Greetings class! 

Today we are excited to embark on an amazing journey to better understand pollinators, their important role in our lives, how they are impacted by climate change and increased human activities, and most importantly what we can do to help them! 

We have a lot to cover, so let’s get started.

To best understand pollinators, we will be raising them in our classroom throughout this module! On page 2 of your Student Activity Book, you will start by making an observation of your Painted Lady Butterfly in it’s cocoon (or chrysalis form). Later in our exploration, you will make a second observation in your Student Activity Book prior to your butterflies release to see how they have changed over time. 

[Educator Action: Outline Painted Lady Butterfly Lab goal and protocols]

Beauty of Pollination Video:

http://video.disney.com/watch/the-beauty-of-pollination-wings-of-life-4da84833e06fd54fff590f49

[Educator Action: Play video. When video is complete, have students reflect either in a group or on their own on things they noticed in the video. Discuss as a class the connections they made and the questions they might have]

Thank-you for all of your great video observations! Can anyone tell me what the birds and insects in that video were doing? [Ask for volunteers] 

Each of those individuals were participating in a very important process known as pollination. Has anyone heard about pollination before? [Ask for volunteers to explain what they may have heard about pollination.]

Pollination is a key phenomenon by which a pollinator moves pollen from one flower to another and in turn helps that flower or plant produce more seeds and flowers. We are going to learn more about pollination and pollinators, but first it’s important that we understand the key parts of the plant to better know how the process works.

Just like you and me – plants have different body parts with different functions. On page 3 of your Student Activity Book, can you correctly identify the different pieces of the plant?

[Educator Action: Allow students time to fill in their Activity Book and share their identifications with their neighbor.]

Most plants have four very important body parts. Their roots, like your feet, help them anchor into the ground and not get blown away in the wind. Unlike your feet however, the roots also uptake nutrients and water which helps the plant grow. The plant’s stem is similar to your backbone and skeleton and helps the plant stand nice and tall. The leaves of the plant help soak up another very important requirement for the plant- can anyone guess what the leaves soak up? Sunlight and Carbon Dioxide. Plants are incredible in that they use both of these ingredients, along with the water and nutrients from the ground, to create food and grow big. The final important piece of the plant is the flower. The purpose of the flower is to attract pollinators to come visit the plant and drink the nectar they provide. When pollinators visit the plants to drink the nectar they also pick up microscopic bits of pollen.

These pollen grains get stuck to the pollinator and transfer to other plants as the pollinators move from plant to plant. This is important because these pollen grains are what help the plant produced seeds and in turn more plants! Both the plants and pollinators benefit from this important relationship as pollinators receive nectar from the plant and in turn plants are able to reproduce.

On page 4 of your Student Activity Book is a space to design a flower that you think a pollinator would like. There are different types of flowers for different types of pollinators – each one just as unique as you and me. [Educator Action: Allow students time to design their flowers and share with a partner why they created the flower they did. Option to also do this as an art project]

Now that we better understand the parts of the flower and what makes flower attractive to pollinators – let’s talk about the pollinators themselves!

What are the different types of pollinators? [Ask students to name the pollinators they know.]
Pollinators come in many shapes, colors, and size.

Take a look at these photos. What types of animals do you see? What do they each have in common? What difference might they have?

We are going to take a closer look at some of the primary classes of pollinators.

Insects come in a lot of shapes and sizes and are excellent pollinators! What types of insect pollinators do you see here? Have you ever seen any of these on flowers in your backyard or school yard? What makes them good for pollinating? What types of plants might they pollinate?

Birds are another primary group of pollinators. What types of bird pollinators do you see here? Have you ever seen any of these on flowers or plants in your backyard or school yard? What makes them good for pollinating? What types of plants might they pollinate?
Another primary group of pollinators are bats and small mammals like mice and rodents. Have you ever seen any of these on flowers or plants in your backyard or school yard? Probably not, why? When do bats come out? What makes them good for pollinating? What types of plants might they pollinate and how?

Another primary group of pollinators are bats and small mammals like mice and rodents. Have you ever seen any of these on flowers or plants in your backyard or school yard? Probably not, why? When do bats come out? What makes them good for pollinating? What types of plants might they pollinate and how?

Not all pollination is done by animals, sometimes plants are wind pollinated. This means that their pollen is transferred to other plants only by wind. Have any of you seen pollen in the air before? You may have witnessed wind pollination and not even known!

So now that we understand the parts of a flower, what makes them attractive to pollinators, and who the pollinators are – let’s return to the process of pollination.

Pollinators are attracted to flowers on plants because they have something that the pollinators need: FOOD! Flowers have something called nectar, which is a sweet liquid that pollinators need to eat in order to survive. Flowers are a food source for pollinators, but they don’t just give away their nectar for free, they actually get something in return from pollinators. When pollinators eat nectar from the flower, they rub up on another part of the flower that contains pollen. Pollen is a powder like material that plants produce. While they eat, they are also covering themselves in sticky pollen. This pollen sticks to the pollinators when they leave. When they fly around to other flowers, they rub this pollen onto other flowering plants. When they bring pollen to a new flowering plant, this fertilizes the plant and allows it to grow a seed or fruit.

This process is called pollination. When pollinators move pollen from one plant to another (without even knowing it) they are helping plants reproduce by making fruit with seeds that will eventually grow into new plants! Without pollinators, plants wouldn’t be able to reproduce and make new versions of themselves.

