Telling the Story of Pollinators

Warm Up: Quick Write

• In your students’ science notebook, or as a group discussion, give students five minutes to answer this prompt: What is your favorite pollinator and why? And how will climate change impact its life?
• Brainstorm with your students about the impacts of climate change that will affect pollinators (drought, wildfires, migration changes, phenological mismatch).  
• Reinforce the claim that pollinators are very important to an ecosystem and help maintain balance. 
• Tell students that they will read about climate change and the impacts it can have on all animals, especially pollinators, and what that can mean for an ecosystem. Students will tell the story of these impacts on the species of their choosing through different mediums. 

Activity: 

Read Fever on the Land (pages 16-18) and supplement reading with one or more grade appropriate library books related to pollinators. Students will depict through any medium of storytelling how a pollinator is impacted by climate change. 

Telling the Story:

Have students research and describe through any medium of storytelling how pollinators are being impacted by climate change. Students can write haikus, short stories or journal entries, or can perform a skit with a small group of classmates. Have students sing the Butterfly Ballad on Page 5 of their Pollinators Paradise Student Activity Book for inspiration.