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5e lesson plan – food chain
- 1. 5E LESSON PLAN – FOOD CHAIN By: taryn wood EED 420 June 15, 2015 Camie walker
- 2. INTRODUCTION In this lesson students are learning about the different parts of a food chain and how energy flows in one. There is also the introduction of a food web. Students construct their own food chains from different ecosystems and see how energy flows through them. As a class activity students create a food web by asking themselves different questions to see which organism goes where. At the end there is a formative and summative assessment to see what students have learned.
- 3. WHERE DO I GET MY ENERGY? Standards: NGSS Standard: 5-LS2-1. Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment. Science and Engineering Practice: Developing and using models. DCI: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems. Crosscutting Concepts: Systems and System Models.
- 4. MATERIALS Grade Level: 5th Materials: Food chain cards (sets of 3 for all student groups). Science journals. Yarn ball. Food web cards (1 set for class).
- 5. ENGAGE Opening Questions: What did you eat for breakfast today? What does eating breakfast do for our bodies? Omnivore Where do plants get their energy Chain Example
- 6. EXPLORE Making their own food chains given the organisms to do so. Thoughtful Questions: What is the primary source of energy in a food chain? What eats that plant/animal? Can a smaller animal eat the larger one?
- 7. EXPLAIN BrainPOP video New Vocabulary: Herbivore Carnivore Predator Producer Prey Introduction of Energy arrows.
- 8. ELABORATE Food Web Activity Key Questions: Who might eat me? Who might I eat? New Vocabulary: Food Web
- 9. EVALUATE Formative Assessment: Food chain worksheet Summative Assessment Written short answer and essay questions.
- 10. ENGINEERING Bottle Biome Create a bottle biome to see where the original source of energy comes from. Add a “bug” to demonstrate next trophic level. New Environment Create a new environment for endangered animal.
- 11. DIFFERENTIATION ELL ADD/ADHD VISUAL/HEARING IMPAIRED EL/GIFTED
- 12. SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS There are no chemicals in this lab. Students should be wary of their surroundings and have plenty of space between them. Students shall not throw the yarn during the food web activity.
- 13. CONCLUSION By the end of the lesson students should have a good understanding about the energy flow in food chains and food webs. They should also know how to construct their own as well as how important each organism is in each one. This lesson ends with students wondering what happens to the energy after the last organism is listed (this could lead into a lesson about decomposers).
- 14. REFERENCES BrainPOP. (2015). BrainPOP | Food Chains. Retrieved from https://www.brainpop.com/science/ecologyandbehavior/foodchai ns/ Next Generation Science Standards. (2013). Fifth Grade. Retrieved from http://www.nextgenscience.org/sites/ngss/files/5%20combined%20D CI%20standards%206.13.13.pdf Overbaugh, R.C. (n.d.). Bloom's Taxonomy. Retrieved from http://ww2.odu.edu/educ/roverbau/Bloom/blooms_taxonomy.htm
Editor's Notes
- The NGSS standards are laid out here as to what students are expected to learn and be able to do once the lesson is over.
- This lesson is meant for a 5th grade class. The materials listed are all that is needed. Most materials are supplied by the teacher minus the science journals.
- The Engage portion of the lesson is to catch the students’ attention and check for prior knowledge. See what the students know about food chains and how energy flows in an ecosystem. Open the lesson with asking students two questions: What did you eat for breakfast today? What does eating breakfast do for our bodies? List the students’ answers on the board. If there are no fruit or eggs on the board then suggest the two items as options for breakfast. Draw a T chart and label one column meat and the other plants. Fit the items into one of the two categories with students help. By pointing out that the students are eating both plants and animals the vocabulary word omnivore can be introduced. Follow up with the second question. The answer would be “energy”. The last prompted question would be “Where do plants get their energy?” The sun is where and that is also the beginning of a food chain. Draw a chain on the board with circle links. Ask the students what would happen if one of the chains were removed from the middle. The entire thing would be in two pieces and would never be whole. The same thing would happen to a food chain!
- The Explore portion allows students to interact with the materials given to come to their own understanding of energy flow in a food chain. Students are going to be broken into groups of 3-4 and given three groups of four to five cards that represent a food chain. Students are to work in their groups and come up with the food chain that makes sense of all three groups. Students should be able to argue their findings as a group as to why they made the food chains like they did. While students are working move from group to group to see how the chains are coming along. Question students who seem to be having trouble. Possible questions could be: What is the primary source of energy in a food chain? What eats that plant/animal? Can a smaller animal eat the larger one? After making all three food chains the students should record each food chain in their science notebooks. They do not have to draw the pictures if they do not want to but they should have the names of the organisms at least. *Explain to students to leave a small place between each organism for an arrow, which its function will be discussed later.
