1. business and industrial
2. agriculture and forestry
3. crops and seed

 2015 Learning Project Pathfinder ­ Grades 3­5 This 2­day learning project includes assignment instructions, links to websites and videos, required readings, and Field Trip Experiences.​
Students MUST complete the English Language Arts and can choose 2 components out of the 4 remaining. ​
The four components that they can choose from are Science, Social Studies, Mathematics and Field Trip experiences. Mandatory books are available through EPIC Books (​
getepic.com​
). All elementary students will receive a FREE​
username and password from their teachers. If parents want to sign up for an account, they will have to pay, so please wait for the information to be sent home from school. All elementary school libraries as well as the Burlington Public Library will have limited copies of ​
The Life Cycle of a Honeybee​
and ​
The Honey Makers​
to be used in the library­ they will not be available for check­out. Students will have project support opportunities provided by each school. The Burlington Public Library can be visited for research materials and access to digital resources via ​
the ​
Internet. A teacher will check­in on each student’s progress during the week of May 4th. At this time, teachers may provide feedback on any work in progress. The assignments are due by ​
June 1, 2015.​
Students who do not turn in the required assignments will be marked absent for both days. Read or listen to: The Life Cycle of a Honeybee​
by Bobbi Kalman available from EPIC books (​
getepic.com​
) Africanized Honey Bee​
by Cherry Lake Publishing available from EPIC books (​
getepic.com​
) Visit ​
Buzz About Bees​
​
to get more information about bees that will help you with your assignments. Visit ​
Buzz About Bees​
to get more information about bees that will help you with your assignments. Reading and Writing After reading ​
The Life Cycle of a Honeybee​
by Bobbi Kalman available from EPIC books (​
getepic.com​
), students must complete Part A (response to reading) and then choose to complete either Part B or Part C (writing). Grade 3 Part A Reread pages 10­19. What is the main idea? What are the key details that support the main idea? Part B Explain why the term ​
Busy as a Bee​
is true. Part C Write an alliteration poem about bees. Grade 4 Part A Reread pages 10­18. Write a summary of those pages. Part B Persuade someone who doesn’t like bees why they are important to us and the Earth. Part C Explain how bees communicate. Grade 5 Part A Reread pages 22­23. What is the text structure? How do you know? Part B Write a Public Service Announcement telling why people why we should not kill bees. Part C Persuade someone who doesn’t like bees why they are important to us and the Earth. Bees and other animals play an important role in our ecosystem as ​
pollinators​
of many different kinds of plants. Without bees many plants would be unable to reproduce! Part 1: Read this Science A­Z FOCUS book “​
Pollinators​
” and answer the read think and write questions on page 10. For more information about bee pollination watch this video​
. Part 2: Complete the pollinator engineering challenge below! Engineering Challenge: Build a Pollinator Prototype! Use the design process to create a tool that can pollinate a flower. Follow these steps to build the perfect pollinator prototype! 1) Watch this video to get started.​
You’ll learn how to test different materials to see how well they will pollinate and how to turn a 16 oz water bottle into your two test flowers. 2) Test different materials to find out which ones pick­up pollen best! Make a prediction on which material you think may pick up the most pollen. 3) Design a pollinator made of the best pollinating materials that you think can pollinate the “flowers” provided. 4) Test your pollinator. 5) Make improvements based on your results and test again! 6) Answer the questions given below about your pollinator prototype. 7) You can use the information from this Pollinator Test Page to help. Evaluating Pollen Materials I predict the _________________ material will pick up the most pollen. Does it pick up pollen? (yes or no) Does it drop off pollen? (yes or no) How much pollen does it drop off? (none, some pollen, a lot of pollen) Tape Cotton Ball Eraser Foil Home Material 1: Material 1. The materials that picked up and dropped off pollen well were: 2. The materials that did not pick up and drop off pollen well were: 3. List your materials from best to worst pollinators below: 4. Why do you think the best material picked up the most pollen? ______________________________________________________________________________________ Design and Test a Pollinator Prototype Draw a diagram of a pollinator prototype you hope to build and test on our test “bottle­flowers”. Label the parts with the names of the materials you will use to make the pollinator. Testing Results: 1. How much pollen did it pick up? A lot A little bit None 2. How much pollen did it drop off? A lot A little bit None 3. What parts of your hand pollinator worked well? 4. What parts of your hand pollinator did not work well? Improve your design and re­test to see if your pollinator worked better or worse. Be prepared to share your experience with your classmates. Please complete Parts A, B, and C. Focus Question ­ Why do honey bees use hexagons to build their hives instead of circles, triangles, rectangles, or pentagons? Readings Read the information included in this link​
­ ​
Shaping our World​
by Julia Wall Read the information included in this link​
­ ​
Types of Tessellations​
(regular, semi­regular, and nonregular) Read the information in this link​
