Beekeepers Kristen Hall and Oscar Anderson with Bee My Honey hosted Calgary elementary students at their hives in Blackie on Friday, June 22nd.

In celebration of National Pollinator Week, the Grade 4 to 6 Connect Charter School students learned about bee's important role in the environment.

Humanities and Garden Specialist, Ivy Wait, teaches the students 'Get Growing' elective, and said the field trip was a part of the course.

"We adopted a bee hive earlier this year, so Kristen has been sending us updates weekly on how the bees are doing, and just as a study of why plants are important to the planet and to human beings in general, bees came up naturally."

Wait added, the kids are also learning about agriculture and where their food comes from.

"The Grade 4 curriculum does focus on knowing Alberta and the different regions and our history, so we've talked a lot about agriculture and farming not only being important to our history, but also in the present."

She said, on Thursday, the kids heard from a Professor from the University of Alberta about different types of crops and how to take care of them.

Grade 9 student, Kayla Neumann.

 

Grade Nine student at Connect Charter School, Kayla Neumann, tagged along for the field trip after completing a project about the declining bee population in one of her electives.

"Bees pollinate nearly one third of all plants in the world including crops and so without bees, there it would be very hard to find pollinators for enough food in the world."

Holistic Plant Based Nutritionist, Sonja Hildebrand, helps teach the Get Growing elective.

"Bees are so important and I think that it's important that kids have that respect and understanding for it," Hilderbrand said.  "That was my goal in getting involved in this program with the kids, to help them have a better understanding and a better respect for our environment and for our health."

Hilderbrand said, we all have to share this planet and it's about learning to grow together.