U:Bee Online Blog

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Bees! Helping Them Before It’s Too Late

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What did you eat this week? Breakfast-jam on your toast? Lunch an apple after your cheese and tomato sandwich? Dinner – pasta with a tomato sauce? Well, you needed bees to be part of all of this!   When most people think about bees, they just think about the honey they produce but actually they’re behind much of the food we eat, including most fruit and vegetables. Bees are crucial to our economy –the pollinate our crops and  without them it would cost UK farmers £1.8 billion a year to use other methods of crop growing.  A world without our bees would be a very different place.

There are 267 different species of bees in the UK but many species of bees are declining, with two bumblebee species known to be extinct. 

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Learn to Spell? It’s the Latest Hobby

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It only lasted one series on TV , but the show called The Big Spell back in 2017 has started a whole new interest in spelling as a skill.

Based on the Spelling Bee contests so popular in the USA, The Big Spell saw teams of young people compete through to the final, proving they really were the best at spelling!

For many of us, the use of computers and spell check has sent our spelling skills to the bottom of the class

What is a spelling bee? The National Spelling bee is famous in America and draws large crowds both in person and in arenas who gather to watch the competition.

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Learning How to Be A Scrabble Master

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Scrabble is actually quite simple to play. The point of this board game is to come up with a word or words by placing letter tiles on the scrabble board in such a way that the tiles would yield the most number of points. Scrabble is a great board game because it helps build vocabulary. Not only that, scrabble also helps in developing the use of logic, because it is also a game of strategy.

To play scrabble, you will need a scrabble set. The scrabble set consists of the scrabble board, four racks, a tile bag, and 100 letter tiles. Up to four people can play scrabble, but some people enjoy putting up teams who will pit their vocabulary skills against each other using only one scrabble set. Scrabble can also be played solo, just like the card game solitaire.

A dictionary would also be handy for challenges. There is an official scrabble game dictionary available, but any other dictionary will do.

Scoring in Scrabble

Scoring in scrabble is determined by two things: the value of the tiles used in the word and the placement of the tiles on the board. There is also a 50-point bonus for players who were able to utilize all their tiles in one single round.

 

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Stamp Collecting A New Skill

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Collecting stamps is a great hobby that people from all over the world enjoy. It doesn’t matter if you are young or old. This hobby is not only fun, interesting but you can also learn a lot. There is a whole wide world collecting stamp community for you to be part of. The key for collecting stamps is the variety you can collect. In this case you can certainly say more is better. If you are new to this hobby you have must realize that you have to have stamp collecting supplies ready before you start your collection of stamps.

Here is a list of supplies that you will need for your hobby. Stock books, stamp hinges, stamp tongs, magnifiers, glassing envelopes, blank pages, drying books, perforation gauge, water mark detector, stamp mounts, stamp catalogues, binders and of course stamp albums. This may look like big shopping list but there is no reason to be panic. Not like many other collecting hobbies, this hobby doesn’t have to be expensive at all. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on expensive equipment and supplies. There is of course a list of items no stamp collector can do without.

 

Let’s start with the one item that collectors cannot do without and that is a stamp album. The stamp album keeps your stamps safe while at the same time it enables you to organize your collection and to display your stamps in an attractive manner. Look for something that is high in quality. What you should look for is an album that contains plenty of space for your stamps and have strong bindings with thick pages made from good quality acid free paper. Another smart item you cannot do without is a stamp hinge. A stamp hinge is a small, folded, rectangular piece of paper or glassine coated with a gum. One end of the hinge is gummed onto the back of a stamp and the other end is gummed onto the album page. This helps to firmly hold the stamp on the page. These hinges are very inexpensive and around a thousand can be purchased for a few dollars. Stamp tongs look like tweezers, but these are specially designed for picking up and handling stamps. Tongs are available in both stainless steel and plastic. Either type will do, but make sure you choose tongs that do not have sharp edges, as they may tear and ruin your stamp. If the value of your collection is important to you then a stamp catalogue is a must. The stamp catalogue will help you identify a stamp and will also give you a rough indication of its current value. So, you exactly know how valuable your collection is in the world of philately. What you also need is a magnifying glass. This will help you to examine the inscription and design closely, the feature of a stamp as well as its condition. Also, the magnifying glass would help you spot the creases or printing error of a stamp. All of these factors have an impact on a stamps grade and its value. Glassine envelopes are translucent and available in various sizes. They are useful for sorting and storing the stamps before you place them in the album. You can also mail stamps in these envelopes. Some other gadget you will need is a perforation gauge. It measures the number of holes per two cm length of the perforations on the side of the stamps. Stamps differ in the number of perforations each have, which even helps distinguish between two identical looking stamps and also influence the relative rarity. A water mark detector is useful in detecting forgeries and identifying stamp varieties.

 

In hobby shops and on the internet all these tools are easy to find. Remember that these tools don’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. To start your hobby, you will need these stamp collecting supplies and have fun while collecting.

U:Bee Online is a licensed AAP (Approved Activity Provider) for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.  Achieve your Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Award or Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Award by completing the Volunteering, Physical, Expedition and Skills Section of your DofE Programme.    

Looking for DofE skills section activities?  Choose one of the U:Bee Online DofE skills section ideas, to complete your 3 month or 6 month skills section, for your Bronze Award or Silver Award and receive your Certificate and Assessor’s Report. 
Find Skills Section Courses at www.ubee.org.uk

Making a Collection From Clutter

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From postcards to thimbles to salt & pepper shakers, the seeds of an unintentional collection could be right under one’s nose. According to a recent Nielsen survey, one in 10 collectors developed an interest in the hobby by slowly acquiring items over time, and only later decided to establish their own showcase collections.

 

“My enthusiasm for collecting began as a child with the inexpensive cars my mother would buy me as a treat during trips to the market,” said Bruce Pascal, owner of the legendary Hot Wheels red-lined Beach Bomb, valued at £72,000 at a recent collector’s convention. “When I became an adult, I rediscovered these long-discarded playthings and grew to appreciate the artistry behind them.”

 

Each year, collectors like Pascal gather at conventions nationwide to show off and trade their precious items. Hot Wheels collecting “pros” provided the following suggestions on how to create amazing collections. These tips are applicable not just for die-cast vehicles, but for virtually everything under the sun:

 

  • Craft a theme-Whether it’s based on size, year, location, etc., crafting a theme will help narrow down the “shopping list” when searching for additions to any collection.

 

  • Be picky-It’s okay to pass on pieces that aren’t necessarily attention grabbers. Waiting for that personal “wow” aspect really helps to give each piece in a collection a unique value.

 

  • Become familiar-Re-search the collection before beginning the hunting-and-buying process. The more knowledgeable one is, the better the chance of getting a great deal on the price (as well as better quality on each piece).

 

  • Budget, budget, budget-Along with researching the details on each piece, know what others are paying for it and one’s own personal budget. Bargaining is allowed with dealers, so knowing the cost breakdown on either side will help to “seal the deal.”

 

So get out the dust rag and start cleaning-there could be many collections waiting to be discovered in the attic alone!

U:Bee Online is a licensed AAP (Approved Activity Provider) for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.  Achieve your Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Award or Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Award by completing the Volunteering, Physical, Expedition and Skills Section of your DofE Programme.    

Looking for DofE skills section activities?  Choose one of the U:Bee Online DofE skills section ideas, to complete your 3 month or 6 month skills section, for your Bronze Award or Silver Award and receive your Certificate and Assessor’s Report. 
Find Skills Section Courses at www.ubee.org.uk