Unit Overview:

This unit is based on the theme of honeybees. It is intended as a method of incorporating the theme of honeybees with concepts in the areas of science, social studies, mathematics, and reading and language arts. The unit is designed for a kindergarten class, and will take approximately six to eight instructional days to complete. The lessons in this unit will take approximately 15 to 30 minutes each, depending on the lesson and time of day. The topic of honeybees is a motivating one for young children because they are intrigued by bees, as they are many insects. Since there are many social factors involved in the teaching of this unit, it will be presented during the second and third weeks of school. This is a time when socialization is beginning to be practiced by entering kindergartners in every aspect of their day at school.

Unit Goals:

1. Students will recognize the three types of honeybees in a colony and know their respective roles in the colony.

2. Students will appreciate the role of honeybees in the environment.

3. Students will practice prereading and prewriting skills.

4. Students will recognize honeybees as part of a community that works together.

5. Students will participate as individuals and as members of a classroom community in an appropriate manner.

Unit Objectives: (These are listed using behavioral terms from Bloom’s Taxonomy.)

1. The learner will be able to identify the three types of honeybees: the queen, the workers, and the drones. (knowledge)

2. The learner will be able to explain the roles of each of the three types of honeybees in a colony. (comprehension)

3. The learner will be able to give examples of how honeybees affect the environment in which they live. (comprehension, synthesis)

4. The learner will be able to define these terms: nectar, pollen, hive, colony, cells, eggs, larva, pupa. (knowledge)

5. After listening to the Big Book Busy As a Bee, the learner will be able to infer in writing where he would fly and what he would do if he was a honeybee for one morning. (synthesis)

6. The learner will be able to identify the letters M, m, T, t, F, f, H, h, N, and n in the Big Book Busy Bees using a Wikki Stik to isolate each letter. (knowledge)

7. The learner will be able to match upper case letters M, T, F, H, and N to the lower case letters m, t, f, h, and n, using honeybees with one letter written on each bee. (knowledge)

8. After listening to the Big Book Busy As a Bee, the learner will be able to demonstrate the process of honey making by play acting as a worker bee in a colony. (application)

9. While listening to stories and participating in discussions, the learner will be able to show the skills of being a cooperative member of the classroom community: listening, showing respect, and following directions. (application)

10. The learner will be able to recall that honeybees are insects. (knowledge)

11. The learner will be able to graph his disposition about whether or not he likes the taste of honey. (comprehension, application)

Instructional Overview:

To start the unit, we will begin a KWL chart. A KWL chart is a record of what students know (K) about a particular subject, what they want to know (W) about it, and at the end of the unit, what they have learned (L) about the topic. This activity helps a teacher assess what students’ schema is on a topic so that a starting point for instruction can be established. Students will begin by sharing what they already know about honeybees while the teacher scribes their responses on chart paper. Then, they will share what they want to know about honeybees, which will be scribed in the same fashion. The Big Book Busy Bees will be read, and the tape with the story’s song played. The use of Big Books is highly motivating for young children, because every child can see the illustrations and text in the book clearly. They are also more likely to participate in shared reading through the use of a Big Book and music, because no one child is in the spotlight. A discussion of the roles of the three types of honeybees will take place. This will help to reinforce the learning of facts presented in the book. Next, a group of six children will have an opportunity to identify the letters M, m, T, t, F, f, H, h, N, and n in the Big Book Busy Bees, using a wax covered string called a Wikki Stik to isolate each letter. Wikki Stix are a highly motivating teaching tool for young children. They allow the children to participate in a tactile activity, and also reinforce the skill of being able to distinguish between one letter and two letters, and between one letter and one word. We will read the Big Book Busy Bees and sing the song for the next two days, giving each child opportunities to complete letter identification. (Six children will use Wikki Stix each day if there are eighteen children total.) Rereading text is very important for developing emergent reading skills in kindergarten. It allows students to see and hear patterns in repetitive text. It also gives them several opportunities for success, which gives them the confidence to reach for the next level in their own reading. Classroom discussions will continue to focus on the roles of honeybees and how they work together in a colony, just as students work together in a class. This is important because it addresses the social studies standard of awareness of one’s community. It also helps children to become more cooperative members of the group, or "classroom community." On day four, we will read the Big Book Busy As A Bee. We will discuss the roles of the bees, as well as these terms: nectar, pollen, hive, colony, cells, eggs, larva, and pupa. These terms are explained very clearly in the book, and so a discussion will help children recall the important facts about honeybees. We will practice acting out the honey making process, which will make the process more concrete for the children, as they will be directly involved in it. On day five, we will reread Busy As A Bee, and students will then write about where they would fly and what they would do if they were honeybees. This will require students to recall what they have learned about honeybees, and then infer what a honeybee’s day might actually be like. On day six, we will add to our KWL chart under "L" what we have learned about bees. This activity helps to bring the children full circle in the learning process by validating what they knew about bees, and also what they wanted to learn during this unit. We will then discuss how honeybees affect our environment, which is important from an environmental as well as scientific standpoint. This activity helps children understand that there is a purpose for every creature on the earth, and that every creature has some sort of interaction with or effect on another creature. During rest time on this same day, I will call each child up to my desk individually and ask him or her to explain one way in which honeybees affect their environment. On the final day, I will assess successful mastery of the learning objectives by administering my true/false items, fill-in items, multiple choice items, and matching exercises. We will complete the unit with a honey tasting party, and graph our dispositions about honey. This activity will be a fun way to complete the unit, and will reinforce the mathematical skill of graphing.

