Skip to the content
Peabody TeachFor teachers and grown-ups

Almond Orchards Rent Traveling Beehives

5th grade nonfiction passage about bees and almond blossoms: 233 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade nonfiction bees and almond blossoms 233 words

Almond Orchards Rent Traveling Beehives

An almond orchard wakes up in late winter, before most other trees. Suddenly every branch is covered with white and pink blossoms. For a few weeks the orchard looks like a snowy field, but it is also facing a big job. Each blossom must be pollinated before it can grow into an almond.

Pollination happens when pollen, a fine yellow dust made by flowers, moves from one flower to another. Almond trees of one kind usually need pollen from a tree of a different kind. The wind cannot do the whole job, so the farmers depend on bees. A bee visits a blossom to drink nectar and gets dusted with pollen. When it flies on to the next tree, some of the pollen rubs off.

There is a problem, though. A big orchard needs far more bees than the farm could keep for the rest of the year. The solution is a rented hive. Beekeepers load their hives onto trucks and drive them to the orchard just as the trees begin to bloom. The farmer pays the beekeeper for the work the bees do.

Once the blossoms fade, the beekeeper picks up the hives and takes them away. Some beekeepers then drive on to other farms that need pollinators, such as those growing apples or blueberries. This way, a single hive of bees may help grow food in several places in one year.

Questions

  1. When do almond trees bloom? in the text

  2. What is pollen? in the text

  3. Why do bees visit the blossoms? in the text

  4. How do beekeepers get hives to the orchard? in the text

  5. Why does an almond farmer rent hives instead of keeping enough bees all year? think about it

  6. How can one hive help grow food in several places? think about it

Words to know

blossoms
flowers on a tree that may grow into fruit or nuts
pollinated
given pollen so that a flower can make seeds or fruit
nectar
the sweet liquid inside flowers
orchard
a field of fruit or nut trees
pollinators
animals such as bees that carry pollen from flower to flower
Share

One passage, three levels

The same topic and facts written three ways, so a mixed class can read and talk about one text. Each group’s sheet shows only a shape; the key says which is which.

● Easier · 216 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.9

An almond orchard wakes up in late winter. It wakes before most other trees. Every branch is soon covered with white and pink blossoms. For a few weeks the orchard looks like a snowy field. But it has a big job to do. Each blossom must be pollinated before it can grow into an almond.

Pollination happens when pollen moves from one flower to another. Pollen is a fine yellow dust made by flowers. Almond trees of one kind usually need pollen from a tree of a different kind. The wind cannot do the whole job. So farmers need bees. A bee visits a blossom to drink nectar. It gets dusted with pollen. When it flies to the next tree, some pollen rubs off.

There is a problem. A big orchard needs far more bees than the farm can keep all year. The answer is a rented hive. Beekeepers load hives onto trucks. They drive them to the orchard just as the trees begin to bloom. The farmer pays the beekeeper for the bees' work.

When the blossoms fade, the beekeeper takes the hives away. Some beekeepers then go to other farms that need pollinators, such as apple or blueberry farms. So one hive of bees may help grow food in several places in one year.

▲ This passage · 233 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 5.6

An almond orchard wakes up in late winter, before most other trees. Suddenly every branch is covered with white and pink blossoms. For a few weeks the orchard looks like a snowy field, but it is also facing a big job. Each blossom must be pollinated before it can grow into an almond.

Pollination happens when pollen, a fine yellow dust made by flowers, moves from one flower to another. Almond trees of one kind usually need pollen from a tree of a different kind. The wind cannot do the whole job, so the farmers depend on bees. A bee visits a blossom to drink nectar and gets dusted with pollen. When it flies on to the next tree, some of the pollen rubs off.

There is a problem, though. A big orchard needs far more bees than the farm could keep for the rest of the year. The solution is a rented hive. Beekeepers load their hives onto trucks and drive them to the orchard just as the trees begin to bloom. The farmer pays the beekeeper for the work the bees do.

Once the blossoms fade, the beekeeper picks up the hives and takes them away. Some beekeepers then drive on to other farms that need pollinators, such as those growing apples or blueberries. This way, a single hive of bees may help grow food in several places in one year.

■ Harder · 236 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 8.2

An almond orchard awakens in late winter, well before most other trees. Almost overnight, every branch is blanketed with white and pink blossoms. For a few weeks the orchard resembles a snowy field, but it also faces an enormous task. Each blossom must be pollinated before it can develop into an almond.

Pollination occurs when pollen, a fine yellow dust produced by flowers, travels from one flower to another. Almond trees of one variety generally require pollen from a tree of a different variety. The wind cannot accomplish the entire job, so farmers depend on bees. A bee visits a blossom to drink nectar and becomes dusted with pollen in the process. When it flies on to the next tree, some of that pollen rubs off.

A difficulty arises, however. A large orchard requires far more bees than the farm could possibly maintain throughout the rest of the year. The solution is the rented hive. Beekeepers load their hives onto trucks and drive them to the orchard just as the trees begin to bloom, and the farmer pays the beekeeper for the labor the bees perform.

Once the blossoms fade, the beekeeper collects the hives and carries them away. Some beekeepers then travel to other farms that need pollinators, such as those growing apples or blueberries. In this way, a single hive of bees may contribute to growing food in several different places within one year.

Download as one PDF

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put blossoms, pollinated, nectar, orchard and pollinators on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 2 minutes to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 5 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Almond Orchards Rent Traveling Beehives"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 233 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 5.6. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are six. 4 ask for something the text says directly and 2 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 2 minutes read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

Nothing you do here is sent to us. No sign-in, no ads.