Bee Investigation

In the process of thinking about, talking about, and observing signs of spring together with the kiddos, I narrowed our next investigation topic down to the bees. Not only had the kids been noticing (and running away from!) lots of bees on the playground, but I also knew this topic would give us an opportunity to tie in some service work...which hasn't happened yet with any of our investigations this year.

In order to build excitement and interest for the topic, we spent several days letting each kiddo tell the class a true story about bees. I had originally intended to record their stories, but instead got carried away jotting down many of the topics and questions their bee stories (many about family members getting stung) brought up. I loved how naturally their stories led us into the wondering phase.

Out came the bee books, 

and the wonders started flowing.  The kiddos wondered about everything from how many kinds of bees there are, to what happens (to you and the bee) if you get stung, to what baby bees look like, to what the fuzzy looking yellow stuff is on bees in so many of the pictures, and more...

We spent the next few weeks immersing ourselves in our investigation topic (and especially our wonders) by reading non-fiction and fiction books about bees, watching informational videos about them, singing songs and reciting poems, drawing and painting and making, and even playing games and acting out our learning.  Our wonder chart was originally filled with questions on yellow stickies (which I forgot to photograph), and we gradually traded in our yellow stickies for blue ones as we discovered the answers to our wonders.  

Early on in our investigations we always take some time to notice details through observational drawings.  As each child looked closely at various bee photos, we soon discovered that there are SO many different types of bees.

Carpenter bees are a favorite of one of our classmates, so imagine how exciting it was to find real carpenter bees on the playground. Looks like there will be plenty of holes on the playground structure to patch us this summer!

We also dove deep into several bee related topics in order to build some important base knowledge for our investigation.  We learned about a bee's life cycle through a sequencing activity, and the kids had a blast acting out the life cycle during one of our favorite morning meeting games called Sleeping, Sleeping...

Next up we learned about the parts of a bee, 

and then we used our new knowledge during fab lab to create 3-dimensional bees.  It's one thing to learn information, but it's another to be able to use that information to make something!

The next morning we created flowers, and then of course we hung our bees and flowers up around the room so the bees could get to work pollinating their flowers.  This activity was such a natural way to get the kids to begin thinking about pollination, a topic that would inevitably resurface soon. 

Next we learned about different honeybees jobs within a hive. One kindergartener suggested that we make our own hive, so of course we jumped on the idea.  We filled our hive with guard bees, honey-makers, drones, a queen, and more.

We also tried out some opinion writing by explaining which job in the hive is the hardest and why.  It was so interesting to hear the kiddos share their conclusions and reasonings.  Do you think it's harder to be a queen or to take care of a queen...or to guard the hive or make the honey?  So much to wonder about!!

One day I invited a kindergartener from another class to come by to tell us about the honeybee hives at her house.  The kids were SO interested to find out that her mom makes honey, and they had so many questions about what the process looks like.  So, next we checked out some honey making videos to learn more about it...and of course just had to taste-test some of the sweet stuff too.

The more we learned about making honey the more we kept finding out about the different tools involved in the process.  One day when we were busy investigating the tools Ms. Bennett popped in and told us she actually has some bee tools at her house.  What wonderful luck :)  Of course she was more than willing to bring them in for us to check out...

and try on...

and look inside...

The more we observed her tools, the more questions we had.  So, we wrote them all down and delivered them in an envelope to Ms. Bennett for her (and her beekeeper husband) to hopefully answer.  

The kiddos were beyond excited when their questions came back with answers written on the back. Talk about writing and reading for a real purpose!

Many of our original yellow stickies on our wonder board had been traded in for blue answers by now.  But, as often happens during investigations, the more we learned the more we continued to wonder.  A new question pressing on our minds was about the queen bee and whether or not she is born with a dot or the beekeeper gives her a dot. Lucky for us Mr. Brennan is also a beekeeper, and he was happy to pop by to answer our question and tell us even more.  We had never even heard of a bee swarm until Mr. Brennan came by!

We also enjoyed a visit from an upper school student who had recently interned at a bee farm.  We loved hearing about her experiences, but we especially loved her shirt!

There's a Magic School Bus video all about about bees, so of course we wanted to check that out too.

One question that I noticed kept coming up as we learned about the beekeeping tools was about getting stung.  Needless to say, the possibility of a sting is a major bee turn-off for little ones.  So, we tackled the subject head on...and in the process learned a new writing genre called how-to-writing. After watching a video about what to do in case of a bee sting, we sequenced and retold the steps and then wrote our own books to take home and teach our parents. Now, if we ever get stung, we won't need to worry so much because we know exactly what to do.

