Term 2 saw the end of our Year 3/4 Honeybee Elective.  In this elective our students gained real life experiences helping to care for our school's beehive.  The aims of the elective were to understand the scientific features of honey bees, why they are important in our natural world and how we can care for them.  Students learnt that honey bees are one of the many insects in our environment, the special features of a honey bee, its proboscis, honey stomach, antennae, head, thorax and abdomen, pollen baskets and antennae. 

Searching for insects in our school environment

Sketching and labeling critters found and
identifying the insect group

Recording our weekly learning in a diary.

 Learning what to do when a honey bee lands on us, so they don't get scared and sting us.  We keep calm, stand still and ask someone to carefully flick the honey bee off.

We have our honeybees so that they pollinate our flowers to make new seeds that will grow into plants.  Did you know that more than 60% of the food that we eat relies on the honey bee to pollinate it?  Even chocolate!

Caring for the beehive is very important.  We harvested honey when the bees had covered the frame with wax and we 'wintered 'our bees down safely the cold season.  We have a bee garden for winter which is an important food supply during the cold winter months when there are not many flowers to sip nectar from.


The most important reason for our honeybees is to pollinate our flowers.  Honey is a bonus and we enjoyed using it in our cooking and ice block making.