24 honeybees

Level: L
DRA: 24
Genre:
Narrative Nonfiction
Strategy:
Question
Skill:
Sequence of Events
Word Count: 379

Honeybees

1.5.24

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

Online Leveled Books

ISBN-13:978-0-547-02725-8
ISBN-10:0-547-02725-7

1032762

by Samantha Rabe
H O UG H T O N M IF F L IN

1_027258_AL_LRSE_CVR_L24_HBEES.indd 1

5/17/10 6:43:12 PM

Honeybees

by Samantha Rabe

ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: 9 © Tom Leonard
PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS: Cover © Searagen/Alamy; 1 © Hans Reinhard/zefa/Corbis; 3 © Paul Melling/Alamy;
4 © Searagen/Alamy; 5 (l) © Scott Camazine/Alamy, (m) © Alamy, (r) © Imagebroker/Alamy; 6 © Hans Reinhard/Zefa/
Corbis; 7 © Felipe Rodriguez/Alamy, (inset) © Mark Bowler/Alamy; 8 (l) © Stephen Dalton, (r) © Stephen Dalton;
10 © Pete Oxford
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ISBN-13: 978-0-547-02725-8
ISBN-10: 0-547-02725-7
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Contents
Honeybees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Where Honeybees Live . . . . . . . 4
Kinds of Honeybees . . . . . . . . . 5
Worker Bees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

How Honeybees Grow . . . . . . . 8


honeybee

You may have heard bees
buzzing around on warm days.
You may have seen a bee sitting
upon a flower. But did you
know that there are more than
20,000 kinds of bees? One kind,
the honeybee, is important in
nature and useful to people.
3


hive

Where Honeybees Live
Honeybees live in groups. A
group of honeybees is called a
colony. The bees make their
home in a nest known as a hive.
Wild honeybees may build hives
in places such as trees or caves.
4


queen bee

worker bee

drone

Kinds of Honeybees
A colony of honeybees has one
queen bee and thousands of
worker bees. It may also have a
few hundred bees called drones.
The queen bee lays eggs.
Worker bees take care of the hive
and gather food. Drones help new
queen bees start new colonies.
5


honeycomb

Worker Bees
Worker bees build honeycombs
inside the hive. There are small
openings in the combs called cells.
The queen lays eggs in some cells.
Worker bees protect the hive,
too. They will sting anything
that threatens it.
6


pollen

When worker bees leave the
hive, they land on flowers and
sip a sweet juice called nectar.
They also pick up bits of pollen,
which looks like colored dust. In
the hive, the bees can turn the
nectar into honey. They can eat
the honey and pollen.
7


honeybee egg

larva

How Honeybees Grow
The bees in a hive may have
different jobs, but they all begin
life the same way. Each bee
comes from an egg. The egg
hatches after three days. A newly
hatched bee is called a larva.
More than one are called larvae.
8


Life Cycle of a Honeybee

egg

larva

pupa

adult

Worker bees feed all the new
larvae. As the larvae eat and
grow, they shed their skin several
times. After a week or ten days,
worker bees seal the larvae into
their cells. Now they are called
pupae. One is called a pupa.
9


a swarm of bees

At first, the pupae are white.
Then their color and shape begin
to change. It takes several days
for pupae to change into bees.
At last, about three weeks
after the queen laid her eggs,
the bees are ready to come
out of their cocoons. They are
ready to start their busy lives.
10

Responding
Sequence of
Events A honeybee begins its life
in an egg. Then what happens?
How does a honeybee become an
adult? Make a chart.
TARGET SKILL

Talk About It
Text to World Imagine you saw
a honeybee outside. Where
would it go? What would it do?
11


WORDS TO KNOW

also

kind

upon

anything

places

warm

flower

ready
LEARN MORE WORDS

drone

hive

Sequence of
Events Tell the order in which
things happen.
TARGET SKILL

Question
Ask questions about what you
are reading.
TARGET STRATEGY

GENRE Informational text gives
facts about a topic.
12


Level: L
DRA: 24
Genre:
Narrative Nonfiction
Strategy:
Question

Skill:
Sequence of Events
Word Count: 379

Honeybees

1.5.24

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN

Online Leveled Books

ISBN-13:978-0-547-02725-8
ISBN-10:0-547-02725-7

1032762

by Samantha Rabe
H O UG H T O N M IF F L IN

1_027258_AL_LRSE_CVR_L24_HBEES.indd 1

5/17/10 6:43:12 PM