Here’s a cute craft my students made to go with Karma Wilson’s Bear Snores On. For more details click on the Teacher’s Pay Teacher’s button on the right. My “Are you Hibernating? No!” product includes where to find this cute bear pattern.
Dive right in!
Our little bees are out! Spring is here! This excited little bee was out forging on our crocus’ flowers. There isn’t a lot out there to forge on right now so our crocus’ are quite popular. I should have planted more! That is now on next October’s to-do list.
Now for the hive report: Sadly it’s not all good news. Of our 8 hives, we had three live through the winter. Our winter survival rate has improved (our first year with two hives- none survived). Over-wintering is one of the biggest challenges beekeepers face. Wisconsin has a long winters. We have more bees ordered so we will rebuild hives with new bees. Our new bees will arrive in May. Onward and Upward!
Preschool game… Cardinals.
Here is a fun and simple game:
Materials needed:
Painters tape to mark off a big circle to represent a nest or follow my FREE directions for a paper nest by clicking here.
Gummi worms
Blindfold
Beaks for birds (optional!)
Red feathers for students to stick into their hair (optional)
Divide your class into three groups. Mother birds (girls), Father birds(boys) and baby birds(boys and girls). The total number of mother and father birds should be equal to the number of baby birds. Select one mother (or father) bird. Mother bird wears the blindfold. Give mother bird a gummi worm to feed her baby with. Now, baby bird sits in the nest circle and tweets. Mother bird must find baby bird by following the tweets. Mother bird feeds her baby a gummi worm. Students can then switch roles and the game continues.
This fun little game can be used to reinforce the following cardinal facts:
Mother cardinals actually sing on the nest. This is thought to guide the father cardinal to the nest.
Both male and female cardinals care for their young.
Cardinals are seed eaters… so gummi worms are not entirely accurate… oh well…have fun and don’t over think it.
What do bees do in the winter?
Well… hopefully NOT DIE. That being said… bees cluster into a ball inside the hive. They surround their queen, sip a little honey and keep the inside of the cluster at about an amazing 90F! This beekeeper is using a stethoscope to listen for the hummm of the hive. If he hears the gentle hummm then he knows that his bees are alive.
Most bees do not die from freezing temperatures. If the hive dies out, it is usually because they run out of honey, or the hive gets excess moisture inside. You will notice that these hives do NOT have any insulation around them. This keeps condensation out of the hive. As of February 21st our six hives are all still alive.
Bear Snores On – Classroom Ideas
“The cold winds howl and the night sounds growl. But the bear snores on.” Wow!-that line from Karma Wilson’s Bear Snores On perfectly describes our current weather conditions. I love this cute little book. I read it every year for my hibernation unit. It’s a great time to discuss what strategies different animals use to survive the winter. I have a FREE teacher resource on my Teachers Pay Teachers that explains several interesting winter survival strategies that animals use.
The photo shows my story time set up. Students arrive to find Mr. Bear napping by the ‘campfire’. The visiting animals are hidden in a bag and are pulled out as the story progresses. We also have a little tea party. Each student has a teapot (actually a metal coffee creamer). Kids just love to pour their own “tea”. We also snack on popcorn.
Happy Hibernation, friends. Spring will come soon!
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