The Buzz On Honeybees Study Guide

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

THE BUZZ ON HONEYBEES STUDY GUIDE
Prepared by Cathy Kaemmerlen

HOW DOTH THE LITTLE BUSY BEE
IMPROVE EACH SHINING HOUR,
AND GATHER HONEY ALL THE DAY
FROM EVERY OPENING FLOWER
–Isaac Watts

ARTISTS BACKGROUNDS:

Cathy Kaemmerlen, author, actress, historical interpreter, playwright, and storyteller, is known for her variety of characters, one-woman shows, and for bringing history to life.  A performer and “creator of shows” since she can remember, she has toured in schools coast to coast, since receiving a BA in English/elementary education from UNC-Charlotte, and a MFA in dance performance/choreography/theatre at the University of Wisconsin.  She tours some 20 current shows which she wrote, through the Georgia and South Carolina Touring Arts Rosters, Fulton County Teaching Museums, G.E.T. Programs in the Schools, and through her own production company, Tattlingtales Productions. She is the author of four books and many plays, including one commissioned by the DeKalb Historical Society. Most recently she was commissioned by the Plains Chautauqua Society to write and appear in the one-woman show:  The Rosalynn Carter Butterfly Trail.
Sara Gaare has been a teaching artist for the past two years, performing all around metro Atlanta. She also teaches and performs improv and sketch comedy in Atlanta with the Clarkston Community Center, The Village Theater, and Highwire Comedy Co. She created Power Suit, a monthly, all female comedy variety show she hosts and performs sketches in. Previously she lived in Chicago where she trained and performed at iO, The Second City, The Annoyance, ComedySportz, and many others. There she created the award winning sketch group MRS. that performed all around the city and did many sketch comedy festivals. Graduate of Pebblebrook Performing Arts High School in Cobb County and Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, she is the daughter of Cathy Kaemmerlen.

PROGRAM SUMMARY:
“Being that honey produced by honeybees, provides a significant boost to Georgia’s economy/ being that if not for the cross pollination of honeybees to over fifty different state crops we’d be forced to live on cereal; being that the honeybee far surpasses any other insect in its contributions to mankind, the state of Georgia formally adopts the honeybee to be our official state insect.”  STATE LEGISLATURE, 1975.

Meet Itty Bitty Betty, a honey of a bee who tells us swarming stories, legends, fun facts, and collects gossip about Georgia’s state insect.  Intended for audiences of all ages, but especially for grades K-2, this 45 minute audience participation romp is filled with stories, songs, costumes, facts, and bee props. Learn how bees contribute 90% of the pollination of most of Georgia’s crops, along with other information about how a hive works; the kinds of bees that make a hive; why and where bees swarm. If we develop an understanding and respect for the honeybee, we will do our part towards helping this vital insect, in danger of being wiped out by colony collapse disorders.  A direct tie in with Cathy’s book, THE BUZZ ON HONEYBEES (Pelican Pubs, 2012), this show can be followed by a book signing.  How do bees get to school?

They take the buzz

OBJECTIVES:

.To develop an understanding of what a honeybee contributes to our “eating” lives.

.To understand why the honeybee is so revered and needed.

.To gain information about the nature of honeybees and the hive.

.To understand how each bee contributes to the whole.

VOCABULARY:

Queen bee:  the largest bee in the hive.  There can be only one and her job is to lay eggs.

Drone bees:  middle sized bees, the only males.  Their job is to mate with the queen

Worker bees:  the smallest bees, who perform a variety of jobs.  There can be 60,000 of them per hive

Hive:  a bee’s house.

Colony:  a bee’s community

Swarming:  the act of leaving the hive when it gets overcrowded.

Pollination:  spreading pollen from plant to plant to help fertilize the plants

Pollen sac:  two saddlebag like sacs on each side of the bee to carry the pollen back to the hive

Larvae:  stage of bee development in the egg cell

Tanging the bees:  old way of beekeeper coaxing the swarming bees into a new prepared hive

Beekeeper:  someone who keeps bees

Supers:  the name for frames that make up a beekeeper’s hive

Telling the bees:  term used for talking to your bees and keeping them informed of the family’s activities

Skep:  old fashioned beehive made out of straw

BEFORE AND AFTER THE PROGRAM:

.Discuss why bees are so important that they are called the “angels of agriculture”

.Discuss why you don’t need to be afraid of honeybees.

.Discuss proper respect for honeybees

.Discuss what you can do to help the bees.

.Visit an active beehive or invite a beekeeper to your school.

,Discuss why bees might be used in warfare or for security.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

THE BUZZ ON HONEYBEES by Cathy Kaemmerlen, Pelican Publications, 2012.

NOVA DVD:  BEES:  TALES FROM THE HIVES (1998)JOYFUL NOISE by Paul Fleischman (Newberry Award winner)THE BEEKEEPER’S LAMENT by Hannah Nordhaus, Harper Perennial, 2010BEES IN AMERCIA:  HOW THE HONEYBEE SHAPED A NATION by Tammy Hornewww.bees-online.comBuzzaboutbees.net

TECHNICAL NEEDS FOR THE BUZZ:

Clean, clear space.  Audience seated on the floor.  Table for props.  Access to an outlet.

CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS:

SKCS6c. S1L1b. S2L1a. S3L1c. S3L2.a

And that’s the buzz from Itty Bitty Betty!