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Bees are so important to our ecosystem. Students understand that bees have stingers and may be dangerous to them, but they are so important to plant life on Earth! Understanding that plants have a dependence on animals for pollination is a part of 2nd grade science standards. There are many engaging, fictional stories about lives of bees and why they pollinate. As students are mostly aware of bees and may be curious about their job in nature, it is a great way to teach about pollination. Bees fit into the second grade KS science standard as a stepping stone to understanding pollination and how nature interacts.

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After this lesson, students will be able to describe: How do bees pollinate flowers? How do bees contribute to the ecosystem/why do we need bees?

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(Start at 4:32 and end at 11:54)

Author: Katherine Pryor, Illustrator: Ellie Peterson, Published in 2019

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1. Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

2. Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting or plot.

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Affordances and Limitations of using this book

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Affordances and Limitations of using this book

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Affordances: This story supports students ability to identify the events/challenges and success/perseverance of a character in a story, while also providing information on the scientific process of pollination. There is lots of vocabulary in this story associated with the main idea of this lesson that students can relate to the context of the story.

Limitations: The main characters name being "Bea" in a story about bees can make the story auditorily confusing for some students, as well as possibly cause confusion about spelling. It also focuses on the science of flowers, which are entirely intertwined with bees, but isn't as much focused on the main idea.

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What If There Were No Bees? By Suzanne Slade

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What If There Were No Bees? By Suzanne Slade

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Author: Suzanne Slade, Illustrator: Carol Schwartz, Published July 1st, 2010

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1. Explain how specific images (e.g., a diagram showing how a machine works) contribute to and clarify a text.

2. Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer, explain or describe.

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Affordances and Limitations of using this book

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Affordances and Limitations of using this book

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Affordances: The book factually describes the process of pollination for bees and flowers really well in grade appropriate language, as well as visually. The book also includes a food chain diagram for the objective. It defines the vocabulary necessary for understanding of the topic and lays out the need for bees/what would happen without them and relates them to the students life, making the main idea relevant to student's life. It also asks open ended questions and includes extra fun facts to engage students.

Limitations: This specific video is quality, but the audio is not very enthusiastic or engaging. (The book, separate from the read-a-loud would not be effected by this.) In addition, while the book has a lot of good information about pollination and bees, it temporarily goes a bit off track during the food web and talks about other animals for a short time as well, which may be distracting from the main idea.

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By The Eden Project, July 19th, 2022

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Brand new: Nature's Playground. Our spectacular new outdoor adventure play area is now open. Find out more

About Eden

The Eden Project is an educational charity. Our mission is to create a movement that builds relationships between people and the natural world to demonstrate the power of working together for the benefit of all living things. Registered charity number 1093070 (The Eden Trust).

© Eden Project 2023

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What is pollination? - a resource for kids

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Pollination is a very important part of the life cycle of plants. Insects, birds, bats and the wind take pollen between flowering plants, which means the plants can make seeds and reproduce (have babies!). Check out our video and pictures to find out how.

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1. Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently.

2. Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

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Affordances and Limitations of using this website 

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Affordances and Limitations of using this website 

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Affordances: This website is a great way for students to interact with the perspective of bees and to understand the process of pollination, plus why flowers need it. The website has large and age appropriate text, as well as being formatted in a visually pleasing way and includes a variety of text for the objective. Students would be able to use this as a research source to answer a scientific question. There is information in a paragraph format, in pictures/diagrams, as well as an informational video for the students.

Challenges: There is not a ton of information specific to bees. While it discusses their role in pollination, it focuses on bee's effect on flowers and how they grow. That is helpful scientific information as well, however not the focus of the lesson. Additionally, the "quotes" from the bees are a bit silly and may be challenging for students to determine what is fiction and what is non-fictional in this context.