Charleston County School District Nutrition Services and the Green Heart Project are excited to be partnering this year for Harvest of the Month. November 2020 is the Great Sweet Potato Harvest! Nothing tops these sweet potatoes better than some Bee Cause Project honey! Enjoy!

This Book Club Challenge Guide will help Cloverbuds explore the book The Life and Times of the Honeybee by Charles Micucci with pre-reading and post-reading discussion questions, lots of hands-on activities including a Lifecycle of a Honey Bee figures activity, and much more! 

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The gut microbiomes of animals are diverse microbial communities that dramatically affect host health and physiology. Modern laboratory techniques have allowed researchers to learn much about these microbiomes. Unfortunately, the common sequencing and culture techniques often struggle to distinguish between strains within a bacterial species. But microfluidic droplets could be a way to sidestep such limitations and distinguish between strains in a high volume, efficient way. To test this, a research team developed a microfluidic platform that encapsulates individual bacterial cells and cultivates them in different growth media, and they used it to successfully profile the honeybee microbiome at a strain-specific level. Strain diversity is particularly important for honeybees due to their uniquely simple and stable bacterial community. Compared to traditional gut samples, this technique detected more strain diversity in some bacterial species..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Why do bees swarm? Do bees really dance? What is a pollen basket? Educators will have theirhives buzzing with excitement about these interactive learning experiences from The Sweet VirginiaFoundation. These five lessons offer students an opportunity to explore the wonder of the honey beefrom any classroom! With games, activities, readings, and extensions, these lessons are an excellentresource for any educator who is passionate about pollinator education. Dive right into these amazinglessons and let the learning begin! This Educator's Guide provides video links and book suggestions to boost your lesson planning for face-to-face and distance learning! 

This unique book is a love letter written as a poem from the author, Shabazz Larkin, to his two sons. This artist, author, and activist is learning to overcome his fear of our most amazing pollinators --bees! With careful research and experiences with his sons, Larkin is learning to be fearless and wants to teach kids to be brave when facing their fears.Lexile Level: Not availableGuided Reading Level: Not availableGenre: FictionPre-Reading

Learn how important the honey bee's body structure is to survival in the hive.What if there were no bees? How would it affect our grassland animals? How would it affect humans? This learning module offers insight into the problems that countless animals and plants face with the potential loss of the bees. Discover just how important this tiny species is to the food web of this ecosystem.This module could be incorporated into a larger environmental science module.This lesson includes learning objectives, material and resource lists, background information, activities,  videos, writing assignments, a game, assessments, and support documents. See the Educator's Guide for more video links and recommended readings. Remix of: 1.Create a Bee Hummer, Science Snacks Exploratorium 2. What If There Were No Bees? A Bee Cause Project 3. Hive Alive! Bee Bodies

In this webinar, we discuss how to build and grow a Bee Club for your school or organization. Special guest, Beth McCarty, is an educator and Bee Grant recipient who grew her school's Bee Club from the science lab observation hive to a campus-wide effort run through their Bee Club to learn alongside the bees.McCarty's school, Ashley Hall, is located in Downtown Charleston, South Carolina, so her experience is not only in urban beekeeping, but also deals with developing bee clubs over several grade levels. She shows us how to get creative, adapt to different learning levels, and how taking kids into a hive isn't the most important item on the Bee Club to-do list!Find educator lesson plans, resources, and more information about the Bee Cause Project grant opportunities at www.thebeecause.org!This webinar was offered in partnership with our friends at the Whole Kids Foundation.

Looking for community resources to support your Bee Program? Join guest speaker Clemson Extension School & Community Gardening Coordinator, Amy Dabbs, for ideas on how to tap into local and national partners poised to support your pollinator education program. The topics discussed will specifically pertain to those who are interested in, or currently participate in an educational Bee and/or Pollinator program. The presentation offered in partnership between The Bee Cause Project and the Whole Kids Foundation.

If you want to learn how to build a strong foundation for your Bee Program, we’ve got you covered!Our most successful programs begin with layers of lessons, curricula, and labs to foster the excitement and love of learning about the honey bee and other pollinators. We share exactly How to Grow Your Pollinator Education Program! With or without live bees on your campus, we will help to grow a community around your buzzworthy educational endeavors!

What if there were no bees? How would it affect our grassland animals? How would it affect humans? This book offers insight into the problems that countless animals and plants face with the potential loss of the bees. Discover just how important this tiny species is to the food web of this ecosystem.Grade Level: 3rd-5thLexile Level: 890LGuided Reading Level: NGenre: Nonfiction

An educator's guide to pollination and pollinator conservation written by Mary Hannah Lindsay and Chanda L. Cooper with Richland Soil and Water Conservation District in South Carolina. 

This book will take you on an amazing adventure with the bees! Section by section, learn all about the history of bees, the language of bees, and the science of bees. From honey products to honey eaters, this title will help students get excited about the world of bees!Grade Level: 2nd-6thLexile Level: Not availableGuided Reading Level: Not availableGenre: Nonfiction