Saturday, October 15, 2011

Using Your Question Words Again

I'm stuck in traffic with an entomologist.

If you ever have to be stuck in traffic, I highly recommend finding an entomologist to help the time pass (especially an entomologist who studies honey bees).  Since she's presenting lessons about bees to fifth graders, I learn about the kinds of questions fifth graders ask about bees.  It's all back to the question words: Who? What? Where? When? How? Why?

1.  How fast do they fly?  (We wonder how you might motivate a honey bee to fly as fast as she could.)
2.  Who gets to be queen? (Once chosen, she lays up to 3,000 eggs a day.)
3.  How do they communicate?  (They dance!  A waggle dance!)
4.  Where do they carry the nectar to bring back to the hive? (In a special stomach.)
5.  Where do they put the pollen they collect? (In little pollen pouches behind their legs.)

Inspired by the children, I start asking my own questions.   My husband asks about how much honey a hive can produce, and I ask more about the selection process for queen.  As we talk about bees, I realize I could continue asking and learning about bees for hours.  

Just one topic--bees--can last for a whole traffic jam if you ask the right questions.  Living with flair means you think like a curious fifth-grader and become fascinated again with the mystery of creation.

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Journal:  Did you know that all the worker bees in a hive are female?  I didn't!

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