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2nd Grade  Project 6 weeks

Bee the Change Makers

Michelle C
Updated
2-LS2-2
2-LS2-2
K-2-ETS1-1
2-LS4-1
LS.4.D
+ 11 more
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Purpose

Students investigate how bees pollinate plants, support biodiversity, and help produce food through safe food comparisons, nature walks, shared research, expert visits, and hands-on pollination models. They collaborate with local beekeepers, native plant nurseries, or garden volunteers to identify bee needs and design a pollinator patch, sign, or seasonal care plan for their school. Students create, critique, revise, and present labeled bee-help posters and models at the Honeycomb Helpers Fair and Bee-to-Bloom Showcase, teaching visitors practical ways to support bees. Drawings, oral explanations, observations, and before-and-after reflections document students’ scientific understanding, communication, collaboration, and growth as community changemakers.

Learning goals

Students will observe local habitats, identify patterns in bee and flower diversity, and explain how bees help flowers produce fruits, seeds, and foods people eat. They will gather information from texts, nature walks, safe food and plant observations, and community experts to compare bee-friendly plants and define a school or home problem they can help solve. In teams, students will build and revise a simple pollination model and create labeled bee-help posters, planting plans, or signs using peer and teacher feedback. Students will present evidence-based ideas at the Honeycomb Helpers Fair and Bee-to-Bloom Showcase, then reflect through speaking, drawing, or writing on how their actions can support bees and their community.

Standards
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] 2-LS2-2 - Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.
  • [California] 2-LS2-2 - Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] K-2-ETS1-1 - Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] 2-LS4-1 - Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] LS.4.D - Biodiversity and Humans
  • [Common Core] CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.7 - Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., read a number of books on a single topic to produce a report; record science observations).
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] K-2.AF.4.2 - Use and share pictures, drawings, and/or writings of observations.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] K-2.AF.8.3 - Obtain information using various texts, text features (e.g., headings, tables of contents, glossaries, electronic menus, icons), and other media that will be useful in answering a scientific question and/or supporting a scientific claim.
  • [California] K-2-ETS1-1 - Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.
  • [Next Generation Science Standards] K-2.AG.1.1 - Patterns in the natural and human designed world can be observed, used to describe phenomena, and used as evidence.
Competencies
  • Effective Communication - Students practice listening to understand, communicating with empathy, and share their learning through exhibiting, presenting and reflecting on their work.
  • Critical Thinking & Problem Solving - Students consider a variety of innovative approaches to address and understand complex questions that are authentic and important to their communities.
  • Collaboration - Students co-design projects with peers, exercise shared-decision making, strengthen relational agency, resolve conflict, and assume leadership roles.
  • Content Expertise - Students develop key competencies, skills, and dispositions with ample opportunities to apply knowledge and engage in work that matters to them.
  • Self Directed Learning - Students use teacher and peer feedback and self-reflection to monitor and direct their own learning while building self knowledge both in and out of the classroom.
  • Academic Mindset - Students establish a sense of place, identity, and belonging to increase self-efficacy while engaging in critical reflection and action.

Products

Students will create a shared research chart and observation drawings about bees, flowers, habitats, seasonal food sources, and pollination. Teams will build and revise simple hands-on models showing how pollen moves between flowers, then design labeled bee-help posters with actions families and schools can take. With guidance from a beekeeper, nursery partner, or garden volunteer, the class will develop a small pollinator patch, sign, or care plan using bee-safe plants. Students will present their posters, models, and action plans at Honeycomb Helpers Fair stations and during the Bee-to-Bloom Showcase gallery walk.

Launch

Kick off with a “Sweet Start: From Hive to Harvest” party where students taste teacher-provided honey on simple foods and compare fruit slices, with allergy checks and nonfood options available. Students safely examine flowers and seed packets, then draw or describe connections among bees, blossoms, fruit, and seeds. A local beekeeper or garden expert shares tools, photos, and stories about pollination without bringing live bees. Close by introducing the essential questions and inviting students to share what they wonder about how bees help our food and how people can create safe places for them.

Exhibition

Host a Honeycomb Helpers Fair and Bee-to-Bloom Showcase for classmates, families, school staff, and community partners. Student teams lead table stations using their bee-help posters and pollination models to explain how bees pollinate flowers, support our food, and need safe habitats and seasonal food sources. Visitors participate in a gallery walk, ask questions, and leave a pledge naming one bee-friendly action they will take at school or home.