Implement this Lesson:
This lesson needs to be partially taught outside. It is best to choose a good weather day to implement it.
Learning Objective:
Students will explore an outdoor area and search for pollinators to complete a nature journal entry.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)
6.11(A) research and describe why resource management is important in reducing global energy poverty, malnutrition, and air and water pollution
6.11(B) explain how conservation, increased efficiency, and technology can help manage air, water, soil, and energy resources
6.12(A)* investigate how organisms and populations in an ecosystem depend on and may compete for biotic factors such as food and abiotic factors such as availability of light and water, range of temperatures, or soil composition
6.12(B) describe and give examples of predatory, competitive, and symbiotic relationships between organisms, including mutualism, parasitism, and commensalism
6.12(C) describe the hierarchical organization of organism, population, and community within an ecosystem
6.13(A) describe the historical development of cell theory and explain how organisms are composed of one or more cells, which come from pre‐existing cells and are the basic unit of structure and function
6.13(B) identify and compare the basic characteristics of organisms, including prokaryotic and eukaryotic, unicellular and multicellular, and autotrophic and heterotrophic 6.13(C) describe how variations within a population can be an advantage or disadvantage to the survival of a population as environments change
7.10(A)* describe the evidence that supports that Earth has changed over time, including fossil evidence, plate tectonics, and superposition 7.10(B)* describe how plate tectonics causes ocean basin formation, earthquakes, mountain building, and volcanic eruptions, including super volcanoes and hot spots
7.11(A)* analyze the beneficial and harmful influences of human activity on groundwater and surface water in a watershed
7.11(B)* describe human dependence and influence on ocean systems and explain how human activities impact these systems
7.12(A)* diagram the flow of energy within trophic levels and describe how the available energy decreases in successive trophic levels in energy pyramids
7.13(A)* identify and model the main functions of the systems of the human organism, including the circulatory, respiratory, skeletal, muscular, digestive, urinary, reproductive, integumentary, nervous, immune, and endocrine systems
7.13(C)* compare the results of asexual and sexual reproduction of plants and animals in relation to the diversity of offspring and the changes in the population over time
7.13(D)*describe and give examples of how natural and artificial selection change the occurrence of traits in a population over generations
7.14(A) describe the taxonomic system that categorizes organisms based on similarities and differences shared among groups
8.10(A) describe how energy from the Sun, hydrosphere, and atmosphere interact and influence weather
8.10(B) identify global patterns of atmospheric movement and how they influence local weather
8.10(C) describe the interactions between ocean currents and air masses that produce tropical cyclones, including typhoons and hurricanes
8.12(B) describe how primary and secondary ecological succession affect populations and species diversity after ecosystems are disrupted by natural events or human activity
8.12(C) describe how biodiversity contributes to the stability and sustainability of an ecosystem and the health of the organisms within the ecosystem
8.13(A) identify the function of the cell membrane, cell wall, nucleus, ribosomes, cytoplasm, mitochondria, chloroplasts, and vacuoles in plant or animal cells 8.13(C) describe how variations of traits within a population lead to structural, behavioral, and physiological adaptations that influence the likelihood of survival and reproductive success of a species over generations
8.13(B) describe the function of genes within chromosomes in determining inherited traits of offspring
What Is Pollination?
Pollination happens when pollen (a yellow, powdery dust made by flowers) is moved from the stamen (male part of the flower) to the pistil (female part).
This lets the flower make seeds or fruit.
Flower part and why it matter
Stamen-makes pollen (the male part)
Pistil- Receives pollen (the female part)
Petals-Bright colors and sweet smells attract pollinators
Who Are the Pollinators?
Pollinators come in all shapes and sizes!
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Bees – carry pollen in little baskets on their legs
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Butterflies – move pollen while sipping nectar
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Hummingbirds – brush against pollen as they drink from flowers
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Bats – pollinate flowers that bloom at night
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Flies, beetles, and moths – help pollinate many wildflowers
Each pollinator likes different flowers based on shape, color, and smell!
How Pollination Happens — Step by Step
- Attraction- A flower’s bright color and sweet smell attract a pollinator
- Feeding time- The pollinator drinks nectar or collects pollen for food
- Pollen pickup- As the pollinator moves, sticky pollen grains stick to its body
- Pollen pickup- The pollinator visits another flower- pollen rubs off onto the pistil
- Seed and fruit formation- The flower is pollinated and begins to grow seeds or fruit
Why Pollination Is Important
Grows food- Helps plants make fruit, nuts, and vegetables we eat
Makes new plants- Seeds grow into new flowers and trees
Support wildlife- Animals eat the plants, fruits, and insects that rely on pollination
Keeps ecosystems healthy- Everything in nature stays connected and balanced
How We Can Help Pollinators
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Plant native flowers that bloom in different seasons.
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Don’t use pesticides that can hurt bees and butterflies.
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Provide water and shelter in gardens.
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Learn to love wildflowers—they’re pollinator favorites!
Fun Fact
One single bee can visit up to 5,000 flowers a day! That’s a LOT of helping hands (or wings)!
Possible Books:
- Plant the Tiny Seed by Christie Matheson
- Can you Hear the Plants Speak? by Julia Wasson
- The World’s Best Class Plant by Liz Garton Scanlon
- A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston
Materials Needed:
- Nature Walk Journaling card
- Pencil and colored pencils
Lesson Plan:
Engage:
- Students will explore a natural areas such as the campus pollinator garden
Explore:
- Students will record their observations using a NATURE WALK JOURNAL card.
- Students will walk around the campus Pollinator Garden looking for the presence of a pollinator(s) pollinating a flower.
- Their observations recordings will include words, pictures and numbers.
- Students will record the metadata – date, location, time, temperature, and outdoor sky observations.
- Students will be given prompts to record onto the NATURE WALK card: I notice…. I wonder…. It reminds me of…. They will reflect on these prompts while making their observations of the pollinator pollinating a flower.
Explain:
- Explain to students how plants are pollinated
Evaluate:
- Research why pollinators are important to our ecosystems for all flowering plants.
- They will conclude their findings by elaborating on what they believe would happen if we did not have any pollinators.
Evaluate:
- Students should have recorded the metadata onto their card.
- Their pictures should take up their whole card.
- They should have words, pictures and numbers recorded.