BUSY BEES READING (Kindergarten First Grade)

BUSY BEES READING (Kindergarten First Grade) INTRODUCTION: This reading lesson will introduce the students to honey bees, their life cycle, where they live, and their duties within the colony. Vocabulary and some questions will be introduced and asked in both English and Spanish. This will be accomplished through a variety of activities, including a book walk, reading aloud, graphic organizers, and a life cycle activity. There will also be independent study using a video clip, computers, the internet, and books on tape. In addition to this reading lesson there is a writing lesson in the thematic unit on insects. BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVES: Students will verbally respond to teacher generated questions regarding honey bees. Students will also effectively demonstrate their understanding of honey bees, their life cycle, their name, and their duties; through completing a graphic organizer, constructing a wheel depicting the bee s life cycle. Later during independent practice students will demonstrate their understanding by completing a graphic organizer, drawing pictures, creating four sentences on the word processor, or verbally recording 5 complete sentences on a tape recorder. The objective will be met when the teacher can assess their mastery of the Arizona functional reading standard, retell stories in sequence, using gestures, words or pictures, PO 1 identify main character(s), PO 2 recall events from a story and, PO 3 answer questions related to sequence of events. ARIZONA STATE STANDARDS: R-FS4 Retell stories/directions in sequence using gestures, words or pictures. o PO 1Identify main character(s) o PO 2 Recall events from a story o PO 3 Answer questions related to sequence of events (e.g. what happened after? What do you do next? 1

ANTICIPATORY SET: 1. By using a bee hand puppet teacher will call the children to gather into a semi-circle near white board or easel with paper for writing children s ideas. 2. Capture children s interest by using hand puppet and showing them the cover of the big book and reading the title aloud Busy As A Bee. 3. Talk about the picture on the cover, ask question such as, can anyone tell me what this is? What is it doing? Mention that the bee on the cover is a honey bee. Ask does anyone know why we call them honey bees? Now invite children to contribute what they know about honey bees or bees in general. As children volunteer information write their answers on the white board or easel. TEACHER INPUT Teacher will arouse the students interest in the lesson by using a bee puppet. With the bee puppet the teacher will ask the students to gather around the white board or easel with paper in a semi circle. Teacher will hold up the big book Busy As A Bee, and begin the whole group discussion on what the children know about bees. Teacher will accept all answers, and write them on the white board or the easel. Teacher will cue those students who are having difficulty coming up with an answer on their own, such as what color are bees, do they fly or crawl? Other questions could be, do you know what they live in, can you play with bees? Teacher will stress that the students need to pay close attention to the book so they can answer the questions at the end of the story. SCRIPT Tell the children that they are now going to take a book walk. Page 1. Remind children that honeybees are insects. Review that insects have six legs, two antennae, and a pair of wings, along with 3 parts to their bodies. Ask them to find the different parts of the bees bodies. Invite children to name other insects. Tell children that there are many different kinds of bees. The two we are familiar with are the honeybees and the bumble bees. Does anyone know what a bumble bee looks like? Bumble bees are larger than the honey bee and have yellow and black stripes. 2

