This week we held our 2nd Annual Bee Week! The week consisted of cross-curricular bee-focused activities. In science, students studied the anatomy of bees, the chemistry of honey, and the physics of bee flight. In English, students read articles from American Bee Journal and Bee Culture, learning about pollinators and the challenges of contemporary bee keeping. Students also operated the smoker, inserted a "bee escape" to our hives, and extracted honey. In Math, students focused on hexagons, and various problem solving activities using hive shapes. Finally, in art class, students designed and created a bee-themed cake. Alternating yellow cake and chocolate cake layers, topped with flowers and marzipan bees, the cake was a delicious piece of art! Students also made honey ice cream and some beeswax crafts.
All activities were inspired by our resident bee-keeper and History teacher, Gus Buchanan. He shared his knowledge of the Langstroth hive, which was created by Lorenzo Langstroth who discovered Bee Space, which allowed for the optimum number and spacing of frames and supers to be set for hives. Students learned about the various types of honey bees (Italian, Russian, and African) and some of their qualities.
This place-based, hands-on learning week was a great way to start classes!