"Big Buzz About Bees" Classroom Programs

These funds will allow us to perform outreach to approximately 15 schools in San Diego and San Mateo County, serving approximately 48 classrooms and 1000 first-grade students. We aim to provide each classroom with a one-hour "Big Buzz About Bees" lesson, and we will perform outreach to under-resourced zip codes/districts.

For every $125 donated, we are able to visit 1 classroom with our program.

Every $30 helps us reach approximately 5 children.

Sager Family Farm's "Big Buzz About Bees" program is fiscally sponsored by The Beekeepers' Guild of San Mateo County (a 501c3 organization). Thanks to the guild's sponsorship, your donation will be tax deductible and Sager Family Farm will be able to provide the same great "Big Buzz About Bees" lessons to even more schools.


Program Mission

 

The mission of this program is to foster a love for learning, curiosity about the natural world, and help our students apply project-based lessons to real-world applications. Our elementary school lessons bring learning to life and spark interest in STEAM fields through hands-on, engaging activities.

 

"Big Buzz About Bees" represents the best traditions of STEAM education with substantive and thought-provoking lessons for early childhood learners. Our Nature Educators bring all the parts of a working beehive into the classroom, creating an exciting learning environment while reinforcing key learning objectives. Each lesson is packed with themes that align with the CA Dept of Education "Desired Results for Children and Families", CA Common Core, Next Generation Science Standards and the CA Blueprint for Environmental Literacy.

What is "Big Buzz About Bees"?

 

"Big Buzz About Bees" is an engaging, in-class experience that students love. We bring in all the parts of a working beehive, beekeeping tools, and even 5,000 live honey bees! Our study of honeybee colonies reinforces first-grade level learning objectives such as: Insect Body Parts, How Parents Help Offspring, Geometry & Shapes, and Counting by Tens.

 

Our observational hives allow students to sneak a peek at worker bees caring for young larvae, making honey, and building the walls of their hive. If the students look closely, they may even get a glimpse of the elusive Queen Bee herself!

 

The "Big Buzz About Bees" lesson typically covers:

 

* Due to Covid-19, we are currently not doing tastings in classrooms.

Projected Partner Schools

 

We will perform outreach to schools in San Mateo and San Diego County that are at risk of lower academic performance long-term. We have based our prospective outreach on School Accountability Report Card data, which includes: socioeconomic, English language learner, migrant, and disability statuses.

 

San Diego County prospective partner schools include schools in the 92113, 92105, 92104 zip code, including: Balboa Elementary, Burbank Elementary, César Chavez Elementary, Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary, Mountain View School, Perkins K-8, Porter Elementary, Rodriguez Elementary,  Marshall Elementary, Oak Park Elementary, Rosa Parks Elementary, Rowan Elementary, Central Elementary, Cherokee Point Elementary, Euclid Elementary, Fay Elementary, Hamilton Elementary, Joyner Elementary, Edison Elementary, Jefferson IB Steam Magnet and McKinley Elementary.

 

San Mateo County prospective partner schools include schools in the Ravenswood City School District, including: Belle Haven Elementary, Brentwood Academy, Costaño Elementary, East Palo Alto Charter, KIPP Valiant Community Prep, Los Robles-Ronald McNair Academy, and Willow Oaks Elementary.

We will only be able to reach out to 15 schools with the funds requested - but hopefully if we get some extra funds, we'll be able to reach more schools on our wish list!