The Busy World of Bees 4-H School Enrichment Curriculum is crafted to engage youth in celebrating bees and their pollinator allies and build an understanding of the benefits that bees and other pollinators provide to humans. In a series of lessons, 1st graders will discover that the bee is one of nature’s wonders. Youth will learn that native bees and the European honey bee, help produce delicious and healthy food that humans have been eating for millennia. From the crunch of a fresh apple to the dribble of watermelon juice, nearly one out of every three bites we eat are dependent on bee pollination.

Youth will consider the needs of bees including air, water, light, shelter (nest or hive), and food sources (nectar and pollen) as they explore specific examples of how the environment provides a habitat for honey bees and native pollinators. They will also evaluate the essential structures of bee anatomy and determine how these functions support growth and life cycle development. (From the NC 4-H Curriculum Titles Website)

All five first grade classes at Murphy Elementary School completed the NC 4-H Curriculum, "The Busy World of Bees" this spring.  Students had fun learning about honey bees and other pollinators through the 4-H school enrichment programs.  Teachers carved out an hour of their daily schedule on Thursdays to be able to participate in this great curriculum.  Students learned about how important pollinators are to our food production.  They were able to see an active honey bee colony thanks to local beekeepers Mitch and Darlene Myers, of D & M Russian Apiaries. Students learned about the equipment beekeepers use when working with honey bees.  They also learned about bee communication through dancing the waggle and round dance.

If you would like to know how to get 4-H School Enrichment into your classroom or into your home school family please contact, Shannon Coleman, shannon_coleman@ncsu.edu or call 828-837-2210 ext. 4.

Some information in this article is from our NC 4-H Curriculum website and was not written by Shannon Coleman. Check out our NC 4-H Curriculum website.