Grade 5 Summer Theme = Incredible Ecosystems!
Week One: Food Web/Food Chain
ELA Priority Standards (no more than 2):
W.9 Draw evidence from literary and informational text to support analysis, reflection, and research.
W.1 Write arguments to support claims.
Math Connections (no more than 2):
Priority Standard #2 Fluency with whole number operations. Extend division to 2 digit divisors, integrating decimal fractions into the place value system, and develop understanding of operations with decimals to hundredths.
Science Connections (no more than 1):
(LS2-1A) Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
The food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants. Organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants. Some organisms, such as fungi and bacteria, break down dead organisms (both plants or plants parts and animals) and therefore operate as “decomposers.” Decomposition eventually restores (recycles) some materials back to the soil. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their particular needs are met. A healthy ecosystem is one in which multiple species of different types are each able to meet their needs in a relatively stable web of life. Newly introduced species can damage the balance of an ecosystem.
Vocabulary: Food chain, food web, ecosystem, producer, consumer, predator, prey, herbivore, omnivore, carnivore, organism, decomposer
* Check out flashcards for this unit here.
Student product/assessment: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Food Chain Edition!
Daily Activities to Support Learning:
1. (Day One) Read Who Eats What? by Patricia Lauber to introduce food webs and food chains. Discuss with students why they think this system exists. Introduce the word "Ecosystem" and have students write the word, definition, and draw a picture in their science journals. Visit the school garden to have students observe and record the components of the food chain/food web they see right in their own backyard.
2. (Day Two) Read Pass the Energy Please! by Barbara Shaw McKinney. Then, play the Food Web Game. You may choose the online version or the active version. For the active version, scroll down in the document to "Farm Food Web Game." Use colored yarn instead of cords and replace the sun/water posts with a sun and water drops drawn with chalk on the pavement.
3. (Day Three) Complete the BrainPop Lesson Plan on Food Webs.
4. (Day Four) Assess students' understanding by playing Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Food Chain Edition! (scroll down in the lesson plan to locate the game) Each student should write their answers to the questions as they are given to assess individual knowledge.
Literature Connections:
Who Eats What? by Patricia Lauber
Pass the Energy Please! by Barbara Shaw McKinney
Field Trip: York Center Wildlife
Materials We Need:
Who Eats What? by Patricia Lauber
Pass the Energy Please! by Barbara Shaw McKinney
For active food web game--yellow, light blue, and dark blue yarn, sidewalk chalk
Week Two: Photosynthesis
ELA Priority Standards (no more than 2):W.9 Draw evidence from literary and informational text to support analysis, reflection, and research.
W.1 Write arguments to support claims.
Math Connections (no more than 2):
Priority Standard #2 Fluency with whole number operations. Extend division to 2 digit divisors, integrating decimal fractions into the place value system, and develop understanding of operations with decimals to hundredths.
Science Connections (no more than 1):
(PS3-1) Use models to describe that that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.
Vocabulary: chlorophyll, sunlight, chloroplasts, hydrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, sugar, stomata, xylem, phloem, respiration, transpiration
* Check out flashcards for this unit here.
Student product/assessment: Using given vocabulary words, students will write a paragraph describing the process of photosynthesis.
Daily Activities to Support Learning:
1. (Day One) Read Living Sunlight by Molly Bang. Have students draw a picture in their science journals to show the cycle of energy from the sun to plants to animals and humans. Complete the BrainPop Lesson Plan on Photosynthesis.
2. (Days Two and Three) Complete the Photosynthesis Play Lesson Plan.
3. (Day Four) Have students explore plant cells using the Lakeshore Prepared Slides/ Plants. As they explore the slides, they should draw pictures of what they see in their science journals. Have students color and label the Plant Cell Diagram. Discuss chloroplasts as the part of the plant cell that plays an active role in photosynthesis. Have students continue their exploration using the E-Science Online Plant Cell Exploration. (Choose "Plant Cell/ Grade 5" from the menu of games.)
4. Assess students by asking them to write a paragraph describing the process of photosynthesis. Give them key vocabulary words they must use in their paragraph.
Literature Connections:
Living Sunlight by Molly Bang
This book shows how plants harness the sun's energy through photosynthesis and share that energy with humans by creating both our source of oxygen and also the fruits and vegetables we eat.
Field Trip: Chewonki
Materials We Need:
Living Sunlight by Molly Bang
Microscopes
Lakeshore Prepared Slides/ Plants LC3541
Week Three: Herbivores, Omnivores, and Carnivores
ELA Priority Standards (no more than 2):
W.9 Draw evidence from literary and informational text to support analysis, reflection, and research.
W.1 Write arguments to support claims.
Math Connections (no more than 2):
Priority Standard #2 Fluency with whole number operations. Extend division to 2 digit divisors, integrating decimal fractions into the place value system, and develop understanding of operations with decimals to hundredths.
Science Connections (no more than 1):
(PS3-1) Use models to describe that that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.
(LS2-1A) Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
The food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants. Organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants. Some organisms, such as fungi and bacteria, break down dead organisms (both plants or plants parts and animals) and therefore operate as “decomposers.” Decomposition eventually restores (recycles) some materials back to the soil. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their particular needs are met. A healthy ecosystem is one in which multiple species of different types are each able to meet their needs in a relatively stable web of life. Newly introduced species can damage the balance of an ecosystem.
