Curriculum created for Bee Regenerative’s “Bee Hopeful” program by Tara Laidlaw and Sarah Red-Laird to be paired with The Thing About Bees, written and illustrated by Shabazz Larkin and published by Readers to Eaters.
A central theme of the book The Thing About Bees is that “it is brave to try to understand the things that scare us” – and this journaling activity will help students be brave when observing living bees.
By the end of this activity, students will be able to:
- List and demonstrate strategies for staying safe around bees
- Communicate observations about bees and flowers using words, pictures, and numbers
- Articulate questions about bee activity
Intended Audience
Students in grades K-2
NGSS Alignment
- Crosscutting Concepts: Patterns, Systems and System Models
- Practices of Science and Engineering: Asking Questions, Developing Models, Obtaining and Communicating Information
- Disciplinary Core Ideas: LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms
Time
40-60 minutes
Location & Weather
This activity will be most successful on a warm, sunny day. Ahead of time, scout out a location on your school campus that has flowers – these can be in a garden, or they can be dandelions or clovers in a field – and spend a few minutes there to get a sense for the bee (or other insect) traffic. Note that bees’ activity can change throughout the day, so try to scout your location around the same time of day as you plan to facilitate this activity.
Materials
- “The Thing About Bees” by Shabazz Larkin
- Nature journals, science or writing notebooks, or paper and clipboards
- Pencils
- Small white board and marker
Student Activities
Reading: 10 minutes
First, read “The Thing About Bees” by Shabazz Larkin.
Discussion: 5-10 minutes
After reading the book, ask students: “How many of you are afraid of bees, spiders, bugs, or other small animals?” Many students will raise their hands. Share with them the author’s note: “It’s brave to try to understand the things that scare us.” Explain that in this activity, they’ll get to practice being brave about something that might scare them: real live bees.
Invite students to share ideas about how they can be safe around bees – they may offer ideas like “stay calm” and “don’t swat at them.” After the group has shared all of their ideas, turn to the two-page spread at the back of the book, “Everything you need to know about how not to get stung.” Read all of the bee safety and etiquette tips in the upper part of the right-hand page.
Next, remind students that there are many kinds of flying insects in the world, and only some of them are bees, and only some of them will sting. Use the “Kind to kinda mean” scale to show students how to tell a bee from a wasp. Reiterate that it’s important to be calm and respectful around all insects, but that some of them require more caution than others. Also point out that the book uses a combination of pictures and words to show lots of information about each type of insect.
Journaling: 20-30 minutes
Explain that in this next part of the activity, the group will be going outside to look for their very own live bees, and that they will be taking notes – and asking questions – like scientists. Invite students to get their journals or clipboards and pencils, and head out to your journaling location. On the way there, pause and remind students that the best way to stay safe around bees is to stay calm. Invite students to pretend that you are a bee, and ask them to show you what they’ll do when you come close to them. Remind them that quiet voices, still bodies, and deep breaths are good strategies to use.
When you arrive at your journaling location, first ask students to sit in a place where they can see and hear you. Explain that before they go searching for bees, they need to record some big picture information. Lead them through recording the date, time, and location on their page, using your white board as an example.
Note: for students who are still developing writing skills, encourage them to work at their current level. This may include just using pictures, using the first letter of a word, or sounding out single words or short phrases.
Next, explain that they also need to record the current weather, but to do this, they should use a combination of words, pictures, and numbers. Model this on your board: use words like “sunny” or “breezy”, use symbols like a simple sun or a squiggle for breeze, and estimate the temperature or the number of clouds in the sky.
Explain that the final piece of big picture information is how they are feeling. Invite them to check in with their mind and body, and then to use words, pictures, and numbers to describe what they noticed. Give examples such as feelings words, emojis, or a body battery. Be sure to let students know that it’s totally fine to feel more than one thing at a time: for example, they might be excited to be outside, and also nervous to be looking for bees.
Once students have completed their big picture information, explain that they will be using the same strategy of using words, pictures, and numbers to describe one or more insects that they see in the flowers. Let students know that they will not only be describing what the animals look like, they will also describe what they are doing, and where: are they flying, sitting still, walking across the top of a flower or on a stem? Are they staying at one flower or moving between several different ones? Model this process verbally for the whole class, in real time. You do not need to be able to identify the insects or the flowers – just say what you see. For example: “This bee is black and yellow. It’s fuzzy and kind of round. I think it has six legs. It flew up to a flower and landed, and then the flower bent over. Now it’s walking around on the flower. Now it flew just for a second and landed on the same flower. The flower is yellow. One of the bee’s wings is torn.” Let this stream-of-consciousness observing inform what you put on your board. If you say the bee is round, be sure to draw a round shape, not an oval shape, and include the number of legs you saw, not a random number. If you say the bee is yellow and black, use arrows and the labels “yellow” and “black” to show which parts are what color on your drawing. If you say the flower bent over, show the shape the stem made when it bent over.
Invite or direct students to pair up. Explain that each pair should look for their own bee, and then they will watch the bee together. They will share their observations out loud to each other in real time, and then each student will record their observations in their own journal. If bees are scarce, widen the search to include any insect or spider. Remind students of their strategies to stay safe around bees before sending them to search.
Give students 5-15 minutes to complete their observing and journaling. Circulate and support students by asking them to share their observations out loud, and then remind them to use words, pictures, and numbers on the page. Be sure to point out and thank students for calm behavior.
Conclusion: 5-10 minutes
After calling the group back together, invite students to write down at least one question they have about their observations. Questions can start with “I wonder…” or with question words like when, where, how, or why. Invite students to share about their observations and questions: “What did you notice or wonder about the bees and flowers?” Let students know that by observing the bees and asking questions, they are now all entomologists, or bug scientists – because that’s what scientists do, they notice things in the world around them and then they get curious!
Then, invite students to share about their experience more generally: “What did you notice about the process of watching the bees?” If the conversation is slow, ask more pointed questions: “Did anyone notice more details the longer you watched your bee?” or “Was anyone afraid at first, but felt more comfortable as the activity went on?”
Wrap up by inviting students to check back in with their mind and body, and to make an updated note about how they are feeling using feelings words, emojis, or a body battery. Celebrate with the group that they tried something that was difficult or scary for many of them and reiterate that it’s very brave to try to understand something that scares you.
Bee Regenerative’s “Bee Hopeful” program teaches kids, in a positive and engaging way, why our bees are essential to everyday life and how the kids can be bee heroes - working to conserve the things they love. Learn more at www.beeregenerative.org
Shabazz Larkin made his picture book illustration debut with Farmer Will Allen and the Growing Table, followed by his author/illustrator debut with A Moose Boosh: A Few Choice Words About Food, both named American Library Association Notable Children’s Books. He is a multi-disciplinary artist and an advertising creative director. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with his wife and two sons. Explore his work at SHABAZZLARKIN.COM
Readers to Eaters promotes food literacy through stories about our diverse food cultures, and partners with teachers, librarians and food system educators. Learn more and explore their other books at www.readerstoeaters.com
This curriculum project is supported by SAVE the BEE, a non-profit on a mission to help bees and humans thrive. Learn about their work at savethebee.org
The Thing About Bees Curriculum with Nature Journaling Extension © 2025 by Bee Regenerative is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
