Beeswax Bee Story

**pass out beeswax and let he children play with it while telling the story.... By the end the wax will be warm and they can manipulate and shape it. I make a bee so by the end I can show the bee to the kids as a final result of the story. They love that. (some children may get frustrated if they expect soft, workable clay to shape right away, so you don't even need to tell them what to do with the beeswax except hold it, smell it and play with it in their hands while you tell the story)

And you can begin with this short beeswax/sculpting verse

Little bees give their gift of gold
For you my little dears to warm and hold.
Story time is here to tell
Come listen to the fairy's spell
Create with your gift of gold
Something kind, true and bold.

-----

The Bee's Work

Nestled deep in the woods there is a tiny city. The folks that live there love their city very much (after all they built it their very own selves!) and take very good care of each other there. There is always plenty of delicious food, the babies there are always well cared for, and the rooms (each one exactly like the other) are all snug and well crafted. It is a very busy place as each one has special work to do and does it cheerfully and well. Even the Queen, in her royal chambers at the center of the city, stays busy with her special work of tucking new eggs each into their own cozy cradle. 

This tiny city is a beehive and the folk that live and work there are, of course, the bees!

In the Spring and Summer and Autumn, when flowers are blooming, I’m sure that you’ve seen the bee-folk humming merrily as they move all about over the land visiting blossoms. Look, here is one now…watch her as she forages, sipping a little nectar here and a little nectar there. Sometimes as she flies she gathers yellow flower dust into her little leg-baskets as she goes. But today she is gathering nectar. She visits hundreds of flowers! She is collecting nectar to bring home to the hive-city, sometimes sipping a little for herself. Now both her tummy and her nectar bag are quite full of nectar and she is flying home with her heavy load. 

In the city, there are many sisters waiting to help her. She gives them the nectar from her bag and they take it away to make it into golden honey. (This will be the food that all the bee folk will need in the cold months when there are no flowers blooming on the land.) Sometimes our little bee brings her nectar to her sisters and then flies right off again to collect more, but today her tummy is so full that she must rest. She climbs to the ceiling of the hive where some of the other full bee-folk are already gathered. She tucks up her wings and smooths her pretty yellow-and-brown jacket and takes a nice, long nap. 

While she is resting something wonderful happens….for when she wakes up and stretches and straightens her little jacket, she finds that all eight of her jacket pockets are full of wax! She takes it out of her pockets and presses it, and pulls it, and pushes it, and kneads it until it is smooth and soft, fragrant and golden. This beeswax is precious and important…it is what the bee-folk use to build their entire city! Beeswax forms the perfect walls of all the snug little houses, all the little honey pots and their lids, all the little cradles for the growing baby bee-folk…what a wonderful thing our bee has done! She takes her bit of beeswax and puts it together with the wax that her sisters have made, then off into the blue sky she buzzes, in search of more blossoms.

The bee-folk work so very hard that they often make more honey and more beeswax than they need for their city. Sometimes there is a gentle and careful person, a “beekeeper” who cares for and protects bees in their hive-city and is able to share in their honey and beeswax. So, somewhere there is a city of beefolk and a careful beekeeper who together made it so that we could have this treasure.

**story from www.bobbinsandbrambles.blogspot.com

Math Gnomes

"Mathematics is the language with which God has written the universe." Galileo

Math Gnomes (characters for introducing basic math concepts)

Addition (green) -Phlegmatic Prince Plus
Plus keeps what he finds. He has quite a heap.
He adds the new to the old and yells "They're mine to keep!"

Subtraction (blue) -Melancholic Princess Minus
Minus has a loving heart, but his pockets are always bare.
What he doesn't lose, he is always willing to share.

Multiplication (yellow) -Sanguine Prince Times
Times is quick and able. He gathers with great speed,
Handfuls at a time he gets...his bounty multiplies indeed!

Division (red) -Choleric Princess Divide
Our friend Divide takes greatest care
to ensure everyone has an equal share.

Equals (purple)
Good King Equals is always fair.
He sees the same everywhere!

Math Verses: Numbers

One is the Sun that shines so bright,
One is the moon so high;
One is the day and one is the night,
One is the sheltering sky.
One is a head so still and tame,
Upon one body whole with health;
And I is the one and the special name
That only I can call myself!


