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Honeybee Nonfiction Writing Guide

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Honeybee Nonfiction Writing Guide

Read the information text, then answer the questions. Use the text as a model when planning your own nonfiction writing.

Honeybees at Work

A honeybee may be tiny, but its daily work has a big effect on the world around us. As bees visit flowers to collect food, they carry pollen from one bloom to another. This helps many plants produce seeds and fruit. A honeybee has a head, a thorax and an abdomen. It also has six legs and two pairs of wings. Fine hairs on its body can catch pollen, and worker bees have pollen baskets on their back legs for carrying it to the hive. The queen, workers and drones have different roles in a colony. The queen lays eggs, workers gather food and care for young bees, and drones are male bees that may mate with a queen. A colony is a busy community. Worker bees use a movement called the waggle dance to share information about food. The direction and length of the dance give other bees clues about where flowers can be found. Inside the hive, bees also make wax cells where the colony stores honey and raises young. Honeybees face challenges. Varroa mites can harm bees, and some sprays used to control pests can be dangerous to them. When gardens and other places lose flowering plants, bees have fewer sources of food. People can help by growing flowers that bloom at different times of the year and avoiding harmful sprays. These small actions can make a garden a more useful place for bees.

Understanding the Text

Use details from the information text to answer each question.

1.What is the main purpose of “Honeybees at Work”?

To tell an invented adventure about a bee
To give information about honeybees and their lives
To persuade readers to keep a hive at home
To explain how to bake with honey

2.Name the three types of bees in a colony and give one role for each type.

3.Which TWO challenges for honeybees are described in the text?

Varroa mites harming bees
A shortage of flowering plants
Bees having too many wings
Wax cells becoming too colourful

4.How does the waggle dance help a honeybee colony?

5.The first paragraph explains why a bee’s work matters. Give one detail from that paragraph that supports this idea.

6.Give one piece of evidence from the text that shows honeybees are well adapted to their work.

Plan Your Own Nonfiction Writing

Choose a subject you can research or already know about. It could be a New Zealand animal, a plant, or another topic of interest. Plan an informative paragraph with a clear opening and accurate facts.

7.Write a possible opening sentence for a nonfiction paragraph about a subject you choose. Introduce the subject and try to interest the reader.

8.Write two accurate facts you would include about your chosen subject. Add where you would check that the facts are correct.