This lesson plan introduces 5th grade students to food webs through examining the relationships between organisms in the African savanna ecosystem depicted in The Lion King. Over multiple days, students will view the film, discuss predator-prey relationships, identify producers, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers, create their own food webs, and collaborate to design a mural depicting the circle of life in the savanna ecosystem. Formative and summative assessments include homework, a board game, and the mural project.

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3. Lesson Plan for Grade 5 Unit Life Science Topic Food Webs

4. New York State Performance Standards Science Standards Standard 4—The Living Environment Key Idea—6: Plants and animals depend on each other and their physical environment. Major Understanding—6.1b: Food webs identify feeding relationships among producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem. Key Idea—5: Organisms maintain a dynamic equilibrium that sustains life. Major Understanding—5.1e: Herbivores obtain energy from plants. Carnivores obtain energy from animals. Omnivores obtain energy from both plants and animals. Decomposers, such as bacteria and fungi, obtain energy by consuming wastes and/or dead organisms. Key Idea—7: Human decisions and activities have had a profound impact on the physical and living environment. Major Understanding—7.2a: In ecosystems, balance is the result of interactions between community members and their environment. Other Science Standards Standard 6—Models Key Idea—2: Models are simplified representations of objects, structures, or systems, used in analysis, explanation, interpretation, or design

5. Standards Addressed in Other Subject Areas The Arts Standards Visual Arts Standard 1—Creating, Performing, and Participating in the Arts: Students will actively engage in the processes that constitute creation and performance in the arts (dance, music, theatre, and visual arts) and participate in various roles in the arts. Key Idea—1: Students will make works of art that explore different kinds of subject matter, topics, themes, and metaphors. Students will understand and use sensory elements, organizational principles, and expressive images to communicate their own ideas in works of art. Students will use a variety of art materials, processes, mediums, and techniques, and use appropriate technologies for creating and exhibiting visual art works. Performance Indicators: experiment and create art works, in a variety of mediums (drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, video, and computer graphics) based on a range of individual and collective experiences create art works in which they use and evaluate different kinds of mediums, subjects, themes, symbols, metaphors, and images English Language Arts Standards Listening Standard—1: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding Performance Indicator: Connect new information to prior knowledge or experience Listening/Speaking Standard—4: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction Performance Indicator (Listening): Respect the age, gender, position, and culture of the speaker Performance Indicator (Speaking): Use the informal language of social communication

6. Rationale All students will develop a basic understanding of relationships between organisms that belong to a certain food web.

7. Time Estimate Approx. 1 week

8. Aims/Objectives Students will be able to accurately distinguish between major organisms in the African Savanna. Students will be able to explain the social structure of the organisms and how they interact through using food webs. Students will be able to group organisms based on their roles as carnivores, omnivores, herbivores, producers, and decompos ers.

9. Materials The Lion King DVD Large White Piece of Mural Paper Construction Paper Paint (in a variety of colors) Rulers/Yardsticks Scissors Tape/Glue Markers/Pencils/Colored Pencils/Crayons Stapler Circle of Life Board Game

10. Day 1: Engage Engage students by starting off science class with a 1 ½ -hour viewing of Disney’s feature film, The Lion King .

11. Day 2: Elaborate Discuss The Lion King in depth for 15-20 minutes bringing up topics on the “circle of life” and the relationships that animals had with each other in Pride Rock. Utilize effective spiraling techniques to help students review their background knowledge about animals’ relationships with each other (i.e. predator/prey relationships, etc.) Have students discuss their daily eating routines and have them openly talk about why they believe that what humans consume relates to the “circle of life” motif found throughout The Lion King MUFASA - Everything exists together in a delicate balance. As King, you need to understand that balance, and respect all the creatures - from the crawling ant to the leaping antelope. SIMBA - But, Dad, don't we eat the antelope? MUFASA - Yes, Simba, but when we die, our bodies become the grass. And the antelope eat the grass. Just as the sun rises from the night, and winter becomes the spring, so life arises from death. Everything is connected in the great circle of life.

