Year 2 learn all about the life cycle of a bee

Year 2 have been ‘busy as a bee’ this week, there have been so many highlights it is hard to know where to begin!

On Wednesday we were lucky enough to have a visit from a beekeeper. We sat enthralled as she showed explained the difference between a honey bee, bumble bee and a wasp.

Only the honey bee makes honey and each bee only produces one 12th of a teaspoon in its lifetime. We were also surprised to discover a bee only lives for six weeks and flies for only one of those weeks.

In fact the life cycle of a bee is more complex than any of us imagined from egg to larva to pupa then on to an adult bee as our life cycle spinners demonstrate.

It was fascinating how organised a bee colony is, each adult female bee works its way through a hierarchy of roles within the hive including cleaner, attendant to the Queen and guard before finally heading off to collect nectar.

We explored the role of a beekeeper and all the different sections of a hive and their functions.

On Thursday we had a bee themed morning buzzing through bee facts and fractions in our costumes before returning to India in the afternoon! We investigated how tea gets from plant to cup looking at the regions Assam and Darjeeling. We studied and described the loose leaves before tasting the tea which some of us really enjoyed whilst others thought it was too bitter.

The tea bag was invented in New York by accident 8 years before George Bellows painted Men of the Dock but the boat in the painting would not have contained Tea from India as it was China that provided America with Tea.