1. Life Cycle and Honeybees
2nd Grade Amazing Earth
November
Presentation should take about 15 minutes to allow ample time for the activities.
Keep an eye on the clock as the kids love the hands-on activities.
Ask students to sit on the carpet so the activity can be set up at their desks.
You may have to limit questions or the number of students who can answer a question if time runs short.
Ask helpers to:
set up during the presentation
decide what station/role they are covering
rotate stations about every 5-7 minutes as time allows
Thank you for making Amazing Earth possible!
Updated 10/30/19

2. What is a life cycle?
Baby
Adult
Child
A series of changes or stages that happen to all living things.
What is the first stage of life for humans?
ASK: What is a life cycle?
ADVANCE for the answer after student responses.
ASK: What is the first stage for humans in our life cycle? Ask them to list the next stages of the life cycle.
ADVANCE as they say each stage.
Teenager

3. Frog life cycle Life cycles are different depending on the species.
Amphibians like frogs, toads, salamanders and newts are cold blooded.
They live the first part of their lives in the water and the last part on the land. 

4. Bird life cycle All birds begin their life cycle as an egg.
The baby chick hatches.
A bird becomes an adult in a few weeks or months depending on the type of bird.

5. Deer life cycle Deer births are like human and other mammal births.
The fawn develops inside the mother’s womb, not in an egg.
The fawn stays with its mother for one year, until it becomes a yearling and grows its first antlers.
After 6 years the deer is an adult.

6. Bee life cycle Insects have either 3 or 4 lifecycles.
Bees have all 4. They change from an egg, to larva, to pupa, and then to an adult.
Bee eggs are protected inside the beehive.
Optional
The three-stage life cycle of an insect is: born as an egg, hatches as a nymph (NIMF), and changes into an adult. Dragonflies, grasshoppers and cockroaches have 3 cycles.

7. Why are bees important?
Bees are responsible for pollinating about 95 different types of crops (apples, blueberries, cucumbers, oranges, almonds, etc.).
About 80% of insect crop pollination is from bees.
Bees are a keystone species. What do you think that means?
Keystone species: A species so important that an ecosystem would not survive without it.
Without bees to pollinate flowers, all kinds of plants would not be able to reproduce.
Our crops and food supply would be affected. Important message … We need bees!!!

8. Honeybee colonies Honeybees live in colonies.
Three types of bees with different jobs:
Workers
Look for food
Build and protect the hive
Clean and move air by beating their wings
All female and the only bees who fly outside the hive
Drones
All male
Mate with the queen
Queen
Runs the hive
Lays eggs

9. How bees’ eyes work Bees (and insects) have compound eyes
Human Bee
Bees (and insects) have compound eyes
Hundreds of single eyes beside each other.
Each single eye can look in a different direction. Amazing!
Bees see colors in green, blue, and ultraviolet light.
Click for interactive images
Scroll down to images.
See presentation note if the image does not project.
CLICK this link to show what an image looks like through a human eye and through a bee eye.
SCROLL DOWN to find 6 images.
Move the mouse around the full image on the left to see what the image looks like for a bee on the right.
If the website does not automatically project, select Function and F8 together and then select Duplicate. Teachers can assist if needed or simply move on.

10. How bees make honey Click for Video This is a 3 min video.
If the video does not automatically project, select Function and F8 together and then select Duplicate. Teachers can assist if needed or simply move on.

11. Honeybee activities Today we are Scientists studying bees!
We will break into 4 groups and rotate through 4 stations:
1) Microscope Station
2) “Be a Bee”
3) Honey & Bee Life Cycle
4) “Buzz about Bees” Word Search
Updated 1/18/19