Stars in the Cottonwoods

A few of my favorite trees here at CCDS have to be the Cottonwood trees in the llama pasture.  They stand so tall and grand, their leaves quiver in the wind and their rough bark feels bumpy to the touch.  They are home to squirrels, robins and tons of insects such as ants and beetles.

Native Americans considered the Cottonwoods sacred trees, often performing ceremonies around the trees themselves.  I read some of our students a story about a unique trait of cottonwood trees.  If you break a twig on the "knuckle" or "growth scar", you will find a five pointed star.

Here is a link to a version of the native american story of how the stars became "stuck" inside the cottonwood trees.

www.fcgov.com/naturalareas/mn-res-pdf/cottonwoods-stars.pdf

Enjoy!

Photo credits:  www.theoldnaturalist.com

Flower Power

While learning about flowers and pollination, we took a closer look at the individual parts during a flower dissection.  Students looked for the stigma, stamen, petals, anthers and the carpel, where the fruit is made once the flower is pollinated.  Check out the pictures below!

Bees, please!

Last week, we learned all about bees and pollination!

We read a great book about bees, titled, Are you a Bee?.

In the book, we learned that worker bees tell each other where the flowers are by dancing!  We had to try this for ourselves.  

This first dance tells the other bees that the flowers are located very close to the hive.

This dance tells the other bees the direction of the flowers from the hive.  If the flowers are towards the sun once you leave the hive, you would begin the dance facing the sun.  If the flowers were away from the sun, you would face away from the sun as well.  Bees are so smart!

Don't forget to waggle while you dance!

(Ask your child to show you the waggle dance!)

We read some other great books about bees as well.

A great pollination experiment can be done with cheeseballs and starburst.  The nectar (starburst) is at the bottom of the bowl.  To get to the nectar, you have to go through the pollen (cheeseballs).  

Your hands tend to get sticky with pollen, just like bees!

We also had a visit from Erin Rupp, from Pollinate Minnesota, who taught us even more about honeybees.

She brought with her a live hive of bees for the students to view up close.

Erin also brought beekeeping suits for us to try on.  So cute!

To end the week, we pollinated flowers of our own.

Buzz, buzz, buzz!

We visited flowers, collected nectar and pollen.

Then, deposited the pollen into the hive.

What a week!  Next time you see a bee, say "Thank you!" for all they do!