The Wood Bee Ballet

It is spring here and the wood bees abound. For those of you unfamiliar with this giant nuisance, I will give you a brief lesson. Here in the South they seem to be prevalent. They look remarkable similar to bumble bees, but they rarely sting. They are also called carpenter bees and drill almost perfect holes approximately half an inch in diameter on the underside of wood surfaces. I know this because the brand new deck we built last summer has several of these burrows. It seems impossible to step outside without seeing these bees buzzing around this time of year and during a field day excursion outside my students became familiar with them too.

It was a beautiful day for career day at our school. The day entailed a trip outside to meet and speak with different members of our community. The bees seemed to take center stage with some of my students though. There were a few of my students, one boy in particular, who took to dodging the bees as if a part of some elaborate ballet. When the squeals of terror began to drown out the voices of the guest speakers I pulled all of my students aside and explained to the nature of the wood bees.

“Students, the bees you see buzzing around today will not bother you. They are wood bees in search of wood. They do not sting, and in fact the male bees don’t even have a stinger. Don’t worry about them, they will not bother you.”

My students listened attentively and seemed less concerned after the short lesson and began to settle down. All except my ballet dancer who continued to leap, prance, dodge and weave around every close encounter with the bees. It was quite comical to see the effects a harmless insect had on my otherwise strong confident student. The remainder of our time outside that day was spent with him pulled close to my side trying to redirect his attention to the speaker in an effort to calm him each time a bee came near.

A few days later on our way outside for recess, my first grade class and a fifth grade class were walking down to the playground. I glanced over and once again witnessed the wood bee ballet but this time it was not my student who took center stage. Three girls from the accompanying fifth grade class were all in a tizzy as a wood bee buzzed around. The noise caught the attention of my students who all watched as the girls raced wildly around the sidewalk.

My ballet dancer, as if he could not fathom what all the fuss was about, stepped up and in his most confident voice shouted, “They are just wood bees! They won’t hurt you.”

I smiled at him, and he grinned. Apparently my message did get through to him the day of the Wood Bee Ballet.