12. Day 2: Explain After students have discussed the various ways that their eating habits relates to the “circle of life” motif , with your constant scaffolding , they should be able to identify the main parts of the circle of life process as it relates to their own lives (i.e. buying meats (or vegetables/fruits) from the store that have been hunted (or picked from the earth) and sold to consumers to consume; eating the meats/vegetables/fruits; throwing the leftovers in the trash; sending the trash to the local landfill/incinerator where it slowly decomposes and becomes part of the earth). Explain to students what the role of producers is in transferring energy entering ecosystems as sunlight to chemical energy through photosynthesis. Explain that nearly all kinds of animals’ food can be traced back to plants. Show the students an example of a basic food web and ask them if they can understand what is going on. Ask students to try and figure out what the arrows in the basic food web mean. Explain the organization of the basic food web by identifying for students the producers, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers while refreshing their memory of the roles of each (i.e. carnivores are meat-eaters; herbivores only eat plants, etc.). Stress the importance of food, water, shelter, air, etc. in the survival of organisms in ecosystems. Briefly discuss ecosystems and tell students that the ecosystem being focused on during this unit will be the African Savanna (grassland), which is the same ecosystem that Pride Rock in The Lion King could be found in. Have students recall some of the animals and plants that they saw in The Lion King (and tell them about animals and plants that they may not have been familiar with while watching the film) and have them try to identify as a class, based on what they saw, which role each of the animals and plants played in the African Savanna (i.e. carnivore, herbivore, producer, etc.). Briefly discuss how an organism’s behavior patterns can alter the ecosystem’s physical characteristics, the availability of food and other resources as well as the kinds and numbers of other organisms found in the ecosystem.

14. Day 2: Explore Have students count off into groups of 4 or 5 and work together to come up with their own food web for the list of organisms (and their brief descriptions) found on their tables. All organisms that are listed can be found in The Lion King.

15. Day 2: Evaluate (Informal Assessment) Assess students’ learning informally by giving them the following homework: Look up the following words and their definitions and use each in a sentence: scavenger, decomposer, grassland, biotic, abiotic, producer (as it relates to plants), consumer (as it relates to organisms), herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, parasite, biome, ecosystem, impala, fungi, wildebeest, acacia, vulture, Serengeti . Explain the meaning behind Mufasa’s quote when he was explaining the “Circle of Life” to Simba: “When we die our bodies become the grass.”

16. Day 3: Explain/Elaborate Take the first 10 minutes to briefly review what was discussed the day before. Have the different groups share their food webs with the class and explain them.

17. Day 3: Engage/Evaluate (Formative Assessment) Engage and evaluate students in The Circle of Life board game which not only measures their understanding of The Lion King but also evaluates their knowledge of the organisms found in the movie (i.e. the African Savanna) and their relationships with each other in a food web (i.e. “circle of life”). Note: The top 5 scorers will receive a free pass on an upcoming homework assignment.

19. Days 4, 5 & 6: Evaluate (Summative Assessment) Have students work together as a group to come up with an idea for creating a large mural mapping a food web of the main organisms in The Lion King that will be placed on display outside of the classroom. The theme will be the “Circle of Life”. Students will plan—together—the main components of the food web (and mural). Students should be able to work cohesively as a group, consider each other’s ideas, give and receive constructive criticism (when necessary), and correctly assemble a food web that demonstrates their overall understanding of the African Savanna’s ecological system. The criteria used to evaluate this class project will be based on creativity, collaborative effort, collective understanding of the ecological process, as well as the aesthetics of the overall mural.

20. Follow-Up Activities Introduce the food chain concept and have students take the information that they have been given about food chains and food webs to compare and contrast the two in the form of a Venn Diagram. Have students create their own adaptations of The Lion King through narrative, fictionalized form. Be sure that they all include the following in their stories: at least one antagonist and protagonist, and the use of personification.

21. Accommodations/Modifications For the visually-impaired learner: Sit the student close to the TV when playing The Lion King movie and the teacher during class discussions Pair the student up with a “special-helper buddy” during in-class group work Ensure that all transparencies, worksheets, models, lists, etc. have larger font Visit the student frequently to ensure comprehension For the hearing-impaired learner: Sit the student near the front of the classroom Speak louder and more clearly Pair the student up with a special-helper buddy during in-class group work For the learner with a learning disability: Pair the student with a more advanced classmate who can help them get (and stay) organized and who can serve as a buddy during group work; sit the two students near one another and keep them in the same groups Walk by the student’s desk more frequently to ensure that they are remaining on-task and are comprehending the material Give student some flexibility over their assignments, considering alternate assignments or altering assignments to meet the students’ needs For the emotionally/behaviorally disturbed learner: Give the student more responsibilities (leadership) in group projects Give the student more opportunities to move around and interact through group work, games, and other fun, interactive activities For the gifted learner: Give the student more responsibilities (leadership) in group projects Have alternative challenging assignments and assessment opportunities for the student

22. Extensions Take students to the Broadway theatrical production of The Lion King. After the field trip, have students discuss the similarities and differences between the theatrical production and the film production. As a follow-up to the Broadway musical, have students research masks and musical instruments found in Tanzania and/or Kenya and, finally, create their own. Have students create their own musical version of The Lion King , utilizing their knowledge of the story. They should incorporate music, dance, and drama into their musicals. Students will be actively involved in the process of writing, directing, set/art design, and producing a theatrical production. They can use the masks, mural, and musical instruments that they created as props in order to enhance their production. The production will be put on in front of the school and parents will be invited to attend. All students will later be given DVD copies of their work.