One of the key pollinators similar to the Painted Lady Butterflies we are rearing in class is the Monarch Butterfly. Monarchs are excellent pollinators and travel great distances from Mexico all the way to Canada! [Educator Action: Using the Monarch Life Cycle Poster and Models – explain the life cycle of the Monarch Butterfly. Have students complete pages 5 and 6 in their Student Activity Book to reinforce learning.]

So why is successful pollination and pollinators so important nature and to us?

Pollination is one of the most important processes on the planet! Without it, we wouldn’t have access to almost all of the foods we eat and we wouldn’t be able to enjoy the beauty of plants in nature. Almost 80% of the world’s crop plants require pollination to produce crops (apples, blueberries, chocolate, coffee, melons, peaches, potatoes). We wouldn’t be able to grow food without them. And plant species wouldn’t be able to survive either because they need pollinators to help them grow new plants.

Bees, insects, birds, bats, and other pollinators are important for our food.[Educator Action: Ask students to examine the top two images or run Science Activity #3: Every Party Has a Pollinator Activity]What would our grocery store be like without bees pollinating our food?

Despite pollinators being so important, they face a significant amount of global and local threats.
What is threatening pollinators?

• Pesticides: Pesticides are used to keep pests that harm plants away BUT sometimes pesticides can accidentally harm pollinators tooHabitat loss:
• Pollinators are losing habitat where they eat and rest because many natural spaces have been developed into houses, roads, and buildings.
• Diseases
• Climate Change

[Review climate change talking points (optional to have students demo heat trapping blanket activity) – adapt this information based on group]

Does anyone know what climate change is and what is causing it?

So when we do things like drive in our cars, watch TV, and use electricity, we are burning things called fossil fuels. When fossil fuels are burned, they release invisible pollution into the air called greenhouse gases. In small quantities, these greenhouse gases aren’t bad and since they trap heat, they are actually responsible for keeping our planet habitable because they keep it at a livable temperature. BUT what’s happening now is that humans are burning WAY too many fossil fuels and releasing WAY too many greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases are beginning to build up and create a thick layer of gases in our atmosphere. This layer of gases acts like a blanket around the earth. [Heat trapping blanket demo]This blanket is heating the earth up and changing the global climate. And although the earth does go through natural changes in climate, we know that the current change in climate is caused by humans and the issue is that the climate is changing at such a fast rate that humans, plants, and animals won’t be able to adapt to these changes in time.

So what does our changing climate mean for pollinators and the plants they pollinate?

As temperatures increase in places like southern California, plants and animals are not able to simply adjust like we do by turning on the air conditioning or changing our wardrobe. So when areas get too hot for plants and animals to live comfortably, they must migrate to a find a new home that is cooler and has water. We see animals and plants do this as they move to higher altitudes to reach cooler temperatures. As the climate warms, we are seeing changes in typical weather patterns for each season, as our seasons become less predictable, patterns for plants and animals shift, which can cause problems for entire ecosystems.

Pollinators and plants work together to survive and they depend on each other to be in a certain place at a certain time of the year. BUT climate change can change the life cycle of a plant all together. If the Earth’s temperature is warming, flowers will emerge and bloom earlier in the year. A lot of flowers bloom in the spring time when there is less frost and warmer temperatures, but if the temperature is warmer earlier in the year, some flowers may come out earlier than usual and then disappear earlier than usual. If the life cycle of flowers is changed, it will throw other species out of their seasonal routine as well. This process is known as phenological mismatch. Phenology is study of seasonal and cyclical natural processes in relation to climate and plant and animal life. Animals like insects follow a cyclical seasonal pattern to match with flowering plants for pollination, so insects count on flowers to bloom at a certain time so they can gather nectar from the flowers. But if some flowers bloom earlier than usual, the insects might show up to find out that the flowers are gone and there isn’t any nectar for them.

This may cause the pollinators to starve or migrate to a new area to find nectar. This could also be a problem for the plants because they might not be pollinated, which means that they cannot make seeds to create new plants.

[Educator Actions: Have students fill out page 7 of their Student Activity Booklet and ask them what would happen if there were no flowers for the pollinators to find? To reinforce the concept of Phenological Mismatch- play Science

Activity #4: Phenological Musicmismatch]

Climate Change can cause many problems for pollinators beyond phenological mismatch including: rising temperatures, lack of water, spread of diseases, and more! Can you think of other ways that pollinators might be influenced by climate change?

This video shows scientists conducting an experiment on how climate change might impact pollinators.Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qsoRkl6Njs

[Educator Action: Play video. When video is complete, have students reflect either in a group or on their own on things they noticed in the video. Discuss as a class the connections they made and the questions they might have]

Review with students what they have learned to this point.

In terms of climate change and it’s impact on pollinators- there’s good news! We can help! As Climate Kids, each one of us is responsible to take action to help protect the earth and the plants and animals that call it home. Can someone name one of the 10 things to help protect the earth?

There are over 100,000 Climate Kids across the US and Mexico and we are all making a difference.

What will your climate commitment be?!

[Educator Action: Have students complete pages 8-10 in their Student Activity Book and share their climate commitments with the class]

To find out more about Climate Kids and what you can do to help protect the earth, please visit us! [Educator Action: Additional activities available in Pollinator Paradise Module to enhance student learning.]

[Option to use these slides for storytelling component. Book: Fever on the Land, Written and Illustrated by Stephen Aitken]