In 5P, we have been learning about bees and their lifecycle as part of our science topic. We have found out why bees are so important to the world. Did you know that they help pollinate lots of the plants and trees that we grow when they fly from flower to flower? This means that they help fruit and vegetables that we eat grow.

We learnt that there are three types of bees – the queen bee (she is the head of colony and lays all the eggs), worker bee (female) and the drone bee (male). The drone bees stay in the hive and helps the queen bee look after her eggs.

Chase Bridge has its very own bees in our apiary. As part of our research, we hoped to go and visit the hives but the bees have been very busy swarming around our school, so unfortunately we were unable to go and visit them. We did find out why bees swarm. They might swarm because there is something about their hive that the worker bees simply don’t like, they don’t like the location or there might be other threats from other wildlife. They might also swarm because they do not have enough room in the hive to grow into.

Finally, we found out that bees communicate by doing a special dance called the ‘waggle dance’, which they do to show other bees when they have found flowers with lots of nectar in it.

Remember to bee kind to bees!

Written by Maya and Krish 5P