Central Beekeepers Alliance

The Honey Files: A Bee’s Life is an educational video and teacher’s guide set, available now through the National Honey Board.

The focus is, of course, on beekeeping and pollination in the United States, but there’s a great deal here of value to teachers and home-schooling parents in other countries as well.

This 20-minute VHS videotape and 96-page teacher’s guide will have you and your students buzzing! Designed especially for educators of grades 4 – 6, these fun, new educational materials provide information, classroom activities and reproducible worksheets about bees, honey and pollination.

Although the package is designed for grades 4 – 6, much of the material is equally appropriate for more advanced levels as well — and the information contained in the Educator’s Overview sections alone will provide teachers, parents, and older children with a solid understanding of honey bees and their role in nature and agriculture.

Just take a look at the Table of Contents for the Teacher’s Guide:

Honey Bees Biology

• Educator’s Overview: Insects and Honey Bee Biology
• Glossary of Honey Bee Anatomical Characteristics
• Worksheet #1: The Honey Bee Body
• Activity #1: Honey Bee By Design
• Glossary of Honey Bee Life Stages
• Worksheet #2: Honey Bee Life Stages
• Worksheet #3: Queen Bees, Worker Bees and Drones, Oh My!
• Activity #2: Diary of a Honey Bee’s Metamorphosis
• Insect Identification Tips
• Worksheet #4: A Bee or Not a Bee — Comparing Honey Bees with Similar Insects
• Activity #3: Bee Stings
• Honey Bee Stinging Apparatus
• Supplemental Worksheet: Honey Bee Biology Crossword Puzzle

Society

• Educator’s Overview: Honey Bee Society
• Glossary of Honey Bee Society
• Worksheet #5: Honey Bee Duties
• Honey, I’d Love To Dance
• Activity #4: Dances With Bees
• Activity #5: Pheromones
• Worksheet #6: What Bees Eat
• Supplemental Worksheet: Matching Hives

The Hive — The Honey Bee’s Home

• Educator’s Overview: The Hive
• Glossary of the Hive — The Honey Bee’s Home
• Activity #6: Polygons For Everyone
• Worksheet #7: Home, Sweet Honey, Home
• Activity #7: A Honey of a Hive

Pollination

• Educator’s Overview: Pollination
• Glossary of Flower Parts
• Worksheet #8: Flower Power
• Activity #8: Flower Surgery
• Activity #9: Pollen, Pollen, Everywhere
• Activity #10: Bee Watching, Be Careful
• Activity #11: Bees — A Bum Rap?
• Worksheet #9: Honey Bees — More Than Just Honey

Honey

• Educator’s Overview: Honey
• Worksheet #10: The History of Honey
• Activity #12: The Many Uses of Honey
• Activity #13: The Color of Honey, A Taste Sensation
• Worksheet #11: Honey Around the Country
• Activity #14: How Dense Can It Be?
• Activity #15: Why Does Honey Come in Different Forms?
• Activity #16: Tongue Mapping
• Supplemental Information: Kid’s Recipes

Beekeepers

• Educator’s Overview: Beekeepers
• Glossary of Beekeeper’s Equipment
• Worksheet #12: A Beekeeper’s Equipment
• Worksheet #13: Additional Honey Bee Products
• Supplemental Worksheet: Migratory Beekeeper Maze

Additional Unit Activities

• Videotape Worksheet: Honey Bee Word Search
• Honey Bee Trivia Questions
• Honey Bee Math
• Answer Keys
• Bibliography

The set costs $5.00 for certified educators, and $15.00 for others — but the Teacher’s Guide can be downloaded as a free printable PDF file, from the National Honey Board website.

You can also watch a sample of the video online (in low resolution for dial-up or higher resolution for high-speed internet connections), to get a sense of the content and quality of the production.