Inquiry driven learning can begin anywhere and at anytime. This particular learning experience began with a lovely lady named Dolores. Dolores has offered so much guidance, support, and interest to our program and and we are forever grateful. Dolores presented us with a box of honey combs and bee hives…or so it appeared. Her instructions were simple, “Please give this to the children and allow them to try and figure out what exactly it is.”.
So we did just that. We put the box on our interest table with magnifying glasses, paper, pencils, crayons, and various informational texts and allowed the children to examine and explore.
Predictions could be heard immediately;
Little Mr. K: “It’s a bee hive!!”
Little Miss. V: “Bees live in here, look I see a bee!!”
Little Miss. I: “I think it’s made with honey..look!” (as she points to what appears to be a sticky kind of glue holding the plates in place)
After using books and online information to research, and understand what we had been given, we agreed that we had been given a Paper Wasp nest.
The very next week we had a trip planned to “Spring Ridge Farm” that amazingly tied in so nicely. As we toured the farm our interest in bees was furthered as we entered into a cabin that would teach us all about bees!!
We learned so much about the roles of the various bees within a colony, to how they make honey and wax, and what bees do for our earth.
A big thank you to our FDK team next door for arranging this fabulous trip!!
The following week the children created their own bee hive and bee colony in our Dramatic Center. This play experience was so much fun and so rich with learning. The children created their own costumes, while educators extended and merged play with learning by asking children to create their own shape patterns on their wings. Each child was encouraged to label their costumes to let everyone know what type of bee they were.
For more information on our Inquiry into Bees and Inquiry in general, please visit our website and go to the Inquiry section
http://www.journeytogetherfdk.com
Journey Together FDK 