Appreciating
Pollinators
If you’ve been using the garden as a learning context for some time, your students
probably know that our very existence depends on plants. They may also realize
that plants, in turn, depend upon water, sunlight, and nutrients from the soil
and air to survive. But do they know that there are other key players in this
game of life – namely, pollinators?
Eighty percent of all flowering plants, including more than 150 of our common
food crops, from apples to zucchini, need help from creatures such as bees
and flies in order to produce seeds that give rise to the next generation.
Butterflies and moths, and even some kinds of bats, beetles, and birds, are
key to the continuation of various plant species. These busy and often beautiful
animals naturally pique kids’ curiosity, and that makes them ideal subjects
for observation and study. The fact that we depend on these agents of pollination
for our survival makes them doubly worthy of our attention and care!
This teaching theme provides the resources and activities — from the
basics of flower anatomy to guidance for planning a pollinator oasis — to launch
you and your class into truly fruitful explorations. And we're thrilled
to introduce you to a new online curriculum created by the North American Pollinator
Protection Campaign titled Nature's
Partners: Pollinators, Plants, and You.
Lessons
and Activities
Background
Information – Two Kidsgardening.org articles — Digging
into Flowers and Flower
Courtship — and the USDA
Forest Service's Pollinator Web site provide the foundation
for this theme's lessons.
Lesson:
Petal Attraction – Traditional botany lessons too dry for you? Students
will never forget pistils and stamens after taking this challenge
to think like flowers advertising for pollinators.
Lesson:
Planning a Pollinator Garden – Learn how to bring the objects of your
pollinator studies up close and provide them with crucial habitat.
Stories, Projects, and Web Resources
Program
Spotlight: Nature's
Partners Curriculum –
Learn more about this free inquiry-based resource focused on pollinators and
their importance in our world. For grades 4 through 6.
North American Pollinator
Protection Campaign – The organization that created the Nature's
Partners curriculum. Their Web site features breaking news, action alerts, and detailed
information on preserving precious pollinators.
Metamorphosis:
Changing Children's Lives through Butterflies – An effective and popular
education project created by a group of Master Gardeners that earned them
an international award.
National
Pollinator Week – June 24 -26 has been designated as a time to learn
about the importance of pollinators and the ways that we can protect them.
Visit for teacher resources, project ideas, and events.
Pursuing Pollinators –
This Teaching Theme includes background information, and a collection of stories
and activities from your teaching peers telling how they've engaged students
in pollinator studies.
Inviting
Butterflies to the Schoolyard – This Classroom Project provides the
how-to and why behind gardening for butterflies, and provides curriculum connections
as well.
Hooked
on Hummingbirds – There are few pollinators as riveting as hummingbirds.
This Classroom Project helps you attract them for
close-up observation.
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© 2009
National Gardening Association