Pollinator LIVE! (a distance learning adventure)

Pollinator LIVE will be hosting a live webcast this Wednesday, May 12th. It is geared for grades 4 to 8 and is the first of a series of live webcasts. This one will be at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C and is titled Insect Zoo in Your Schoolyard. (You do need to go to the site to register, but it is free. And, you can watch a short "test" video to make sure you'll be able to see the live webcast.)

The topics of the day include: Overview of Pollination, Pollinator Partners, "Bee" a Scientist, Monarch Update, and Attracting Pollinators to Your Schoolyard Garden (or, in our case, our home!). There are also broadcasts on other topics planned for September 2010, October 2010, February 2011, and April 2011.

There are also Lesson Plans broken down by age groups which I plan on looking at this weekend. And, if you miss the live class, it will be archived on the Pollinator LIVE site!

P.S. We use BrainPop a LOT and find it to be a great resource, though kind of expensive. They have videos titles "pollination" and "honeybees" that we will watch before Wednesday's webcast. After the movie, they have a quiz, activities, "read more", and Q&A. It'll be a great start to this topic! I also think we'll try to find some pollen to photograph using our digital microscope.

For younger students, you might try this project I used with Alex when she was barely 5. I adapted it from something I read online at Core Knowledge. I cut out petals and filled a container with Cheetos. Then, I drew a bee on Alex's finger. When her bee visited the flower, it came out with pollen on it!