is ‘Bee Buzz’. It helps kids learn about the parts of a bee while playing a dice game (kinda like the old game Cootie) Link to Activity. Activity Sheet
This is pretty cool...watch a bee egg hatch in time lapse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6mJ7e5YmnE
The Amazing Honey Bee on our Curriculum Matrix...I specifically like this in Activity 3: Have the students write and/or draw about where they would fly and what they would do if they were honey bees.
If you are already thinking about next year when the students are back in the classroom, I wanted to be sure to share links to my favorite lessons on our Curriculum Matrix:
K-2
3-5
Honey Bees: A Pollination Simulation
6-8
9-12
Good Taste: Honey Bee Forager Food Preference
Enjoy!