- In the Explain portion the class comes back together and talks about their findings. The teacher goes over more about what the students should have learned by introducing a video and the new vocabulary. Students will come back to their desks with their science notebooks and their cards in their appropriate bags. The following BrainPOP video will be played about food chains: https://www.brainpop.com/science/ecologyandbehavior/foodchains/ The new vocabulary that will be introduced is: herbivore, omnivore, producer, predator, prey, and carnivore. Students will then be asked what each one is as a recap. Looking back at the food chains that the students created one will be posted for an example. Students will help to create the food chain correctly. Errors will be noticed (if any) and can be addressed. Each food chain should start with the sun, then a plant, and then the three animals (usually will go from smallest to largest). Here is when the arrows should be put into place. The arrows show energy flow and should only move one way down the food chain (away from the sun). The following 2 food chains should be displayed for correctness and further understanding.
- The Elaborate portion allows for time to add on more information regarding food chains, in this instance it is intertwining multiple food chains to create food webs. Students have an activity as a class to create their own food web as they represent the organisms. Students will each be given a card (hanging from a string like a necklace) with an organism on it (except one student will have a sun). The students will stand in a circle with the sun in the middle. The student with the sun will hold the end of a yarn ball. The students are going to create a food web. Each student should ask themselves: Who might eat me? Who might I eat? The student who is the sun and passing the yarn to another student should ask themselves: Who am I going to give my energy to? When the student with the sun figures out which student they should pass the yarn ball to they should hold onto the end of the string and pass the ball. The following student should then figure out who would eat them and pass the yarn ball, while holding on a piece of the yarn. At the end there should be a web of yarn all around the students. *This can be done in 2 small groups if not enough cards are available, or the area is too small. New vocabulary to be introduced: food web The simple way to describe what a food web is: a system of food chains.
- The Evaluate portion is to assess what students know or have learned about the lesson. There is a formative and summative assessment. In the students’ science notebooks they should have the definitions to the new vocabulary written, the pictures of the food chains, and the written out explanation of the food chains as well. Formative Assessment: Students are to fill out the food chain worksheet and use their vocabulary words to talk about the food chain that they have created. The answers to these questions should be written on a piece of paper and turned in. Students may work in pairs to complete the assignment (under discretion) Blooms Taxonomy Questions (Summative Assessment): Remembering Define producer, omnivore, herbivore, and carnivore. Understanding Classify the organisms in the food web as either a producer, omnivore, herbivore, or carnivore. Applying Create a food chain with a human in it. Analyzing Why do different ecosystems have different food chains within them? Evaluating Create an argument for someone who does not like vegetables as to why they are an important part of life. Creating What do you think happens with the energy at the end of the food chain? Does it just stop?
- The Engineering portion of this activity allows for students to physically make a connection with the lesson by creating something. The bottle biome is a physical representation of how the sun is the original source of energy. The new environment allows students to use their information about an animal and how a food chain plays a critical role in their survival. Activities: Students can grow their own plant in a “biome” (can be made out of a 2 liter bottle” to see how the food chain starts with the sun. Could possibly later put grasshoppers or caterpillars in the bottle to see how the next trophic level reacts to the plant. Students can research an endangered animal in a specific ecosystem and create a new environment for that animal (using materials brought from home or found in the classroom) so that they can possibly come off of the endangered species list. Both activities can be done in pairs or in small groups. Each activity will take a day (or the first one will occur over time).
- All students are different and this is where differentiation comes into play. ELL- Students who are not proficient in English can work with another student who is. The animal names may not be something that the students are familiar with. ADD/ADHD- Direct learning by questioning. When asking them questions be sure to state their name. Have them write as much as possible and use pictures with their descriptions. Visual/ Hearing impaired- When displaying the cards be sure that they are big enough for all students to see and also have the names of the animals and the vocabulary words written as well. EL/Gifted- Students can keep moving forward coming up with their own food chains. Students can use their prior knowledge about different ecosystems to create or read about different food chains that would occur there.
- Safety concerns merely are for students not to step on one another.