This animated video, based on a wordless picture book by Alison Jay, tells the story of a girl who cares for a sick bee that has ended up in her home.
Students will learn about the importance of bees in nature, see an inspiring story of compassion, and understand the importance of nature to humans and bees.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This wordless story promotes visual literacy.
The illustrations are extremely detailed and show the changing seasons.
Additional Prerequisites
Teachers should remember that there is no right or wrong way to read a wordless book. Each child will have their own interpretation of the story.
Students should be familiar with concepts such as pollination, the role of bees in ecosystems, and the decline in bee populations due to pesticides and pollution.
Differentiation
Teachers could pair this story with a nonfiction book about bees.
Before reading, teachers could ask the following discussion questions:
What do you think this book will be about?
Why do you think the author/illustrator chose to create a story without words?
What do you know about bees?
After viewing the video, teachers could ask the students to predict what they think will happen next and discuss the need for bees in nature.
The teacher could pause the video throughout to ask the students to explain how the bee and the girl feel and ask what might make them feel that way?
In art class, students could draw their favorite part of the story or use the video as an example of storytelling through art.
More advanced students could write a text to go along with the illustrations.
Students could choose a page from the book and use speech bubbles to show what they think the bee and the little girl are saying or thinking.
This is a picture book that displays the importance of being kind to bees. Bees are essential for conserving our biodiversity and also aid in fruit pollination. This resource is recommended.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
K-ESS3-3 Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on the land, water, air, and/or other living things in the local environment.
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
2-LS2-2 Develop a simple model that mimics the function of an animal in dispersing seeds or pollinating plants.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Informational Text (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.2 With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.7 Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.
