Read, Write, ROAR! with Brian Peterson-Roest

Education & Outreach

Read, Write, ROAR! with Brian Peterson-Roest

Bringing Michigan’s nature, history and communities into the classroom through literacy.

Education has always been at the heart of Bees in the D. Through the Michigan Learning Channel’s Read, Write, ROAR!, Bees in the D founder Brian Peterson-Roest brought that passion beyond the hive and into classrooms across Michigan.

The Michigan Learning Channel partnered with experienced Michigan teachers to create educational video lessons and corresponding activities that support literacy while connecting students with the world around them. Lessons align with Michigan teaching standards and the Literacy Essentials, giving educators, families and homeschoolers resources that can complement what students are already learning.

Brian’s lessons are designed for upper-elementary learners and cover much more than bees. Pollinators make an appearance, of course, but the series also takes students to the Detroit River, Sleeping Bear Dunes, the Great Lakes, Michigan’s historic border disputes and even the story of Anishinaabemowin. Along the way, students practice skills including comparison writing, sequencing, cause and effect, research, timelines, interviews, opinion writing and first-person storytelling.

Learning Through Michigan

Literacy lessons rooted in the places students know.

Rather than separating reading and writing from science, conservation, history and community, these lessons use real Michigan stories as the starting point. Students can learn how to organize a comparison while studying native bees, practice first-person writing through the return of river otters or explore cause and effect by looking at invasive species in the Great Lakes.

Watch the Lessons

Explore Brian’s Read, Write, ROAR! Videos

Each lesson pairs a Michigan-focused topic with a practical reading or writing skill for upper-elementary students.

Grades 4–5

Pollination Power: Native Bees

Venn Diagrams for Grades 4–5

Explore two native Michigan bees and the important work they do as pollinators while learning how a Venn diagram can organize similarities and differences for comparison writing.

Grades 4–5

Bloom Boom: Algae Impact

Sequencing for Grades 4–5

See how choices made far from the shoreline can contribute to harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie, then use sequencing to organize the chain of events and better understand what happens along the way.

Grades 4–5

Otterly Amazing: Detroit River Tales

First-Person Writing for Grades 4–5

Learn about the return of North American river otters to the Detroit River after generations away, then use that story as inspiration for writing from a first-person point of view.

Grades 4–5

The Toledo War

How Timelines Work

Michigan and Ohio once found themselves in a dispute over the Toledo Strip. Brian walks students through the events that shaped Michigan’s borders while demonstrating how timelines can organize historical information.

Grades 4–5

Wind Power

Writing an Opinion Essay

What makes a strong opinion more than just an opinion? Students explore wind power in Michigan while learning how research, supporting evidence and sequencing words can build a persuasive opinion essay.

Grades 4–5

How Interviews Work

Learning Through Conversation

Brian introduces students to interviewing through a conversation about Anishinaabemowin, demonstrating how thoughtful questions, careful listening and follow-up questions can help us learn from another person’s expertise.

Grades 4–5

Sleeping Bear Dunes

How to Create a PSA

Visit one of Michigan’s best-known natural landscapes while learning why national parks need protection. Brian then shows students how to turn what they learned into a clear and effective public service announcement.

Grades 4–5

International Wildlife Refuge

How to Compare Habitats

Head outside with Brian at the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge to observe wetland, forest and prairie habitats and discover how firsthand observations can become useful research for a writing project.

Grades 4–5

More Read, Write, ROAR! with Mr. Peterson

Another Michigan Learning Channel lesson with Brian connecting real-world learning with reading, writing and exploration.

Grades 4–5

Aquatic Intruders: Goldfish Effects

Cause and Effect for Grades 4–5

A tiny pet goldfish can become a major problem when released into the wild. Students explore invasive goldfish in the Great Lakes while learning to identify, organize and write about cause-and-effect relationships.

Education Is Part of Our Mission

Whether it happens beside a hive, in a classroom or on a screen, helping people better understand the natural world is a central part of what we do at Bees in the D. We’re proud to see Brian bring that same curiosity to students across Michigan through Read, Write, ROAR!

Teachers and families can find additional lessons, activity sheets and educational resources through the Michigan Learning Channel .

Videos and educational materials produced by the Michigan Learning Channel and Read, Write, ROAR!.