Pollinators
Originally Published May 25th
What a beautiful week we had enjoying the forest and this gorgeous weather and talking about pollinators. On Monday we read Flower Talk, about how different colored flowers are calling to different types of pollinators. We took turns wrapping ourselves in colored silks and being flowers, while the rest of the class were the specific pollinators that those colors call to. On Tuesday everyone stayed for aftercare, so we brought our lunches and went to the forest all day. We read a beautiful book about a bee's life, and we examined some dead bees up close with magnifying glasses.
The story really brought us into a bee's life, and it was so touching how gentle and reverent the children were with the little bee bodies. It was also nice that day to have lots of time for building and balancing and exploring in the forest.
On Wednesday we had another beautiful forest day, and we pretty much scrapped all plans and just played in the forest.The world has turned green and lush again, and the light is cool and the air is filled with birdsongs. There was some pretty creative fun going on!
On Thursday we stayed here at school, visited the bees and made biscuits and ate them with lots of honey! They were delicious. When visiting the bees we take deep breaths and try to be calm and talk quietly. The children sat a little ways away from the hive with Zena while I opened the hive and took out some of the newly built comb to show them. The bees just arrived a couple of weekends ago, and it is amazing to see what they have accomplished in such a short time using only nectar, sugar water and their own bodies.
While our biscuits were cooking we read about animal pollinators and played a pollinator game where we pretended to be pollinators and landed on different "flowers" with glittery "pollen" on them. At the end of the game we could examine our hands and see the different colored pollen from the different flowers. Then we made pictures with the “pollen.”
Young children are perfectly capable of understanding ecological relationships like pollination and the roles of pollinators, and in this game we got to act the process out and solidify these concepts. Everything is connected and interdependent, and when you learn this at a young age it just all seems so natural.
We will have a short week next week, with no school on Monday for Memorial Day. Next week we will begin talking about bugs! It looks like it's going to be a hot one on Wednesday, so we are planning on heading to the river to look for some water bugs and cool off in the wading pool under the bridge on the way to Riley Rink. We need everyone to send a bathing suit, towel and extra shoes to wear in the river next Wednesday.
Have a great weekend and enjoy these summery late spring days. May you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be peaceful, may you be filled with joy.