Martin 1

EDU251 Thematic Unit Plan

Olivia Martin

Fall Semester 2023

Unit Title: The Investigation of Bees

Grade Level: 1st

Name: Olivia Martin

 Martin 2
EDU251 Thematic Unit Plan
Date: Fall Semester 2023
Unit Title: The Investigation of Bees
Grade Level: 1st

1.) Broad Unit Understandings/Goals:

 Students will understand the importance of bees
 Students will understand the jobs of bees
 Students will understand our interaction with bees
 Students will understand the parts of a bee

2.) Unit Questions:

 What is a bee?
 What do bees do?
 What types of bees are there?
 Why are bees important?

3.) State/Common Core Standards (obtained from PDESAS):

ELA
 Standard - CC.1.1.1.E
o Read with accuracy and fluency to support comprehension: • Read on-level
text with purpose and understanding. • Read on-level text orally with
accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings. • Use
context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding,
rereading as necessary.
 Standard - CC.1.2.1.A
o Identify the main idea and retell key details of text.
 Standard - CC.1.4.1.G
o Write opinion pieces on familiar topics.

Math
 Standard - CC.2.3.1.A.1
o Compose and distinguish between two- and three-dimensional shapes based
on their attributes.
 Standard - CC.2.4.1.A.4
o Represent and interpret data using tables/charts

 Standard - CC.2.1.1.B.2
o Use place value concepts to represent amounts of tens and ones and to
compare two digit numbers.

Social Studies
 Standard - 6.5.1.B
o Identify different jobs and the purpose of each.
 Standard - 8.1.1.A
o Demonstrate an understanding of chronology.
 Martin 3
EDU251 Thematic Unit Plan

4.) Learning Objectives:

 ELA
o TSWBAT read an on-level picture book related to the unit.
o TSWBAT identify the main characters correctly and the main plot of a story with
80% accuracy.
o TSWBAT writes a short response to an opinion question.
 Math
o TSWBAT distinguish between two- and three-dimensional shapes.
o TSWBAT interpret the data on a chart.
o TSWBAT add within 100 using properties of operations.
o TSWBAT subtract within 100 using properties of operations.
 Social Studies
o TSWBAT identify different jobs within a bee colony and the purpose of each job.
o TSWBAT identify chronology/sequence via life cycle.

5.) Description of Unit:

The thematic unit of The Investigation of Bees will explore the parts, jobs, and
importance of bees in a first-grade setting. Bees are a familiar subject for elementary-age
students; however, this topic can be further explored to gain an understanding of community,
jobs, and thought-provoking questions for young minds. Activities in reading, math, writing, arts,
science, and social studies will facilitate the learning of the students related to the unit as they
will provide a vast number of opportunities for exploration and growth. The Common Core
Standards chosen above will be implemented into these activities to ensure that students are
being engaged in appropriate content while also keeping them active and interested in the
classroom. The thematic unit will be used as a guiding point for the theme of the activities.
6.) Introduction

The thematic unit, The Investigation of Bees, will provide first-grade students with
opportunities to learn more about bees while also targeting specific standards in ELA, math, and
social studies. The unit will provoke students to explore the different types of bees and their jobs,
the various parts of a bee, and why bees are important. These topics are important as they allow
students to further explore concepts and create an understanding of community, the importance
of teamwork, and the influence that bees have on the world around us. Concepts in this unit will
be learned through the implementation of a variety of in-class activities that will facilitate the
learning of the students. The Investigation of Bees is a grade appropriate topic as it allows
students to further explore a species that they are already familiar with through play, experience,
and projects within the classroom.
Engaging students in experienced-based learning allows them to have a hands-on, active
view on what they are learning as they are able to apply the content they have been taught. One
way in which to incorporate experienced-based learning into this unit is through the subject of
science. By exploring the lifecycle of a bee, there are ample opportunities to engage in hands-on
activities, and encourage students to use their creativity and knowledge from class on the
lifecycle of a bee. The students could make posters which would display the different parts of the
lifecycle of a bee. The poster would entail details about the stages of a bee's life in the following
 Martin 4
EDU251 Thematic Unit Plan
order: egg, larva, pupa, adult, and death. The students would be responsible for putting these
stages in the correct order on their poster, coloring and decorating their poster, and matching the
correct descriptions to each stage of the lifecycle. This activity fosters creativity and the arts as it
allows students to make something their own and use their own techniques. The activity also
fosters the use of prior knowledge as it requires students to put the lifecycle into the right order
and match the correct descriptions to each stage. This experienced-based approach differs from
simply reading a book or watching a lecture about the lifecycle of a bee as it allows students to
physically examine and construct the lifecycle.

