Somewhere between 75% and 95% of all flowering plants on the earth need pollinators. Pollinators provide pollination services to over 180,000 different plant species and more than 1,200 crops. That means one out of every three bites of your food is there because of pollinators. Pollinators include: bees, butterflies, bats, beetles, flies, and some birds.

Staff at the Wolfe County Extension Office along with the Family Resource & Youth Service Center Coordinators at Red River Valley Elementary, Campton Elementary, and Rogers Elementary saw a need and opportunity to teach young students about the importance of pollinators so a Pollinator Day program was developed.

All second grade students in the county came to the Extension Office for a day long program that rotated between stations covering various topics related to pollinators. The day began with students being read the Dr. Seuss book, “Show Me the Honey.” Students then were broken into small groups to learn about: the lifecycle of a butterfly; cooking with honey and the health benefits of honey; making lip balm and other products that come from beeswax; how honeybees communicate through “dance” (the students created their own communication dances) ; the structure of a bee hive, and different jobs bees have within the hive; and the tools required to take care of a bee hive. A member of the Powell County Beekeeper’s Association also brought an observation hive for the students to see. The day also provided students the opportunity to help plant a pollinator garden and release Monarch butterflies.

With our ever growing population and more land being dedicated to urban development, it is of utmost importance that the younger generations learn how crucial pollinators are to our environment and to our survival. Pollinator Day is a step in the right direction for our Wolfe County students and has become an annual event. Since the implementation of this program, we have seen an increase in school pollinator gardens involving more grades in the schools and will be building more in the coming school years.  

Students looking for the Queen Bee in the Observation Hive

Students planting seeds in the pollinator garden