Assessment Overview:

Assessment will be ongoing during this unit, and much of it will be informal. We will communicate orally on a daily basis. Through discussion and questioning, students will be asked to think about and respond to many areas of content. I will observe discussions and take informal notes to assist me in evaluating which areas I need to focus on as the unit progresses.

As I outlined in my Instructional Overview, we will begin the unit with a KWL chart. This activity will establish how much my students know about honeybees, which helps me assess what I need to include in the unit to maximize their learning of the unit objectives. By finding out what they want to know about bees, I can decide what to add to the unit or what to eliminate if necessary. Having a discussion after reading the Big Book Busy Bees is important because it will help me to informally assess how much my students learned about the roles of bees in a colony. I will ask open-ended questions in order to facilitate this process.

I will use a performance checklist to assess whether or not each student is able to recognize the letters M, m, T, t, F, f, H, h, N, and n in the Big Book Busy Bees using Wikki Stix. This tool allows me to observe the children and easily record whether or not they can recognize each of these letters. Letter identification is very important in kindergarten, as it helps build the foundation for early reading and writing.

I will continue to assess the students’ knowledge about the roles of honeybees in a colony and vocabulary terms through informal discussions and note taking. I will use a class list to do this- each time a child seems confused about a topic of discussion or is having trouble with a concept, I will make a note of it next to the child’s name on the class list. Students will act out the honey making process after having listened to Busy As A Bee. I will assess this activity through observation and with the use of the performance checklist. This checklist will tell me if the student has a true understanding of the three main steps involved in the honey making process.

In order to assess what the children know about the roles of honeybees and how they affect their environment, I will administer two essay questions. The first will be read orally to the students, and they will respond in written form. I will ask them the following: If you could change into a honeybee for just one morning, where would you fly? What do you think you would do? Draw a picture of where you would fly and what you would do. Write any letters or words you know that tell the story of your picture. I will use their written responses to assess whether or not they understand what a bee experiences on a given day. If they do understand this, then their response should reflect this by showing the bee in a situation it could actually be in, such as sipping on nectar, or flying around a field. If the child responds with an answer such as drawing the bee swimming in the ocean, I will know he or she does not understand what a bee’s life is like.

When we add to the KWL chart on the final day, the product we end up with will help me assess what all the students have learned about the bees content. If they have not included every important fact, then at that point I can discuss any missing pieces with them, and take notes about the gaps. I can then reteach as necessary to improve comprehension of the content.

I will assess understanding of how bees affect the environment by discussing this with the children and taking notes. Later that day, I will call each child up to my desk individually during rest time, and ask him or her to explain one way in which honeybees affect their environment. This is the second of my two essay questions. The student should be able to give a reasonable answer such as: they make honey that other animals and people eat, they pollinate fruit and flowers, they make a hive in someone’s tree or log. I will discuss each child’s answer with him or her, and I will record answers on paper for further review and assessment.

On the final day, I will assess knowledge of the bees content in a more formal fashion by administering my true/false items, fill-in items, multiple choice items, and matching exercise two. Matching exercise two will be administered to assess letter recognition. I will assess our culminating activity of graphing who liked honey and who did not with my performance checklist. After the unit is over, I will complete a performance assessment scale checklist to assess whether or not each child was a cooperative member of the classroom community.
 

