[chrissv]

My wife volunteers at my 2nd grader's school, mostly in the library, and talks to my son''s teacher quite often. The teacher mentioned last week that they had just gotten done learning about bees, and "Jacob seems to be very knowledgeable about bees." Then my wife told her it was because his dad is a beekeeper. Tracy then proceeded to "volunteer" me to give a presentation on bees that Friday (the 30th of April) since she knew I was taking a vacation day.

So, I spent the week gathering my thoughts and some pictures of bees to present to a class of 2nd graders. I heard that my bee club (Worcester County Beekeepers Association) has a traveling mini-hive that shows people the different parts (since a full-size hive is difficult to carry around), so I arranged to borrow that. I wondered how I could bring in some live bees, but I don't have an observation hive and didn't want to just bring in a jar of bees, for fear someone would let them loose (it would probably be my son to do that...)

So, I gave my presentation to the 2nd grade class. I showed a bunch of pictures of bees, hives, how they live, the different types of bees (workers, drones, and queen), and even showed a piece of the PBS Nature show on honey bees. It took about 1/2 hour, and based on the hands going up and questions asked, it was a success. There were about 25 children, and the principal herself stopped in for part of my presentation.

I put some pictures of the presentation on my blog:

http://stevensbees.blogspot.com/2010/05/bee-presentation.html

All in all, it was a fun activity!

 

[cjmcharlotte]

Now that you've done it once, just wait until the other classes hear about it!! You'll be booked for all of the 2nd grade classes next year and ongoing.

Isn't it fun too?? I think every beek should adopt a school and do a once-a-year run through whatever grade s/he prefers. Once you have your presentation set, it's really easy to repeat it.

And you should ask your local club if they have an obs hive. My dad made me one after I borrowed my club's for a couple of years for my presentations. I've done Kindergarten through second grade mostly but this year did a day for the high school biology classes. With them, I could talk about more complex and crazy things like reproduction and pheromones.

 

[The Soap Pixie]

Gary Reuter came to my daughters school once to teach them about bees and I believe it was around the same age group (2nd, 3rd grade). My daughter never forgot it and had a great time.

I'm sure these kids really loved the presentation and learned a lot. I bet they all think your son has a really cool dad

Love the pictures, thanks for sharing.

 

[beekeeper1756]

Thank you so much for your presentation to the 2nd grade class. Those kids will remember that presentation for a very long time, if not the rest of their lives.

Better yet, you gave them a solid education on the value and importance of bees in a hands-on manner.

On behalf of all educators,

THANK YOU.

 

[mherndon]

They still call me the bee man when I'm at school with my kids. Had a blast.

Mark