Page 2. There are three types of honeybees. First there is the queen bee who lays the eggs. Queen bees are longer and more slender then the other bees in the hive. Explain to the children how the other bees protect the queen, have the children notice how other bees have formed a circle around the queen in this picture. Share the fact that a queen bee can lay up to 1,500 eggs per day. Page 3. Male bees are called drones. Have a volunteer come up and point out the drone. Tell the children that the drones are larger than the other bees, except the queen. Explain that the smaller bees are female bees also called worker bees, and that they do many jobs. Have another volunteer come up and point out a worker bee. Have the children compare how the two bees are alike or different. Page 4. All honey bees live in large groups called colonies. Each colony lives in its own hive in a tree or a log. Explain that successful hives can have up to 80,000 bees. Also that colonies survive because all the bees work together. Ask where else we work together; answers could be the classroom, home etc. Page 5. The worker bees in each colony use the wax in their bodies to build a honeycomb. Have a volunteer come up and point out the cells of a honeycomb. Page 6. Point out how bees work together to build their honeycombs. Page 7. Explain that after the honeycomb is built the queen bee lays eggs in each cell. Page 8. Tell the children that the eggs hatch into worm like larvae. One of the worker bee s jobs is to feed the larvae until it grows into pupae. Page 9. When a bee is full grown it pushes itself out of the cell and becomes part of the colony. Page 10. Another job of the worker bee is to collect pollen from the middle of flowers. Page 11. Point out that the worker bees brush pollen from their bodies into the pollen baskets on their back legs. Page 12. Worker bees also sip nectar from flowers. Page 13. Explain that worker bees spread the nectar in the honeycomb to make honey. Page 14-15. Worker bees protect the honey and other bees from outsiders; do the children know who the outsiders might be? The robbers may be wasps, ants, bears, people, and even robber bees from other colonies. Page 16. Do you think this bee deserves a rest? Why? 3

Now teacher will read the book aloud to the students. CHECK FOR COMPREHENSION Now let s go back and review what we knew about bees and what we can add to our list. We can add (these are only example of what the answers may be): o There are three types of honey bees: Queen Bee that lays the eggs, Male bees called drones, and the female bees called worker bees, which gather the pollen and collect nectar from flowers. o They live in hives or colonies o The four stages of the bee s life are: (1) egg, (2) larvae, (3) pupae, and (4) bee. o Bees collect nectar and pollen to feed to the babies o Eggs grow in the cells of the honeycombs. Children will be asked to move to their small work group tables. MODELING THE BEHAVIOR While children are moving back to their work table, teacher will set up overhead projector with example of graphic organizer. 4

Teacher will guide children on how to fill in the graphic organizer by prompting with questions. What was the main idea in this book? Can you tell me five things that this book told us? o Examples could include, life cycle of the bee o Queen bees lay eggs. o Male bees are called drones. o Female bees are worker bees etc. Now I am going to give you a copy of the graphic organizer and I would like for you to fill it in with the main idea and the five things you remember from the book. If you run into problems I have left our ideas on the board to help you. Also remember to ask for help if you run into problems. When you are done with your organizer, bring it to me so I can see how well you have done. Now that you are done with the organizer I am going to give you a bee life cycle to work on. Children will remain at their work tables. 5

1. You will need scissors to cut out the circles (hold up the life cycle circles). 2. Now you will need a pencil, and the circle with the pictures on it. (Hold up the teacher s copy and point out the egg picture). 3. What stage of the bee s life cycle is this? Good now write egg on the line under the egg, (point out the larvae). 4. What stage are we in now? The answer should be larvae, have the students write the correct answer on the line under the larvae (now point to the pupae). 5. This is what stage? You are right, it is an adult bee. Now write bee on the correct line. 6. You have now completed the bees life cycle. If you put the circle with the honeycombs on top of the pictures I will come around and put a paper fastener on them to hold them together. While explaining how to put the circles together put the teacher s copy together. And then show the children how the life cycle turns and allow them to play with their bee life cycle. Encourage them to share their bee life cycle with their family when they get home. INDEPENDENT PRACTICE: Students will independently work on filling in the story organizer. They will have access to ideas, and spelling of words they may need to complete the organizer from the information on the white board or the easel. Children will also have the opportunity for independent practice as they manipulate the bee s life cycle in the correct life cycle sequence. While waiting for everyone to complete their work students will have the choice to watch a video on the queen bee and either complete a graphic organizer, draw a picture, create four sentences on the word processor, or verbally record at least five sentences on a tape recorder. Or they may choose to use the internet to look at different sites about bees and their life. These can be bookmarked under favorites for easy 6