True/False Items: Students will be evaluated as a whole group while sitting together on the carpet. They will answer each question by holding their thumbs up on their chests for a true statement, and holding their thumbs down against their chests for a false statement. Students will be instructed to keep their eyes on the teacher as to avoid looking at each other’s answers before making their own choices. A brief discussion and explanation will follow each question.

1. A honeybee is an insect. (true)

2. A worker is a male (boy) bee. (false)

3. A drone lays the eggs in a colony. (false)

4. Bees get nectar to make honey. (true)

Fill-in Items: Students will fill in the answer to each question orally, while the teacher records their answers on chart paper.

1. The kind of bee that mates with the queen is called a . (drone)

2. The tiny places where honey is stored in a honeycomb are called . (cells)

3. A group of honeybees that live and work together is called a . (colony)

4. The dust honeybees collect from flowers and use to feed their babies is called

. (pollen)

Essay Items: Both essay questions will be read orally to the students. They will respond in written form to the first question, and orally to the second question.

1. If you could change into a honeybee for just one morning, where would you fly? What do you think you would do? Draw a picture of where you would fly and what you would do. Write any letters or words you know that tell the story of your picture.

2. Explain one way honeybees change the environment around which they live.

(possible answers: they make honey that other animals and people eat, they pollinate fruit and flowers, they make a hive in someone’s tree or log.)

Multiple Choice Items: Students will be assessed in groups of four while sitting at tables. The students will have their own individual dry-erase markers and marker boards on which to write their answers. As the teacher reads each question aloud, the students will write the corresponding letter of their chosen answer on their marker boards. The teacher will read each question while the kindergarten aide circulates to assist children in recording their answers as needed. For example, the student may need assistance in making an A, B, C, or D. The student can whisper his answer into the ear of the aide in order to receive this assistance.

1. The name of the place where a bee lives is called a:

A. den

B. hive

C. house

D. burrow

(B)

2. Which of these is NOT one of the three types of bees we learned about?

A. a queen

B. a drone

C. a sweeper

D. a worker

(C)

3. When a baby bee is growing and it looks like a worm, it is called a:

A. larva

B. pupa

C. caterpillar

D. snake

(A)

4. When a baby bee is growing its eyes, legs, and wings, and has not hatched yet, it is called a:

A. larva

B. worker

C. queen

D. pupa

(D)
 
 

Directions:

Look at the honeybees on top. Each one has an uppercase letter on it. Now look at the honeybees on the bottom. Each one has a lower case letter on it. Cut out each lowercase letter honeybee and paste it next to the matching uppercase honeybee. You will have one lowercase honeybee left over.
 
 

*Drawing of bees with upper and lowercase letters goes here*
 
 

Directions:

Here is a picture about honeybees. When I read a card to you, stick it on the picture where it belongs. If there are any that do not belong, do not stick them on the picture.
 
 
 
 

*Drawing of a hive with a flower nearby goes here*
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

cards:

hive worker eggs drone queen king
 

Check "yes" if the skill was demonstrated, "no" if it was not.

Letter Identification:

The student identified each of these letters in the text of the Big Book Busy Bees by isolating it with a Wikki Stik:

Letter Yes No

M

m

T

t

F

f

H

h

N

n

Honey Making Process:

The students will act out how worker bees make honey. Yes No

Student demonstrated the bee sipping nectar.

Student demonstrated the bee spreading

nectar in the honeycomb cells.

Student demonstrated the bee covering the cells

with wax.

Was the student a cooperative member of the classroom community?

Yes No

Student listened during stories.

Student showed respect for others by listening

while they were speaking.

Student followed teacher directions during

activities.
 

Graphing:

After tasting honey, each student will place a small card with his or her name on it in a pocket chart graph. The name should be placed above the word "yes" or "no" to accurately record whether or not he or she liked the taste of honey. Each student will say aloud, "I liked the honey," or "I did not like the honey," and then place his or her name in the appropriate spot.
 
 

*Drawing of graph goes here*
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Student graphed accurately according to his or her like or dislike:

Yes No

Emily Blaisdell

EDU 510

Dr. Shindler

Assessment Unit Project

November 11, 1999