Understanding and ordering how bees make honey
I can understand the honey-making process and sequence it in order.
Understanding and ordering how bees make honey
I can understand the honey-making process and sequence it in order.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Honey making is a complex, natural process which takes a very long time.
- Bees visit thousands of colourful flowers to collect nectar with their tongue.
- The nectar travels to the honey stomach where the enzymes break it down into smaller molecules.
- The bees transfer the nectar into the honeycomb cells and flap their wings to evaporate the water from the nectar.
- Bees seal the cells with a wax lid. The honey cannot leak or expire.
Keywords
Nectar - a sweet liquid made by flowers
Enzymes - substances in the bee's stomach that help break down nectar into honey
Regurgitation - the process of bringing swallowed food up again to the mouth
Honeycomb cell - a natural wax container for honey
Evaporation - a change of state from a liquid to a gas
Common misconception
Pupils may find it difficult to remember the order in which the steps happen.
Review the steps in order lots of times together before completing the ordering board.
To help you plan your year 3 english lesson on: Understanding and ordering how bees make honey, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 3 english lesson on: Understanding and ordering how bees make honey, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 english lessons from the How Bees Make Honey: explanation text unit, dive into the full secondary english curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
Licence
Starter quiz
6 Questions
rock
water
air
Exit quiz
6 Questions
Hexagonal-shaped cell made of wax where honey is stored.
Seal to cover the cell to stop honey leaking.
The honeybees' home.