The word pollination kept coming up in our books and videos, and I knew the kids would need to understand the process further before they could begin to appreciate why bees are so important. Turns out Cheetos are the perfect tool for a hands-on pollination activity.

Once we had a better understanding of what bees do that's so important, we could look closely at photos to figure out what foods they help us to grow.  We compiled the information onto our own anchor chart.

Since some students from Ms. Taylor's class had been busy finding ladybugs on the playground during recess and our class was knee-deep in our been investigation, it seemed like the perfect time to introduce the kiddos to the Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy book series.  After reading several of the stories we decided to add in some pretend play to our investigation by creating our own bug squad.  We turned rocks into bugs by painting them, drew some imaginative backdrops, and created a new play spot in our classroom.  

By now almost ALL our yellow stickies had been traded in for blue ones, so it was time to pause and reflect on everything we had learned so far.  Each kiddo chose a favorite fact about bees, and they acted out their fact through a game of charades.  They created costumes, props, and more, and they had such a blast guessing each other's facts.  Check out those adorable bee costumes!  

Spring is the perfect time to begin thinking about poetry, so we co-wrote a special poem about bees for Mr. Brennan's surprise/happy retirement poetry book.  I think he's especially going to love the pictures of him dressed up in a bee suit, tie and all :)

Now that we had built a collective understanding of why bees are so important, I knew the kids were ready to begin learning that bee colonies have been struggling and that several types of bees have even become endangered.  A powerful short film opened our minds to this important issue.

After watching the video we passed the ball around and took turns sharing what the video made us feel and/or think.  It didn't take long for one kiddo to share that the video make him want to ask his parents to plant more flowers for the bees.  Their ideas quickly spiraled from there.  Before our sharing session ended the kids had already decided to plant flowers at school, to plant some at home, to ask friends and neighbors to plant flowers at their homes, and to teach the other classes how important it is to plant flowers as well. One kiddo even wanted to teach his dad so his dad could teach all the people he works with!

First we tackled the task of planting flowers at STAB.  The kids have been taking turns each day watering the seeds and have been delighted to watch them begin to sprout and grow.

We also merged their desire to plant wildflowers at home with a spring family gift by decorating little pots for the bees.  

We sent the pots home with flowers already in them...but with a bag of soil and wildflower seeds on the side for when the inevitable happens and it's time to replant with the bees in mind,..

Next we were ready to teach the other classes.  We decided to make posters to hang up all over the lower school.  One kiddo even took his poster to his dad to hang up in the middle school and another gave hers to a mom to hang up in the upper school.  

The kindergarteners were so proud to realize they would be teaching the WHOLE school about this important issue! They even got to inform some older students as they traveled around hanging up their signs.

Several friends even worked during their free time to create signs to take home to their families...

Toward the end of the school year the kindergarteners traditionally collect coins in conjunction with our money unit in math to raise money for Heifer International.  I remembered from previous years that one of the things Heifer can provide families with is bees, so I couldn't wait to tell the kids all about it.  They were definitely as excited as I was to realize they could (hopefully!) collect enough coins to buy honeybees for a family...and that the honeybees would provide a family with honey to eat and sell, wax for making and selling candles, and would even help to pollinate the crops on their farm to help increase production.  Talk about the gift that keeps on giving!  

We wrote notes to remind ourselves to bring in money from our piggy banks or from doing extra chores around the house, and we excitedly watched our jar fill up.

After a few weeks of collecting coins it was time to sort and count.

Just check out the proud looks on these faces when we discovered we had raised enough money to buy bees not just for one family, but for TWO!!

At the end of every investigation I love to look back and reflect on what the kindergarteners (and I!) have learned through the process and on all the ways they've grown.  I had two big takeaways from our bee investigation.  One of my big takeaways has nothing to do with the content or facts. Rather, this investigation was such a wonderful reminder of how naturally kids gravitate toward caring about their world and truly wanting to make a difference.  The more we can do as educators to support and empower this natural tendency, the more likely we are to help change the world, one little wonder-er and learner and maker and do-er at a time!

My other takeaway happened as we neared the end of our bee investigation.  As the kiddos began to sense that our investigation was wrapping up they started bombarding me with questions and suggestions about what we would learn about next.  The more they questioned and suggested, the more of a sense I got that they are ready to branch out and investigate on their own.  So, time to head in a direction I've never gone before...individual investigations!