GEMS Buzzing a hive Unit

TEKS ADDRESSED:
§112.2. Science, Kindergarten.
    (b) Knowledge and skills.
        (7) Science concepts. The student knows that many types of change occur. The student is expected to:
            (D) observe and record stages in the life cycle of organisms in their natural environment.
        (9) Science concepts. The student knows that living organisms have basic needs. The student is expected to:
            (A) identify basic needs of living organisms;
            (B) give examples of how living organisms depend on each other; and
            (C) identify ways that the Earth can provide resources for life.

The Lesson:

1. Overview: This lesson is where students learn about the different early life stages of a bee.

II. Performance or learner outcomes: Students will be able to

Describe the differences between Queen, Baby, and Nurse Bees and their roles in the hive.
Draw the changes that baby bees undergo to become adult bees.

III. Resources, materials and supplies needed:

Per class:

Construction paper for Queen Bee
Construction paper for pollen, honey, eggs, larvae, and pupae
The Queen Bee and Her Eggs” poster
The Larvae” poster
The Pupae” poster
Demonstration bee
Paper hive with egg carton cells inside
White paste or glue
Newspaper
3 trays
34 3-oz paper cups
1 8-oz jar of honey
4 graham crackers
1 small bag
1 sponge
1 trash can

Per student:

1 pencil
1 pair of scissors
1 drinking straw cut in half to a length of about 4”

ENGANGEMENT	Day 1	Time: 20 min
What the Teacher Will Do	Probing Questions	Student Responses Potential Misconceptions
	How are babies different from adults?	They are smaller, need more care, they cry a lot
	Think about your family, do different people have different roles? What are they? How about members of your community?	Yes, my mommy cooks and cleans, and my daddy works on the outside of the house. Police Officers make the community safe, and the mail carriers give us our letters and packages.
Today we are going to learn about the roles that different bees have within the hive. We are also going to learn how bees grow and develop from babies to adults.

EXPLORATION/EXPLANATION	Day 1	Time: 30min
What the Teacher Will Do	Probing Questions	Student Responses Potential Misconceptions
Talk with the students about the wax cells that are within the hive	Why do bees hide in the wax cells inside the hive? What do humans use wax for?	Because they are protecting themselves from enemies. They use wax for candles.
Discussion of the Queen Bee and her job	Does anyone know the name of the bee that lays all the eggs?	Queen or nurse bee
Students are asked to identify the Queen Bee using a visual poster	What bee is this? (Queen Bee)	Queen or nurse bee
Discussion of how Queen Bee differs from other bees within the hive	Why do you think that she is so much larger than the other bees?	She needs to be to lay eggs. She eats more than the other bees.

EXPLORATION/EXPLANATION	Day 2	Time: 20 min
What the Teacher Will Do	Probing Questions	Student Responses Potential Misconceptions
Discuss what a larvae is	Remember when you were a baby. What did you eat?	Milk, babyfood
Class determines how bees make bee bread	What do you think bee bread is? Who eats the bee bread?
Tell the students that the nurse bees feed the baby bees the bee bread. The class will role-play using honey to pretend to feed one and other like a nurse bee would to a baby bee.	Do you think baby bees eat pollen?	No, the adult bees do. Or they could say yes as well.
Discussion as to what happens when larvae eat too much and thus become pupae.	Do you know other animals that do this?	Butterflies
The teacher will instruct the children to fill their cells with different items such as honey, larvae, pupae, pollen, eggs, and bee bread.

ELABORATION

Day 2

What the Teacher Will Do

Probing Questions

Student Responses

Potential Misconceptions

Compare the four stages in the development of a bee to a butterfly. The teacher will bring in some caterpillars so that the students can witness the metamorphosis into a butterfly.

Do you think that the bees and the butterflies will grow in the same way? (different stages)

Yes

EVALUATION

Day 2

Time: 25 min

What the Teacher Will Do

Probing Questions

Student Responses

Potential Misconceptions

Ask the students to show in their journals what they have learned in regards to the metamorphosis of bees.

What have you created? What have you learned by doing this activity?

The way bees grow into adults. There are different roles that the bees have too.