2/27
Due to the Youth Garden coordinator being out of town it was on me this week to run the day! She was very helpful in setting me up with curriculum to teach and a set schedule. Honestly, I was pretty nervous because it was my first time handling the kids on my own but due to last minute changes we were able to have a retired Glenfair teacher come in for a show and tell on mason bees! We adjusted the schedule quickly and I was able to not only have him come in but also 2 other drop in teachers to look over the kids.
To start the day, I came into the office early to make sure I had all the supplies I needed and to prepare for the day ahead. I also prepped the citrus fruit for our tasting which included oranges, blood oranges, kumquats, white grapefruit and pomelo. Some of these fruits I actually have never tried before so that was exciting.
The schedule for the day:
- 3:00 – arrive and meet with Mr. Pierce, the mason bee guy
- 3:30 – Second lunch begins
- 3:45 – Circle time to review mason bees
- 4:00 – Recess
- 4:20 – Mason bee lesson in the classroom
- 5:00 – Citrus fruit tasting
Mr. Pierce was not only very friendly but extremely popular in the school because he had taught there before, so the kids were very excited and engaged to see him. To learn about mason bees, Mr. Pierce discussed the differences between mason bees and other bees, showed the kids a bee house (that they could keep, mason bees do not make hives), and taught the kids how they reproduce (cocooning, larvae, early life). He actually brought in mason bee tubes that we all got to keep open and remove the baby mason bee cocoons from. The kids laughed a lot because they were filled with little mason bee poops. After we got all the cocoons and looked at the differences between male and female, Mr. Pierce washed the cocoons to put into a tupperware and store in the fridge. Mason bees are interesting because they will actually birth themselves from their cocoons when it’s warm enough (springtime) so keeping them refrigerated until they can be released is important (the school was warm so the bees might think it’s already spring). The kids really wanted to open a cocoon to see a baby bee so when Mr. Pierce opened it the baby bee was alive! All the kids passed the baby bee around and were super intrigued by it.
After we cleaned up the mason bees and washed our hands, I served the kids the fruit which they loved. They surprisingly loved the pomelos and the kumquats the most. I personally thought the pomelos looked unappealing but when you ate them they were super sweet and yummy. All in all, it was a really fun day!