Courtesy photo -  Denise Strong holds her baby, Oliver, who was game to participate in the day’s activities.

Courtesy photo –
Denise Strong holds her baby, Oliver, who was game to participate in the day’s activities.

Hawthorne Family Partnership (HFP), a Mineral County agency assisting local families in promoting early childhood reading for their children from birth to kindergarten entrance, held it’s inaugural monthly meeting at the Mineral County Library on Thursday, June 24.

HFP staff members Linda Larson and Syndee Bisiaux along with University of Nevada, Reno art education student Béa Whitney presented Dance of the Bees. Whitney read the children’s book Look Behind, available for check out at the Mineral County Library. Authors Lola M. Schaefer and Heather Lynn Miller wrote the book after their children asked them if animals had butts like people do. “Good question,” thought the authors. 

Larson, Bisiaux and Whitney helped attendees make bee butts to wear. The children learned about the positive effects bees have on the environment and practiced the bee waggle dance. The dance is how bees communicate direction and distance to patches of flowers, water or a potential nest-site. Parents were encouraged to wholly participate with their children in the activity. All attendees donned their bee butts and danced directions to the refreshment cooler and the Rose Garden.

“Working with the kids, parents and staff was an absolute blast. I haven’t interacted much with pre-school children in my UNR classes so this was a wonderful learning experience,” Whitney happily exclaims.
For more information about HFP’s Parents as Teachers program, please call their office at 775-945-1100.