Day: September 9, 2019

B is for Bee

Dear Sis,

Our Daily Reading

Today’s fiction selection is, Bee: A Peek-Through Picture Book by Britta Teckentrup. This book is a wonderfully illustrated journey through the day in a life of a foraging worker bee. It even talks about how bees communicate with other colony members, using the waggle dance, to guide other bees to the location of plentiful flowers.  

Today’s non-fiction selection is, The Bee Book by Charlotte Milner. This book covers the life cycle, tasks and hive life, pollination and honey making, body structure, and threats to bee populations. It will need some paraphrasing, but it has plenty of information on the pages your child finds extra interesting:) William wanted to know everything on the body structure and pollination pages!

“B” is for Bee Letter Craft

Parent Preparation

  • Print B is for Bee Template, on white card stock. I found this free template on Miss Maren’s Monkeys blog.
  • Cut out the template letter B, trace it onto yellow construction paper, and cut out the yellow B. 
  • Cut out the template wing, trace it twice on black and white construction paper, and cut out. 
  • The stripes are not provided on the template. I cut 3 black – 1 inch strips that were 6.5 inches long. We tucked under additional length to match the contours of the letter. 
  • Supply a glue stick, blue sheet of craft paper, 1 large wiggly eye, and a black pipe cleaner, cut in half, for antenna. 

Student Assembly

  • Paste white wings over black wings, so just a bit of the black is slowing.
  • Paste black stripes to letter “B,” folding under edges as needed.
  • Paste wings to the back of the “B.”
  • Paste “B” to sheet of blue construction paper.
  • Peel up the top of the “B” and paste antenna in place.
  • Paste eye in place.
  • Write or ask your grown up to title, name, and date your work, for your homeschool portfolio. 

Bee Shape Craft

Activity Materials

Our Process/Student Assembly

  • Review all the shapes on the puzzle.
  • Spread out Bee Shapes and sort them. Remember the wiggly eyes are shapes too!
  • Use glue stick to assemble Bee Shape Craft, using shape and color names as you work.
    • Paste yellow body oval to white wing heart.
    • Paste black rectangular stripes to yellow body oval.
    • Paste black stinger triangle to the bottom of the yellow body oval.
    • Paste yellow head circle to top of the yellow body oval.
    • Paste black head contrast oval to yellow head circle.
    • Paste circular wiggly eyes to the black head contrast oval.

Bees in the Hive Counting Mat

Activity Materials

Our Process

  • First, we matched the number circles with the numerals on the puzzle. We introduced 10 today and placed it after nine.
  • We discussed that zero meant no bees were in the hive. We moved on to the remaining counting numerals, one at a time.
  • First, we counted on the puzzle to learn the numeral name.
  • Then, we placed the corresponding numeral circle on the hive and place 1 bee with each addition.
  • Next, we checked our work by counting the bees.
  • Finally, during clean up, we revised the concept of zero, when no more bees were on the hive.

The Life Cycle of a Bee

We printed the Honey Bee Life Cycle Printable, from Preschool Powol Packets, on card stock. We placed the chart in a page protector and cut out and laminated the two part cards for durability.

Our Process

  • With the chart in view, starting with egg, I asked William to find the picture card, in sequence, by using its proper name. We arranged them in a circle as we went. 
  • For the second phase, I shuffled the word cards, read them allowed, and asked William to place them on the correct picture cards. 

I was shocked with how well William retained Life Cycle information from our reading earlier that morning. We worked through this process in only a few minutes!

Love,

b