- April 26, 2025
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When honey bees sting a person, their stingers are embedded in the skin while ripping away part of the bee's abdomen, resulting in the death of the bee.
It was just one of the interesting facts learned by first grade students at Braden River Elementary and showcased at the Innovation Expo held April 10. The students present their projects twice a year during the expo to their fellow students. Then they do the same presentation for parents during an evening expo.
“Stingers get stuck and it pulls out their guts.That's what they were writing,” said Tina Stancil, the assistant principal at Braden River Elementary. “Oh my gosh, they're so into it.”
Student Skyla Perez thought it was cool that bees breathe out of their butts and Alex Gnesin told other students that boy bees are lazy.
Stancil said that each grade level has two or three project based learning subjects that they implement throughout the school year.
Stancil said that some subjects have been used before and others are new to keep things relevant and current.
The prekindergarten students' project was “Veggies, Rocks and Flowers, Oh My!” They planted a garden outside of the school with flowers and vegetables. There is also a rock garden as well as decorations made by the students.
The kindergarten project was titled “Growing Our Love of Reading.” The students read decodable books which focus on certain types of words, for example “sh” words or “th” words, in order to strengthen their phonic skills.
“It's easy to decode those words bit by bit when sounded out,” said Courtney Walker, the media specialist and curriculum coach at Braden River Elementary.
After they read the books, the kindergarten students created their own puppet shows.
The first graders learned all about bees in their unit called “All A Buzz.”
“We found the students worried about bees after seeing some bees circling the trash cans,” said first grade teacher Tammy Peters.
Peters said their driving question was “Why are bees important and how can we help bees?” They researched and wrote a book and also created a video as a class in full costumes about what they learned.
Second graders studied manatees and why they need protection through their project “Manatee Madness.” They have adopted 22 manatees this year and they watch them online via webcams.
Third graders had a new unit this year titled “Road Trip USA” where they were divided into groups and researched different regions of the United States.
For each region, they studied the importance, what landmarks are present there and what famous people originated there.
Stancil said the spark for this idea originated from third grade teacher Denise Miller who is retiring after this school year. Stancil said Miller has done this topic every year on her own.
“I think the rest of the team saw it as an opportunity to embrace that and jump on board,” Stancil said.
Fourth graders had “Entrepreneurship” as their project based learning unit. They learned all about the importance of money and needs versus wants. They started by reading the novel “Lemonade War” by Jacqueline Davies which revolves around sibling rivalry and entrepreneurial spirit.
They divided into 16 groups and brainstormed what kind of product or business they wanted to create. They created flyers, logos and mottos for their businesses. Walker said each group made between 40-100 products to sell to the public, including keychains, bandanas, wax crayons, fidget toys and stress balls.
The goal was to donate money to a charity through creating an innovative product or idea to sell. They raised $3,712 to donate to Nate’s Honor Animal Rescue.
The fifth grade students studied “Energy Savers.” To kick off the unit, they read the novel “City of Ember” which is a story about how the city has no lights. They were told to think about how much energy their households consume.
They created blocks of cities using renewable resources and circuits. Each of the classrooms were assigned a specific district including a housing district or a shopping district. They were also assigned a renewable energy source: hydropower, solar power, wind energy or mechanical energy.
“For example, their buses run on bio fuels or they have wind turbines throughout the city,” Walker said.
Stancil stressed the importance of these project based learning units as they use state standards to connect classroom learning to the real world.
“There is a focus on 21st century skills such as critical thinking, communication, creativity and collaboration,” Stancil said.