Implementing play-based learning can be produced by using a physical activity or game

that is related to the unit. Incorporating physical activities into the classroom allows students to
engage and also use their hands for a kinesthetic view of learning. A teacher could conduct a
Nectar Relay Race in their classroom to incorporate the theme of bees. This relay race would
require space for children to run/walk fast between two points. The game would be conducted by
splitting the class into two or more groups to ‘compete’ against one another. There would be a
starting line and opposite the starting line would be a bucket full of ‘nectar’. On the starting line
would be placed a cup, or multiple small cups, to represent the bee’s ‘beehive’. The students will
use a dropper to collect ‘nectar’ from the large bucket and bring it back to their teams’ ‘beehive’.
As mentioned above, this would be conducted as a relay race. Therefore, students would be
challenged to fill their “beehive” as efficiently as they can. The Nectar Relay Race would be
used to target standards in science and social studies. The standards in science would be met by
allowing students to learn about the nectar and honey that bees make. Social studies would be
implemented by teaching students the importance of the different workers in a beehive and the
social structure that is kept within a colony of bees.

Finally, project-based learning could be implemented into the classroom by using a

picture book with an included writing assignment. This activity would target standards in ELA as
it allows the students to practice their fluency in reading and comprehend a grade level
appropriate piece of writing and write their own opinion piece. The teacher could read The
Honeybee by Kristen Hall and Isabelle Arsenault.
In this storybook, the process of making honey is introduced through the life of a
small honeybee. The story shows how bees find flowers, draw out pollen, bring it back to
the hive, prepare the nectar, store and transform the nectar, and help other bees find the
flowers. The story ends by showing that bees work all through the springtime, summer,
and fall, but when the weather turns cold, bees need to focus on survival. Once the cold
and dreary winter passes, the honeybee starts buzzing again to find the flowers.
This picture book could be used to answer questions about the jobs of bees in a hive and how
honey is made from honeybees. The book could also be used to find sight words that the students
are working on by allowing them to identify familiar words that they see. After reading the
picture book as a class, the teacher could prompt the students with a writing assignment. The
writing assignment could be an opinion-based piece so that the students can bring their own
knowledge and life into the story that they read. The writing prompt could include questions such
as: where would you fly if you were a honeybee; write a poem about the bee in our story; or if
you were a honeybee, what flowers would you get pollen from (describe flowers)?

Overall, the thematic unit of The Investigation of Bees could be used to facilitate the
learning of students by providing a general topic to guide instruction. As listed above, there are
 Martin 5
EDU251 Thematic Unit Plan
multiple ways in which the concept of bees could be implemented into instruction to assist in
learning, For example, incorporating a project of investigating the lifecycle of a bee would
provide discussion for science, creating physical activities and games not only allows students a
unique way to learn about the concept but also allows them to move and play, and finally by
using a storybook that discusses bees, a teacher could facilitate writing prompts and discussions
from this.

Thematic Graphic Plan

*Bullet two or three activity suggestions for each content area below. **NO WORKSHEETS!
Reading Writing Science
1.) The Honeybee by Isabelle 1.) write a poem about bees 1.) explore the lifecycle of a
Arsenault 2.) write a story about where bee
2.) Bee & Me by Elle you would fly if you were a 2.) investigate the parts of a
McGuinness bee bee
3.) learn how do bees make

EDU251 Thematic Unit Plan
Social Studies
1.) what are the types of bees
in a hive and what are their
jobs?
2.) what types of bees are
there and where do they live
geographically?
P.E./Movement
1.) Queen Bee Says (Simon
Says)
2.) Nectar Relay Race
3.) Line Tag (students flap
wings to fly)
Other areas to consider: Community or Pop Culture, IEP goals (gifted, IDD, SLD, etc.)
Literature, History, Technology
Theme
Bees!
Art
1.) making beeswax candles
2.) build a beehive
3.) make bee slime
4.) bumblebee painted rocks
Martin 6
honey?
Math
1.) use shapes to create
beehives
2.) fraction practice with
types of bees per hive
Music
1.) Bees Go Buzzing song
and fly around the classroom
2.) Flight of the Bumblebee +
guess the instruments

*History focuses on the people and human contributions that led to historical (past) events.

*Social Studies encompasses history (past events) and focuses on human society. Social
Studies also includes geography, civics, economics, and sociology.

References
Standards Aligned System. https://pdesas.org/Standard/View.

15 Bee Activities For Preschoolers Buzzing With Excitement. Turner Tots.

https://turnertots.com/2018/07/21/bees-preschool-unit/.

Giannetto, Vin. Painted Rock Bee Art Project. Fantastic Fun and Learning.
https://www.fantasticfunandlearning.com/painted-rock-bee-art-project.html.
 Martin 7
EDU251 Thematic Unit Plan
Make a Beehive! Animal Jam Academy. https://academy.animaljam.com/posts/make-a-beehive.

Catherine, Mary. Bee Slime Recipe To Make With Kids. https://fun-a-day.com/bee-slime/.

Pinterest. www.pinterest.com.