Native Bees in the Schoolyard: A Hands-on Citizen Science Project
Help me give my students mason bees, leaf-cutter bees, nesting tubes, a mason bee mud box, a wild bee nesting box, and Native Bee Network stickers so we can participate in citizen science and support native bees.
FULLY FUNDED! Ms. Holland's classroom raised $388
This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
My Students
It's often said that as we grow older we begin to get less curious. My students defy this. As the school year goes on, they get more curious as they make connections between concepts and start looking at the world in new ways.
My students are curious and creative problem solvers who make insightful observations as they engage with and learn from each other.
I teach at a Title I school with a diverse population of students who show me every day that, if given the chance, they will rise to the occasion.
My Project
California is a hot spot of biodiversity and this year in science, we're celebrating this biodiversity by bringing native habitat back to our campus. And while native plants will be a large part of this, we're also working to bring back some of the smaller, unsung organisms who perform important ecosystem services- native bees. To do this we're requesting nesting tubes to place in our native plant gardens, mason bee and leaf cutter bees to populate the nests, a mud box to provide appropriate nesting material, a wild bee nesting box to attract local native species, and Native Bee Network stickers to label our nest sites.
The Native Bee Network stickers we receive will allow us to register each bee house on campus with the Native Bee Network and participate in their citizen science project that maps native bees throughout the United States.
During this project, students will set up nesting sites and record locations on a map that is shared with scientists. Students will establish the mason and leaf cutter bees we receive at these sites and be able to observe their daily activities. When our bees cocoon, students will harvest and process the cocoons to overwinter them and help prevent disease. In the spring, students will return our wild bee cocoons to the nesting tubes. Throughout this process, students will upload observations and population numbers which are shared with the Native Bee Network. As information is collected about which native bees return yearly to our location, farmers will be able to use this information to inform their pollination plans.
This project will provide students with a unique opportunity to collect real-world data that informs their community and allow students to act as scientists as they learn about and support our local native species.
More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Holland and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
