Teaching Resources

Resources you can use in a classroom or at home are below. Links were verified in May 2026; please email sfbee@sfsu.edu if you find a broken link.

GSP Downloads & Classroom Materials

These materials are produced by the Great Sunflower Project and are free to download and reproduce for educational use.

• Printable pollinator coloring sheet — developed in partnership with SciStarter for public library programs
• Field data sheets — print-ready observation recording forms for classroom counts
• Bee Natural History Cards — natural history information on common bee genera
• Bee identification cards — genera — illustrated cards for identifying bee genera in the field
• Bee identification cards — species (Sam Droege's flash cards)
• Is it a bee, fly, or wasp? — illustrated slideshow for classroom ID practice
• Pollinator photo gallery — online photo identification guide for common pollinators

Curriculum Guide

Driven to Discover: Pollinators and the Great Sunflower Project is a free, 142-page curriculum guide produced by the University of Minnesota with NSF funding. It walks students through the full arc of scientific inquiry — from building basic observation skills to contributing real data to citizen science and conducting their own independent investigations. Aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for grades 4–10.

Download the Driven to Discover curriculum guide (PDF, free) from the University of Minnesota Extension.

About Bees: Books

Recommended for K–8 classrooms and home libraries:

• The Honeybee Man by Lela Nargi
• Big City Bees by Maggie de Vries
• The Beeman by Laurie Krebs
• The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco
• The Very Greedy Bee by Steve Smallman
• Buzzy the Bumble Bee by Denise Brennan-Nelson
• The Honey Makers by Gail Gibbons
• These Bees Count by Alison Formento
• Are You a Bee? by Judy Allen
• Honey in a Hive by Anne Rockwell
• UnBEElievables: Honeybee Poems and Pairings by Douglas Florian

About Bees: Curricula and Lesson Plans

• Penn State Center for Pollinator Research — Classroom Materials
  A curated library of K–12 lesson plans and activities on pollinators, NGSS-connected, produced by Penn State University. Includes lessons on flower anatomy, pollinator ecology, and native plant gardens.
• California Academy of Sciences — Flowers Seeking Pollinators
  Students use real observation data to construct explanations about which flowers attract which pollinators. Includes flower diagrams and pollinator data sheets. Grades 4–8.
• Science Journal for Kids — Teaching Activities about Pollinators
  A curated, free collection of hands-on pollinator activities and online simulations reviewed by science educators. Continuously updated.
• Project Learning Tree — Pollinator Activities
  Hands-on activities including flower dissection, bee anatomy, static charge and pollen, and building mason bee shelters. K–8.
• KidsGardening — Pollinator Lesson Plans & Activity Kit
  Three linked lessons: making model flowers, a "Blossoms Restaurant" pollinator-matching activity, and planning a schoolyard pollinator garden. NGSS connected.

About Bumble Bees

• Bumble Bee Watch — Interactive Field Guide
  An interactive online field guide: filter by head, thorax, and abdomen color patterns to identify North American bumble bee species. A great classroom ID tool.
• Bumble Bee Atlas — Identification Resources
  Regional guides to bumble bee species for all parts of North America, plus links to national identification tools including iNaturalist and BugGuide.
• Xerces Society — Bumble Bee Identification
  Conservation-focused identification resources from the leading pollinator conservation organization in North America.

About Flowers

Books:

• The Reason for a Flower by Ruth Heller

Online resources:

• MpalaLive — Pollination Lesson
  A complete, standards-aligned lesson on flower parts and pollination. Students label diagrams, role-play the pollination process, and observe real flowers outdoors. Grades K–5.

About Sunflowers

Curriculum ideas for using sunflowers across subject areas, originally compiled from the National Teacher Training Institute:

Books for K–4:

• From Seed to Sunflower by Gerald Legg and Carolyn Scrace
• Sam Plants a Sunflower by Kate Petty and Axel Scheffler
• Sunflower House by Eve Bunting
• Sunflower by Miela Ford
• The Sunflower Went Flop by Joy Cowley

Writing: Have students write stories or poems about sunflowers (for example, "If I were a sunflower…"). Students can keep a sunflower journal to record observations about growth and change over time.

Math: Count, estimate, measure, and weigh sunflower seeds. Record weekly sunflower heights on a growth chart. Count petals. Create seed patterns and shapes.

Social Studies: Research how sunflower seeds travel from farms to stores, where sunflowers are grown around the world, and the history of sunflowers as a food and cultural plant.

Health: Research the nutritional value of sunflower seeds. Are they healthy? What vitamins and minerals do they contain?

Art: Study Vincent Van Gogh's sunflower paintings and have students create their own sunflower paintings or seed collages. Van Gogh's birthday (March 30) makes a natural hook.

Gardening:

• KidsGardening — Pollinator Garden Planning Lesson
  Students design a schoolyard pollinator garden, research native pollinator species and their habitat needs, and plan plantings. Adaptable for grades 3–8.
• Sow Right Seeds — Sunflower Gardening Lesson Plan
  A straightforward, classroom-tested lesson for planting sunflower seeds. Covers germination, soil, light, and growth observation. K–6.

Pollinator Gardens in the Classroom

• KidsGardening — Pollinator Lesson Plans and Activity Kit
  Hands-on activities from flower anatomy to garden planning, culminating in a real or simulated schoolyard pollinator garden design.
• Penn State Center for Pollinator Research — Classroom Materials
  Includes a grades 3–5 lesson in which students design their own pollinator garden using criteria based on native plant species, color, and bloom season, integrating math (area and perimeter).

Links verified May 2026. The Great Sunflower Project is not responsible for the content of external websites. If you find a broken link or would like to suggest a resource, please contact us at sfbee@sfsu.edu.