Mississippi Science L.1.3B.1
The Standard
- L.1.3B
- Students will demonstrate an understanding of the interdependence of flowering plants and pollinating insects.
Identify the body parts of a pollinating insect (e.g., bee, butterfly) and describe how insects use these parts to gather nectar or disburse pollen. Report findings using drawings, writing, or models.
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Ecology and Interdependence
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify an insect's legs, wings, and mouth. They explain how it sips nectar and carries pollen between flowers. They report what they found in a drawing, sentence, or model.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can label wings, legs, and the nectar-sipping mouth on a bee or butterfly. They can show pollen sticking to the insect's body or legs and reaching another flower.
Common Misconceptions
- Some students think wings scoop nectar or that pollen and nectar are the same thing. Others think insects carry pollen on purpose, rather than picking it up as they visit flowers.
How to Assess It
- Give students a picture of a bee beside two flowers. Ask them to label its wings, legs, and mouth, then draw and label how it drinks nectar and carries pollen to the second flower.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Build a bee with a cotton ball body, pipe-cleaner legs, and paper wings, then dab its body between two paint-dotted paper flowers.
Show a close-up of a butterfly sipping nectar, then ask, 'Which part reaches the nectar, and where might pollen stick?'
Deal picture cards showing bee tongues, butterfly mouth tubes, wings, and legs; partners match each part to sipping nectar, flying, or carrying pollen.
Show a photo of a bee on an apple blossom, then have students draw where pollen could land on the next blossom.
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