Walk-in SIT AT YOUR OLD TABLE FOR NOW! A – get your group’s plant! GET READY TO LET THE BEES FREE TO POLLINATE!

Walk-in Take out notebook, folder, pencil box and agenda. REMINDER: SCIENCE PROJECT IS DUE ON TUES. SEPT. 26! Copy the question and answer in sentences: Why is Colony Collapse Disorder such a concern for humans?

Today’s Learning Goal You have researched the jobs of bees. Now, put yourself in the place of a worker bee. (We’ll pretend that some workers mutated and became boys.  ) Write a letter to the queen bee, asking for a vacation. Include in your letter the facts and evidence you found in your research. Write with the VOICE of an angry bee! Letter will be graded on: science facts, neatness, voice/story, completeness.

An Example Letter From a Worker Bee Dear Queen Bee An Example Letter From a Worker Bee

Dear Queen Bee, The purpose of my letter is to tell you, in no uncertain terms, that I NEED A VACATION! I am working way too hard and have too many jobs. I’m sure you’ll agree that I need a break!

Let’s start with what the other bees do all day Let’s start with what the other bees do all day. In fact, let’s start with you! You just sit around, the only huge bee in the hive, being waited on hand and foot by us worker bees. So what if you lay 1,500 eggs a day. Big deal – you don’t do anything else by create new bees. That one mating flight you went on is probably the only time you actually got off your backside and moved!

How about the drone bees How about the drone bees? You can tell by their stocky build that they aren’t working hard enough. Imagine, all they have to do is try to catch you to mate with you! I think it’s fair that when we workers think they have no more use, we get to bite off their wings and throw them out into the cold!

We worker bees work way too hard We worker bees work way too hard! From the day we are born, we have to clean the hive. By the time we’re 18 days old, we have to do guard duty. Then when we are fully grown, we have to visit flower after flower, sipping nectar (okay, that part isn’t so bad), and getting sticky pollen all over our bodies! Sure it may rub off on other flowers,helping to pollinate them and continue their life cycles, but we are tired of the responsibility of pollinating! Why can’t all plants be like grass and have wind-pollination?!

What about all the other jobs we bees do What about all the other jobs we bees do? We have to feed the larvae, build and clean the hive, make wax, control the temperature (by vibrating our bodies) and collect nectar and pollen! Why can’t you and the drone bees do some of these jobs?!

I don’t want to die an unfair death I don’t want to die an unfair death. Please, Queen Bee, give this worker a break! For all the jobs I do, I think I should be given a nice vacation to a flower with lots of nectar. I look forward to your response, hopefully before I work myself to death! Sincerely, Worker Bee

Your letter must include: 3 or more facts about the queen bee 3 or more facts about the drone bee 4 or more facts about the worker bee and jobs they do