­ ​
What is it about bees and hexagons? The Honey Makers​
by Gail Gibbons (optional) Part A Writing in Math What is a Polygon? Look around in nature and identify polygons they can see outside. Sketch and label at least 5 different polygons Watch the video in the link below Why do Bees love Hexagons? Part B
Project Building a 3D Tessellation model Materials Strips of different colored construction paper measuring 2” x 9”, ruler pencil Tape Math Journal (digital or written) 1. Make circles out of the strips by taping the ends together. Make 10 circles. Tape the circles together. Take a picture of your 3D model and insert into Digital Math Journal. 2. Writing in Math​
­ observations, What do you notice? Are there any gaps? How much area does each cell hold? 3. Use a different colored strip, measure and fold to make ​
Triangular​
prisms. Make 10 triangular prisms. Tape the Triangular prisms together. Take a picture of your 3D model and insert into Digital Math Journal. 4. Writing in Math​
­ observations, What do you notice? Are there any gaps? How much area does each cell hold? 5. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 with ​
Rectangular​
prisms, ​
Pentagonal​
prisms, and ​
Hexagonal​
Prisms. 6. Writing in Math​
­ ​
Why do honey bees use hexagons to build their hives instead of circles, triangles, rectangles, or pentagons? ​
Use your observations to conclude. Part C Open ended Problem Solving Bees have 4 wings and flies have 2 wings. There are some bees and flies in a room. There are 24 wings in all. How many bees and flies could there be? Do you have all the combinations? How do you know? Being a good citizen means taking action to make things better in your community and the world. ​
Choose one of the options below​
to think about taking action to help bees. Students must complete Part A and then choose from ​
either​
Part B or Part C. Part A Review the ideas in the ​
10 Simple Things You Can Do​
​
section on the ​
Buzz About Bees​
site. Choose one suggestion for helping to save bees (or invent your own) and make a list of 3­5 steps you would take to accomplish it. For example, if you are going to ask your family and friends to buy locally grown foods, your list might look like this: (1) make a list of people you will speak to and decide when and how (phone call, email, letter, or personal visit are a few options) (2) write out what you want to say in bullet points, and (3) find out where locally grown foods are sold to make your request easier for your friends and family to follow Part B If you can, go ahead and begin taking action on your list. Check off each item that you complete. When you have gone as far as you can, write reflection answering the following questions: ● How did it feel to practice good citizenship? Did you feel nervous, excited, or both? ● What was the most surprising to you as you took action? ● What did you like best, or what did you think was your best idea? ● Do you plan to go further with your list? or to practice good citizenship again in the future? You may write out your answer or videotape yourself answering the questions above. Part C If you can’t take action on your list right now, imagine that you did. Write a reflection answering the following questions: ● Does anything you planned to do make you feel excited? What? ● Does anything make you nervous? What? ● When you began planning your actions, what was your best idea? Why? ● When have you seen others practice good citizenship by speaking out or taking action to make things better? You may write out your answer or videotape yourself answering the questions above. Students might choose to take a field­trip experience as one of their optional choices. Please use the reflection template​
as a guide to your real­life experience. The information on the template can be presented in many different ways: through video or iMovie, picture journal, poster, Google Doc or Google Slides, on paper, etc. just be sure to include all parts of the template. You must also provide journalistic evidence that you attended the field trip location. Pictures at the location with you participating will help provide part of the reflective evidence about what you experienced on your field trip. Here are some examples of places you might visit in and around the Boston area (you are welcome to use field trip experiences outside Massachusetts as well, if you are traveling during April vacation): Discovery Museum ­ Acton Children’s Museum ­ Boston Museum of Science ­ Cambridge New England Aquarium ­ Boston Water Works Museum ­ Chestnut Hill Reservoir Einstein’s Workshop ­ Burlington Franklin Park Zoo ­ Boston Stone Zoo ­ Stoneham Roger Williams Zoo ­ Providence, RI Drumlin Farm Audubon Sanctuary ­ Lincoln Ecotarium ­ Worcester Boston Tea Party Museum ­ Boston Museum of Fine Arts ­ Boston Lexington and Concord Patriot’s Day celebrations and reenactments The Royall House and Slave Quarters ­ Medford Walk the Freedom Trail ­ Boston Exploring Massachusetts ­ Family Fun to Navigate and Discover​
(features fun and educational locations to visit in our area) Take a nature walk or hike through a natural location (Conservation area, state park, etc.). Along the way, record evidence of local plant and animal life including: specific species, tracks, shelters, holes, calls, smells, or other evidence. Please note the location, time, weather and description of the habitat you visited. Ask a beekeeper! Did you know Ms. Pavlicek is a beekeeper? Write 5 or more questions to interview Ms. P and ask her some questions about beekeeping. E­mail your questions to Ms. Pavlicek at ​
pavlicek@bpsk12.org