Hi Friends,

Our students becoming Bee’s

We had an amazing dose of vitamin D while enjoying the summer weather today, and all the heat and humidity didn’t slow our kids down one bit! This week we touched on the topic of bee’s, while still enjoying our regular routines. We started our day with a student led game “Bee-ing Human” similar to tag, but this got us working up such sweat that we had to cool down with blowing bubbles! And who doesn’t love bubbles! While sitting in on our check in’s, the question “If you had a superpower that could help change the world, what would it be?” This got our kids thinking all about bad guys, controlling the weather and the ability to help end world hunger with ‘Mother Nature’ capabilities.

While our Painted Turtles were working on their sit spots, some of them decided to get their hands dirty and make mud pies and cakes. They even took the time to decorate them with dandelion’s, but for some reason, no one seemed too interested in tasting it.

 Our morning discussions brought us to our first lesson about bee’s. We buzzed over to our journals and started writing and drawing all the information we knew, and our students know a lot! We even looked at the ‘Honey Bee’ anatomy. Last Spring, we were lucky enough to find an abandoned bee’s nest, and had the chance to dry it out and were able to feel the outside (which feels like really thin paper) and the honey comb inside. Getting up close to the nest really put things into perspective for our students. After our lesson it naturally led into our bee themed game! Called “Get to the Honey” this game included 2 Bee guards, 2 Bee forgers, 1 Queen Bee, and 2 Bears! The goal was for the bears to find the hive and get all that honey, but wait! You don’t want to get caught by the guards (their stingers really hurt). While the guards are protecting their home, the forgers are buzzing around trying to find nectar and pollen. Phew! Our students quickly discovered there is never any down time for a bee whether it’s, foraging, protecting, feeding the larva, or building upon the hive. The truly discovered the meaning behind the phrase “you’re a busy bee”.

With a high of 32 degrees our afternoon was fairly relaxed. Between frog hunting (6 in total and a bullfrog which got away!), making lip chap (which was super easy and only consisted of bee’s wax, coconut oil and peppermint oil) we enjoyed finishing off our day with a well deserved river dunk.

Thank you to Emily and Taven for your Show and Share, as well to all of our students who showed respect and love for one another! Our day was full of recognition! 4 littler less lunch beads, 1 bravery bead, 1 storytelling bead, 2 fire beads and 1 bingo bead! We are even getting super close to winning some prizes for our stickers! Keep being awesome Painted Turtles and Snowy Owls!

Next Week – Water!

Thanks for a great day everyone, until next week

Krista