Agricultural Literacy Curriculum Matrix
Lesson Plans (8)
Fermentation of Honey
This lesson explains the processes of cellular respiration and fermentation and how it applies to the production and processing of honey. Grades 9-12
Flower Power (Grades 3-5)
Students observe physical characteristics of flowers and explore principles of pollination. Grades 3-5
Flower Power (Grades 6-8)
Students observe the anatomical structures of flowers and explain a flower's role in plant growth and reproduction as well as their connection to our food supply. Grades 6-8
Honey Bees: A Pollination Simulation
Students identify the parts of a honey bee, the stages of its life cycle, and its role in pollination. Grades 3-5
Honey as a Biomolecule
Students will learn about different types of carbohydrates, the role of enzymes in breaking down complex sugars into simple sugars, and how different sugars impact our perception of sweetness and may impact human health. Grades 9-12
Mind Your Own Beeswax
Through project-based learning, students solve the problem of excess beeswax, a byproduct of honey bees, by developing a useful beeswax product and marketing their product to be sold in a local boutique or farmers market. Grades 6-8
Preservation Power of Honey
Students will expand their knowledge of microbial growth and scientific food preservation methods to learn how honey can serve as an antibacterial agent. Students will learn how honey may be used as a preservative of milk in areas without access to electricity or refrigeration and how this preservation method relies on elements found specifically in honey that cannot be replicated with other sources of sugar. Grades 9-12
The Amazing Honey Bee
Students investigate the three types of honey bees in a colony, identify their roles, and recognize honey bees as part of a community that works together. Grades K-2
Companion Resources (39)
Activity
Beebuzz
This is a game in which students take turns rolling a die and drawing parts of a bee. Any number can play, and the only materials needed are a piece of paper, a pencil, a six-sided die, and the included printable activity sheet.
Imported Food Safety
Through this web quest, students will examine where their food comes from, federal agencies involved in protecting our food supply, how imported foods such as honey present a safety challenge, and what measures are being taken to meet these challenges. This activity can be paired with secondary lessons on food safety.
Book
Achoo! Why Pollen Counts
A picture book teaching children about pollen, the pollination process, and bees. The story follows a baby bear who is allergic to pollen. He learns how pollen is used by other insects and animals such as spiders, butterflies, honey bees, hummingbirds, and more. This book can be added as an extension for lessons about flowers and pollination to help students see additional benefits and uses of pollen.
Beekeepers
This is a story of a young girl who helps her grandpa tend to his beehives so he can pass the legacy of being a beekeeper on to her. The book has soft oil paintings and simple illustrations which leave readers with a warm feeling of a shared experience between grandfather and granddaughter. However, it does not provide a great deal of information about bees.
Bees and Wasps
Bees and Wasps is a 32-page book filled with color photographs and illustrations. Learn about their lifecycle and the varieties of bees and wasps that pollinate flowers and make honey. You will also learn about the organization of beehives, the roles of each bee, and how they all work together to make honey and pollinate flowers.
Buzzing With Questions: The Inquisitive Mind of Charles Henry Turner
Can spiders learn? How do ants find their way home? Can bugs see color? All of these questions buzzed endlessly in Charles Henry Turner's mind. He was fascinated by plants and animals and bugs. And even when he faced racial prejudice, Turner did not stop wondering. He constantly read, researched, and experimented.
Flight of the Honey Bee
This colorfully illustrated book follows a honey bee as she leaves the hive to search for pollen and nectar. The bee uses her senses of sight and smell to find flowers and to remember the way back. She pollinates flowers while collecting pollen and nectar to bring back to the hive. Interesting facts about bees are given alongside the story of the honey bee called Scout.
Flower Talk: How Plants Use Color to Communicate
It's true! Flowers use the colors of their flowers to communicate with animals. But why animals? Because they help plants make seeds by moving pollen from one flower to another. Learn the secrets of flower talk from a narrator with an inside scoop. Flower Talk features a cantankerous talking cactus as a narrator, revealing to readers the significance of different colors of flowers in terms of which pollinators (bees, bats, birds, etc.) different colors "talk" to.
Give Bees a Chance
Not sure whether to high-five bees or run away from them? Well, maybe you shouldn't high-five them, but you definitely don't have to run away from them. Give Bees a Chance is for anyone who doesn't quite appreciate how extra special and important bees are to the world, and even to humankind. Besides making yummy honey, they help plants grow fruits and vegetables. And most bees wouldn't hurt a fly (unless it was in self-defense.) With bees officially on the endangered animals list, it's more important now than ever to get on board with our flying, honey-making friends.
Henry Meets a Honey Bee
Come join Henry as he takes a walk, enjoying nature, and stumbles upon the adventure of a lifetime. Henry meets Honey, the queen bee of a local hive, and learns all about honey bees from a unique point of view. Watch how knowledge transforms fear to admiration for one of nature's favorite pollinators.
