This cute, bee-themed bulletin board / classroom display will get your students “buzzing” about their favorite memories and accomplishments of the school year.
Prior to making our bees I wrote “I liked” across the top of an anchor chart and “I learned” across the top of another anchor chart. We discussed favorite memories from the school year and I wrote them under the “I liked” heading. We also discussed some things that the students were proud of learning and I wrote them under the “I learned” heading. I gave the students the choice of which heading to use on their bees or they could use both or make two bees.
The patterns needed for the student-created bees can be accessed here. The instructions for assembling the bees and bulletin board are below.
Print the round bee body onto yellow paper. I made the body larger so that my kinders would have enough room to write and because I wanted to use it as a large display on the wall outside of our classroom. You may size the body and wings according to your needs.
Have the students cut out the body and color the stripes black starting with the first stripe at the top (the spaces in between are where they will be writing).
There are 2 different ways to create the wings. You can print the wing pattern (heart shape) onto white paper OR you can trace the pattern on wax paper and cut out wings that will resemble the transparent appearance of bee’s wings. I prefer to make both options available for students and allow them to choose which wings they want for their bees.
Copy the antenna patterns and give 2 antennas to each student. Have them cut them out and glue them to the top of their bee body.
Have students cut out a small triangle from pieces of black scrap paper or small pieces of black construction paper. Next, have students glue the wings and stinger to the back of their bee bodies as shown below.
Have students refer to the anchor charts and write what they liked or learned this school year in the yellow lines of the bee body and draw a face for their bee on the top.
Display students’ bees on a bulletin board or classroom display entitled We Had an “Un-bee-lievable” Year!.
If you would like the bulletin board letters / title shown above as well as 2 more end of the year bulletin board ideas with:
- Full instructions and pictures
- Patterns
- Printables and writing prompts
- Bulletin board letters / titles in full color and black / white
view my End of the Year Bulletin Boards & Craftivities Kit
Another fun bee activity that we like to do towards the end of the year is practicing addition and subtraction skills while buzzing around the room. The students like it because they can get up and move around the room which helps with their “end of the year restlessness” and I like it because it is differentiated. Read more about it here.
