I did a Super 3 bee lesson with my Kindergarteners right before book fair last week, and it actually worked out playing into the pumpkin lesson I am doing now. (More on that one later!)I wanted to introduce the Super 3 Research Process to them, and used bees as an example of an animal that gets ready for winter during the fall. (They make extra honey to store.) I like to use the Super 3 as a backbone for lots of lessons throughout the year so the kids get used to hearing it, how to follow the process, and can kind of know what to expect from a lot of lessons, though the topics and end products change.
We brainstormed questions we had about bees, where to find the information, and how we could show information. Then, we read a non fiction book about bees and made observations from some bee photographs. The kids drew a picture of a bee using the things we observed and tried to write something they had learned about bees if they could. They turned out well and some added some good details to the pictures like the honeycomb cells or bees on flowers getting nectar. Here are some of their pictures.
 |
| She wrote 'Queen bees lay eggs.' |
 |
| Bees have 6 legs and 2 wings. |
 |
| A bee getting nectar. |
 |
| A bee in the hive |
 |
Love this idea! I think I'm going to have to try it! Thanks for sharing! My one question is, did you do any type of graphic organizer with the kids after you read the book and looked at the pictures?
ReplyDeleteI didn't for this group - we just brainstormed again because they are really still not writers yet and it intimidates them so mostly they just did the pictures. Some tried a sentence. I thank that would work great for higher than K or for a little later in the year this year. Or, you could do a picture graphic organizer.
DeleteHolly,
ReplyDeleteWhat bee book did you read? I'm working with an MU class this year and I think this lesson would work well with them (I think I'm going to do an animal unit at the end of the year and this would fit right in).
Hope things are going well -- miss you!
Paige Ysteboe
Hey Paige! I used one called Bees and Their Hives. It is a shorter Capstone or Pebble book I think that had good pictures too. There are some good short videos on bees on WatchKnowLearn.org too that you could use. I used one that just showed for about 1 minute how bees land on flowers, get nectar, etc. so they could see that. Good to hear from you!
Delete