Two are the eyes with which I see,
Two are the ears that hear;
Joy and sorrow both live in me,
And so do courage and fear.
Darkness and Light must together live,
Night and day are as sister and brother;
And two are the hands that receive and give,
To help myself or serve another.


Around me in the world I see
Beast and plant and stone.
Nature weaves her world as Three,
But I am three in one:
A head well-wrought for wisdom's work,
A heart hallowed by love;
Strong limbs to labor on the earth
As Angels do above.


Summer and Autumn, Winter and Spring,
Through Four seasons passes the year;
Fire and Air, Water and Earth--
Out of these four does our whole world appear.


Five are the fingers upon each hand,
Each foot has its five toes;
Five rays has the star shining high o'er the land,
Five petals has the rose.
And when with limbs outstretched I alight,
Like a five-pointed star
All the world I make bright.

Verse: Grammar

(Nouns and Verbs For Class 2 or 3 Grammar)

Of all the things I can know and love, 
Like the earth below and the sky above, 
The wind in the trees 
And the waves of the sea: 
All these the noun will name for me. 
  

The dolphin, the whale and fishes bright,
The lark at dawn, and the owl of the night,
The fox in his den,
And the buck that springs:
The naming noun will name these things. 

  

Of all the things that as deeds are done,
I can leap or linger, romp and run,
I can weep salt tears,
And chuckle with glee:
And these the doing verbs decree. 

  

I live, I learn, I wish for, I work,
But if a good deed I would lazily shirk,
Then a charm I can say
The good to fulfill:

I can,
I should,
I want to,
I will!

VERSE: Acorn & the Oak

Acorn and Oak

“Oh I’ll never be big,” the acorn said 
As it gazed on high to the oak tree tall, 
“I’m little and round as a miller’s thumb, 
I’ll never be big, I’ll always be small.” 
  
The oak tree smiled a knowing smile, 
“My trunk is thick, and my roots are deep, 
My branches and twigs spread high and wide, 
For birds to nest in, and bugs to sleep. 
  
But I was an acorn too on a time, 
- ‘Oh I’ll never be big, I’ll never be strong,’- 
That’s what I thought many years ago... 
 And, dear little acorn, you see I was wrong!”

Paul King

Fable Verse: Fox & the Crow

The Fox and the Crow 
    (after Aesop) 
  
A coal-black crow sits in a tree, 
A morsel of cheese in his beak has he. 
A fox slinks by as sly as you please, 
And cunningly plots how to get the cheese. 
  
“Oh how I admire your feathers so spry, 
The sheen of your tail and the glint of your eye, 
The elegant curve of your beak sharp and long - 
But would I could hear your sweet voice raised in song!” 
  
At this the crow’s flattered and quite taken in; 
To impress the fox further he will now begin. 
He throws back his head, and rasping and raw,
He utters a raucous, cacophonous “Caw!” 
  
With beak all agape, the cheese tumbles out, 
The fox snaps it up in his long pointed snout. 
“Sing, Crow, your vanity, long as you please. 
You keep your song, and I’ll have the cheese!”

  Paul King

Fable Verse: Lion & Mouse

The Lion and the Mouse 
       (after Aesop) 
  
Lion lies sleeping, silent and still, 
Along comes a mouse and thinks he’s a hill. 
Up the great body the little mouse goes, 
Through mane, across ear, and down Lion’s nose. 
  
But Lion wakes up and gives a great roar, 
Catches poor Mouse in his long cruel claw. 
“How dare you walk over your king and your lord!
For this only death shall be your reward.” 
  
The little mouse shivers and shudders with fright, 
Tries hard to think how to put things a-right. 
“Forgive my mistake, mighty Lion, I pray, 
And I promise to help you too some day.” 
  
At this Lion laughs and shakes to and fro, 
But he’s now in good humour and lets the mouse go. 
  
Days come and days go, and some hunters pass by 
Who set a great lion-trap cunning and sly. 
Lion walks in, unaware of the threat, 
And suddenly finds himself caught in a net. 
  
Frustrated he roars with wrath and despair; 
Little Mouse hears how he’s caught in a snare. 
She remembers her promise and runs without pause 
To the spot where the Lion so rages and roars. 
  
Her sharp little teeth set to gnawing the rope, 
Thread after thread, now the Lion feels hope. 
Soon there’s a hole and the Lion is freed. 
The Mouse has kept her promise indeed!

 Paul King