Tag Archives: Bees
Learning About Pollinators on pollinators.ie
Pollinator_Render_250118_H264 from Wicklow County Council on Vimeo.
Click on THIS link to go to pollinators.ie
The Biodiversity in Schools website
This website was recommended to us:
We like all the ideas for projects on it.
You can find them HERE
For example: Build a Bird Feeder,
Carry out a Bird Survey
Build a Bug House
Create A Wildflower Patch.
There are lots of great ideas there.
Minding the Pollinators
A Great Resource for Learning About Bees
We learned about the important part bees play in our environment.
Click here to see all we learned about bees and biodiversity
Then click on Bumblebee Conservation.org to learn even more.
A Resource: The Importance of Bees
Photo Credit: Danny Perez Photography via Compfight
Click on this link to see a wonderful resource
that explains the importance of bees on BBC iWonder.
Green Schools: Biodiversity: Update on the travels of our Biodiversity Bee
Our Biodiversity Mascot went to visit 2nd Class, St. Peter’s Bray. She is now on her way home to us.
Do read their post about her visit HERE. If you want to find out more about Brigid just type her name
into the search box at the top right hand corner.
of our page.
Green Schools: Biodiversity: Now it is Brigid’s turn to tell Polly all about Bees; the important job they do and how they are endangered.
Polly the Polar Bear, has come to visit St. Brigid’s Greystones,
all the way from St. Peter’s in Bray.
She has come to visit Brigid the Biodiversity Bee
and has told her all about Polar Bears
and why they are endangered.
Now it is Brigid’s turn,
to tell Polly all about bees.
‘Well first, said Brigid,
‘it is important to know about the important job bees do:
Read all about the important job bees do HERE
You can read more about
that important job of pollinating flowers HERE.
Why are bees endangered?
Well you can find out the answer to this question
if you click on THIS LINK.‘
‘We’ve done a lot of good work,’ said Polly.
I think it is time,
I thought about getting back to Bray…’
Watch out 2nd Class, St.Peter’s,
Polly the Polar Bear is
on her way back to you 🙂
A Joint Project between St. Peter’s NS., Bray and St.Brigid’s NS., Greystones – Polly the Polar Bear and Brigid the Bee, tell us why their species are endangered.
Green Schools: Biodiversity: Senior Infants learned about Bees and Pollination.
Too-Wit 2 Who – Owl Pictures from 1st Class, Room 8
2nd Class, Room 19 already studied owls. Now it was the turn of 1st Class, Room 8. Here are are owls.We drew them in chalk. We hope you like them:
Come and visit the Pollination Station
On the top lobby on the back stairs there is a display about bees and pollination. We call it the Pollination Station.
Included in the display is a pot of tulips. You can see the yellow pollen on the stamen.
The stigma is also very easy to see on the tulip flowers.
If you would like to read what we have found out about bees click on this link
or put the words ‘bees’ or ‘pollination’ into the search box on the top right corner of this page.
A Mystery: Why are there less bees in the world?
A ‘Bee’ Mystery
Photo Credit: Max Westby via Compfight
In some parts of the world, for example
the USA,
the UK
and Ireland
honeybees are flying away from their hives and dying.
Empty hives are causing a lot of worry about some important food crops. Scientists are trying to figure out why bees are dying.
What makes this mystery really hard to solve is that bees are hard to study.
1. Most bees die away from the hive, so the scientists don’t have any dead bees to examine.
2. Bees have a natural life cycle and because if this when scientist return to a hive after even two weeks, about half the bees they studied on their first visit will be dead and they will be replaced by new ones.
3. Being a scientist detective is even trickier because, bees travel up to 3 kilometres away from their hive to find nectar from flowers. So that when bees become ill or poisoned, it is hard to know where the damage was done.
Scientists do have some ideas about what could be causing the bees to die.
1. They could be poisoned by insect sprays that people use to kill insects that are pests. Another name for these insect sprays are pesticides and insecticides.
2. We learned about overgrazing when we heard about what could happen if the Snow Leopard, for example disappeared from the food chain. See this link to find out. Overgrazing would mean the fields and meadows when the bees get their food would be destroyed.
3. Bees may not be getting enough food to be strong and healthy. This is also because the habitats where their food grows; meadows and fields and being taken over by building.
Photo Credit: Rick Harrison via Compfight
For example: Where we live around Greystones used be full of meadows, fields and forests. Now they are full of houses.
The hints that this happened are in the names of some of the estates.
1. So Heathervue was once a hillside covered in heather, whether the bees could collect nectar.
2. Perhaps there were cherry trees in Delgany before the houses in Cherry Glade and Cherry Drive were built.
There are other reasons too, that scientists think that the number of bees is falling.
1. They think that tiny insects called mites feed on bees.
2. Others think that it is a virus or bacteria that is damaging the bee population.
Most of all it is important to protect the bee population because they pollinates so many plants that become food for the human race.
Photo Credit: Danny Perez Photography via Compfight
Research by the students in fourth class.
A List of Fruit & Vegetables pollinated by bees.
We did some research today and found out which fruits and vegetables are pollinated by bees.
Photo Credit: Nancy Regan via Compfight
This is the list:
Fruit:
Apple,Blackberry, Blueberry, Cherry, Grape Kiwi, Lemon, Lime, Peach, Pear, Plum, Raspberry, Strawberry, Watermelon,
Vegetables
Beans, Chilli Pepper, Onion, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrot, Cauliflower, Celery, Cucumber, Red and Green Peppers, Tomatoes,
Other Important Crops
Sunflowers and Cotton (also Flax)
The Problem
There are less bees because of what people do.
People use insecticide to kill insects that are pests.
But insecticide kills bees too.
‘Overgrazing’ and building destroy the habitats where bees live.
We need bees, so that they can pollinate plants.
What would happen if there were no more bees?
Click here to see an interesting photograph!
Written and researched by Alexandra, Patrick, Stacey and Conor from 4th Class.