reference. As students look through the sites they will then either complete a graphic organizer, draw a picture, create four sentences on the word processor, or verbally record at least five sentences on a tape recorder. Also available will be books with tapes so the children can look at and read the books with the tape. After listening and/or reading a book the student will complete a graphic organizer, draw a picture, create four sentences on the word processor, or verbally record at least five sentences on a tape recorder. Allow ample time for the students to complete at least one independent practice activity with two activities being the goal. ASSESSMENT: 1. The student will be continually assessed as they move through this lesson, through teacher questions. 2. Assessment will also be made when the children verbally answer the teacher s questions when material is reviewed after the book has been read aloud. 3. Another assessment will be the independent completion of the graphic organizer after the book has been read aloud. 4. Students can also be assessed by using the bee s life cycle, and asking them to demonstrate the correct sequence of the bee s life as they manipulate the circles of the bees life cycle. 5. Completed independent practice activities can also be used as assessments. CLOSURE: Teacher will again use the bee puppet to bring the children together in a semi circle. All children should have a chance to answer and give their thought about the lesson. Today you have learned many things about bees; can anyone give me the name of two bees? How did you like learning about bees? Are bees insects? Tell me why they are insects. What was your favorite thing that you learned about bees? What activity did you like the most? 7

Tomorrow we will be learning about another insect, these insects are usually red and they like to go on picnics. Can anyone guess what insect that might be? MATERIALS:! Big Book BUSY AS A BEE, by Melvin Berger, New Bridge Educational Publishing, 1994.! Bee hand puppet! Vocabulary list English Spanish! Graphic Organizer! Pencils! Scissors! Bee Life Cycle! Video clip, " WHAT MAKES A QUEEN BEE A QUEEN? From the video, CHILDREN S VIDEO ENCYCLOPEDIA, Volume V, INSECTS.! Books: " BOUNCING BUGS: by David Hancock and Lee Montgomery, Random House, 1994. " KING SOLOMON AND THE BEE: by Dalia Hardof Renberg, HarperCollins, 1994. MODIFICATIONS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: This lesson is set in a non-threatening, non competitive environment with all students encouraged to volunteer answers and cued for ideas to minimize frustration for ED, LD, and MR students. The big book was chosen for this lesson to address the needs of the child with limited vision, and for the child with an orthopedic impairment who may not have the ability to sit in front. This book has large colorful pictures and many pages have good color contrast for easier visibility. This book also uses 8

simple language and sight words to reinforce the learning of sight words for children with LD in reading and MR who may be an emergent reader. This lesson is designed for frequent breaks for the children who have attention deficit, or because of sensory issues need to reposition themselves or move around. The bee puppet can be used with the student that must have something to manipulate in order to maintain concentration. This lesson allows for participation by the ADHD students as volunteers to come up point out important ideas during the book walk. The MR and LD students with handwriting issues are addressed by the minimization of handwriting by using a graphic organizer that requires minimal writing. Also for the OI student or the MR student with fine motor control issues they will have organizers and the bees life cycle with answer lines that have been embossed with white glue so they will feel where the pencil needs to begin and end. Further to keep frustration down and minimize fatigue for the OI, EH, and MR student the circles of the bees life cycle can be pre-cut. Prompts and student generated ideas are left visible on the white board or easel to help students with retention/memory deficits; this may help minimize aggravation with spelling. The independent practice meets the needs of the EH student who may prefer to work alone or need a break from the group. All students will also be permitted to use the word processor to create sentences and/or verbally record their sentences on a tape recorder; this will address the needs of students with handwriting issues. TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION: Children will have access to word processors to type their replies to independent practice activities. They will also be able to access the internet to view sites pertaining to bees. Children will also use a tape player to listen to books on bees, and also a tape recorder to verbally record what they have learned from their independent practice. ENGLISH SPANISH VOCABULARY bee Abuja drone Queen Bee worker bee obrera beehive honey zagano reina colmena mile 9

flowers eggs colony pollen nectar honeycomb insect head thorax abdomen flores huevos colonia polen nectar panal insecto cabeza torax abdomen 10

The graphic organizer can easily be created by using an open hand. Children often like to use their own hands to create the organizer. 11

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