All a’buzz

There are 2,000 new inhabitants at Hogsett Elementary School, thanks to The Bee Cause Project, which provided a grant for the honeybee hive.

Kayla Steber, third grade teacher at Hogsett, applied for the grant.

“I heard about this grant that they were doing … The Bee Cause Grant is to place these observational beehives in schools so kids learn about the bees and know to protect them,” she said.

Steber’s dad is a beekeeper, so she’s grown up around bees. She said she knows the importance of bees and wants her students to understand, too.

“They’re important for the food we eat, the flowers we see,” Steber said, explaining how the bees matter.

There’s a special covering for the hive’s enclosure in the cafeteria, to keep it dark. Bees like the dark, she explained to her questioning students, many who were seeing the hive for the first time.

The wooden frame containing the hive has Plexiglass on either side, allowing for easy viewing, with a tube that leads outside so bees can leave the hive and easily return.

“If you go outside, you’ll see the bees coming in and out,” Steber said to her students. 

The queen bee in the hive has been marked, she explained, so students could more easily spot her. Steber pointed out to enthralled students how the queen bee was a bit longer than the other bees. Each student got a chance to look at the hive and look for the queen bee.

When the frames get full, Steber and her dad will swap them out, and collect the honey, if any is available. Hopefully, they will be able to share some with the students, otherwise, she said, she plans to have her dad come visit the class.