Summer SAVY 2016 (Session 2, Day 4) – Entomology: The Science of Bugs

Posted by hallep on Thursday, June 23, 2016 in Grade K, SAVY.

Dear Parents:

Tomorrow is our parent Open House. It is from 9:00am-9:30am. This is your opportunity to visit the classroom and have your student share their work and activities with you! Siblings and relatives are welcome. After the Open House, we will commence with the remainder of our time of learning together for our last day of Entomology. You are welcome to take any of your child’s work home at 9:30 if you’d like to do that. Most parents like to do that so that they can preserve their student’s work. There will be several pieces of art work from the gallery, so you might want to consider doing this. I look forward to meeting you in the classroom tomorrow.

Today we focused on pollinators. We began our study by looking more closely at lifecycles of butterflies and bees. Next we broke out into two groups to analyze why pollinators are important, how pollinators and plants are interdependent, and how humans interact in the process as well. Miss Natalie ran one group and I ran the other.

All of the students were amazed at how hard bees work in the hive, and how clear cut their jobs are (they really got a kick out of learning that worker bees do a dance to direct drone bees to the nectar in the hive and to show the bees where flowers are). Then we launched into a discussion about how pollinators, plants and humans interact with each other, and why pollinators are so important. Students then got to show their understanding of this critical thinking activity by drawing, labeling and explaining their thoughts in their own section of the group chart paper. I guided students to detail connections so anyone looking at the chart could interpret the information they were presenting. They all did a wonderful job.

We ended the day with students painting or drawing their own version of a garden or habitat that would attract pollinators. Friday, after the open house, we will evaluate what it means for insects to be in danger, the plight of migrating butterflies, and what we can do to help preserve helpful insects. See you all tomorrow!

Bugging out for now,

Karen Fletcher

Entomology Instructor