Sustainability 

Bee Incursion Report, Freddie I and Evie

Grade 6 Sustainability Leaders

Do you know what species enjoys collecting pollen and bringing it back to its hive? There are more than 20,000 species of this creature on planet earth! Last clue is that everyone “loves” this species. We’re talking about bees which happen to be behind delicious honey.

Last week the Sustainability class representatives got to participate in a bee incursion where our guide Beekeeper Tom taught us about the fascinating life of a bee.

First he taught us about how important bees are and showed us some native species. Bees are important because when they pollinate plants it helps them grow, this helps us get fruits and vegetables. Without bees we wouldn't be able to have vegetables.

Bees used for honey production are kept in wooden nests with frames for them to create hives, the bees pollinate the area and create honey and beeswax. When they collect honey a smoker that creates cold smoke, this lets the bees know that they're hive is about to be opened up. When they take honey they get all the bees off a frame and take the beeswax off to take the honey out. It is important to leave half off the honey so that the bees can eat.

Bees create their hives out of beeswax. The queen lays eggs in almost perfect hexagons while beeswax is put on top. Young bees are fed royal jelly to grow before eating honey.

We were shown some of the items used to take care of the bees, even an old frame. We were also shown candles that smelt like honey before the incursion ended.

Guardian Childcare Presentation Report, Evie G

Grade 6 Sustainability Leader

Did you know that there is a species of crab that snips seaweed, licks it, and then sticks it to the back of its shell. There is also a type of Starfish that can have between 7 to 14 arms. These are two of the amazing facts that we were able to teach to the kinda kids.

On Friday, two weeks ago, the Sustainability Leaders went to Guardian day care to teach the children about the ocean and the sea life inside of it. Some of the animals that we talked about were the Australian brown fur seal, the decorator crab and the 11 armed starfish. The children all had a great time while we were there and loved to participate in our fun activity. Our activity was to find the dolphins' food. We were the dolphins and they had to stick their arm in a box to try and find the food but it was filled with rubbish. This

taught them about how much rubbish was in the ocean and how it affects the animals.

We really enjoyed this opportunity to teach the kids at Guardian about the ocean, and we can’t wait to head to other kindergartens next term!