Honeybee
Beginning at birth, the honeybee emerges through the wax cap of her cell and is driven to protect and take care of her hive. She cleans the nursery and feeds the larvae and the queen. But is she strong enough to fly? Not yet! She builds wax combs to store honey, and transfers pollen from other bees into the storage. She defends the hive from invaders. Apis accomplishes all of this before beginning her life outdoors as an adventurer, seeking nectar to bring back to her hive.
How Do Apples Grow?
This book is a part of the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series, and it clearly illustrates how fruit comes from flowers. Colorful illustrations show the male and female parts of the apple flowers up close, and the role that bees play in pollinating apple flowers is explained in simple language. The book follows apple trees through all four seasons, from the closed buds of winter to the ripe apples of fall.
In the Trees, Honey Bees
Peek inside this tree and see a wild colony of honey bees. It hums with life. Look at the thousands of worker bees--each one doing her job. Some are making wax. Some are feeding the hungry brood. Some are storing sweet honey. Look at all the combs, filled with honey and pollen! And there's the queen, laying eggs. It's all very organized, like a smoothly running town. A honey bee colony is a remarkable place. You will never look at bees in the same way again.
Pick, Pull, Snap! Where Once a Flower Bloomed
In the orchard, a honey bee buzzes. Its legs brush pollen inside a fragrant pink flower. A small green fruit begins to grow and grow and grow...Peaches and peas and even peanuts—they all begin with a single flower. How? Open this book and find out!
The Bee Book
A wonderful introduction to the humble honeybee: nature's hardest worker, and much more than just a provider of honey! Bees are incredibly industrious, brilliant at building, super social, and—most importantly—responsible for a third of every mouthful of food you eat! Find out how bees talk to one another, what it takes to become a queen bee, and what the life of a worker bee is like. The contents include bee anatomy, types of bees, hives, colonies, pollination, making honey, and more.
The Bee Tree
When Mary Ellen gets bored with her reading, Grandpa knows a hunt for a bee tree is just what she needs. Half the town joins in chasing a bee to find the hive from which they will collect honey. The story is fun to read aloud and will easily hold the attention of students.
The Beeman
Told from the viewpoint of a child whose Grandpa is a beekeeper, this rhyming text offers an accessible and engaging introduction to the behavior of bees. You will learn where bees live, how honey is made, what a beekeeper does, and more.
The Big Soap-rise (Farm Friends)
Teacher's Day is Monday! At first Poppy and her best friends, Ollie and Cassie, are excited. They love their teacher, Ms. Green. But soon they run into a problem. They don't have a present for her! Maybe they can make something on the farm. But what? Can Poppy and her friends come up with a gift in time?
The Honeybee Man
This is the story of Fred, who raises honeybees on his roof in Brooklyn, New York. Fred watches his bees closely, sharing his observations of how they tend the hive, feed babies, and make wax rooms. He even imagines flying with the bees to find flowers. The engagingly illustrated story is full of facts about bees.
The Honeybee and the Robber
This moving/picture book follows an adventurous honeybee as she goes about her busy day, sipping nectar from flowers, avoiding hungry birds, and playing with butterflies. But when a robber bear comes looking for honey, all the bees must rush out to defend their home.
The Life and Times of the Honeybee
Information about honeybees has never been more interesting. The text and illustrations perfectly complement one another in a concise presentation of facts about the insects both within and outside the hive. Their physical characteristics, division of labor, and role in pollination are fully described. Additional fascinating facts about a bee's year-round activities, the job of the beekeeper, the many products that contain beeswax, and ways honey has been used throughout history are included. Even the "tail-wagging dance" that directs bees to flower locations is simple to follow. There is no index, but a table of contents leads to specific topics. A book that is right on target for young readers.
UnBEElievables
This book pairs facts about honey bees with fun, engaging poems and colorful illustrations. Through 14 clever poems the book explores topics ranging from bee anatomy to the role of the queen bee to making honey.
When the Bees Fly Home
Young Jonathan, the son of a beekeeper, isn't sturdy enough to help his dad with some of the farmwork, but when his mom stays up late one night to make beeswax candles, he puts his own skills to work modeling small wax animals and insects to decorate the candles - which sell out quickly at the farmer's market. Bee facts buzz through this very human story about a child trying to please his father.
Kit
Beeswax Lip Balm Kit
Beeswax is a valuable by-product of honey harvesting. Beeswax is used in the production of candles, cosmetics, artists’ materials, electronics, lubricants, polishes, inks, and paints. This kit includes common ingredients used to make beeswax lip balm. Kit contains enough supplies for 36 tubes of lip balm. Order this kit online from agclassroomstore.com.
Beeswax Modeling Clay Kit
Stimulate your students’ creativity with beeswax modeling clay. This kit contains the recipe and enough beeswax, coconut oil, and lanolin to make 36 portions of all-natural modeling clay that softens with the warmth of your hands. Beeswax clay can be reused again and again. Containers are included for storage. Order this kit online from agclassroomstore.com.