Vocabulary: herbivore, omnivore, carnivore, interdependence, food chain, food web
Student product/assessment: Students will design a presentation about the food chain/ food web and herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores for a group of kindergarten students.
Daily Activities to Support Learning:
1. Complete the National Park Service Lesson Plan to review herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. In this lesson, students will make a book of animals and identify them as carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores. You will need lots of National Geographic magazines for cut outs!
2. Read the Skull Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta and Bones by Steve Jenkins. Using the kit from the Children's Museum and Theater of Maine and the lesson plan located here, have students conduct a skull investigation. They will look at how the structure of each skull assists in the function it must perform to eat plants, other animals, or both. (Jenn Carter has reserved this kit with the Children's Museum and will drop it off to Longley School on Monday and pick it up on Friday.)
3. In small groups, have students read the books Trout are Made of Trees by April Pulley Sayre and Pond Circle by Betsy Franco. Then have students conduct an animal cells investigation using the Lakeshore Prepared Slides/ Animals. They will use these materials to design a presentation on food chain/ food web/ herbivore/ omnivore/ carnivore for a group of kindergarteners.
4. Present to kindergarten students.
Literature Connections:
Skull Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta
Trout are Made of Trees by April Pulley Sayre
Pond Circle by Betsy Franco
Field Trip: Reid State Park
Materials We Need:
For NPS Lesson Plan--National Geographic magazines, scissors, glue, construction paper
Microscopes
Lakeshore Prepared Slides/Animals LC3547
Bones by Steve Jenkins
Skull Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta
Trout are Made of Trees by April Pulley Sayre
Pond Circle by Betsy Franco
Week Four: Decomposers
ELA Priority Standards (no more than 2):
W.9 Draw evidence from literary and informational text to support analysis, reflection, and research.
W.1 Write arguments to support claims.
Math Connections (no more than 2):
Priority Standard #2 Fluency with whole number operations. Extend division to 2 digit divisors, integrating decimal fractions into the place value system, and develop understanding of operations with decimals to hundredths.
Science Connections (no more than 1):
(LS2-1A) Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
The food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants. Organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants. Some organisms, such as fungi and bacteria, break down dead organisms (both plants or plants parts and animals) and therefore operate as “decomposers.” Decomposition eventually restores (recycles) some materials back to the soil. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their particular needs are met. A healthy ecosystem is one in which multiple species of different types are each able to meet their needs in a relatively stable web of life. Newly introduced species can damage the balance of an ecosystem.
Vocabulary: organic matter, inorganic matter, minerals, water, decompose, verma composting, humus, topsoil, subsoil, bedrock
* Check out flashcards for this unit here.
Student product/assessment: Students will write letters to the school principal arguing for or against the development of a school-wide verma composting system.
Daily Activities to Support Learning:
1. (Day One--Monday) Read Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin. Participate in Verma Composting Activity with Nick Geer from Food Corps.
2. (Day Two) Read A Handful of Dirt by Raymond Bial. Have students draw a picture in their science journals to show the cycle of energy from soil to insect to reptiles/mammals. Ask students to compare/contrast this cycle with the energy cycle described in Living Sunlight by Molly Bang (which they read during week. Begin the BrainPop Lesson Plan on Soil.
3. (Day Three--Thursday) Read An Earthworm's Life by John Himmelmann. Participate in Verma Composting Activity with Nick Geer from Food Corps.
4. (Day Four) Finish the BrainPop Lesson Plan on Soil. Have students write their letters to the school principal.
Literature Connections:
Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
The "New York Times" bestselling author of "Click, Clack, Moo" and "Giggle, Giggle, Quack" teams up with illustrator Harry Bliss for this hysterical journal about the daily doings and the hidden world of a lovable underground dweller. A great introduction to a unit on soil!
A Handful of Dirt by Raymond Bial
Soil may not be alive, but amazingly, multitudes of microscopic creatures live there, battling it out in an eat-or-be-eaten world. These tiny creatures, invisible to our eyes, provide food for the insects that in turn feed the reptiles and mammals that live in and above the soil.
An Earthworm's Life by John Himmelmann
Simple text and realistic illustrations describe the daily activities and life cycle of the earthworm. Makes a good nonfiction companion to Diary of a Worm.
Dirt by Steve Tomececk
Informative text and playful illustrations explain how soil is made, how soil changes if you dig deep enough, what each layer of soil is called and its importance as a natural resource that living things need to survive.
Field Trip: Ferry Beach
Materials We Need:
Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
An Earthworm's Life by John Himmelmann
A Handful of Dirt by Raymond Bial
Dirt by Steve Tomececk
For Brainpop lesson plan--
Week Five: Balance of the Ecosystem: Survival of the Fittest
ELA Priority Standards (no more than 2):
W.9 Draw evidence from literary and informational text to support analysis, reflection, and research.
W.1 Write arguments to support claims.
Math Connections (no more than 2):
Priority Standard #2 Fluency with whole number operations. Extend division to 2 digit divisors, integrating decimal fractions into the place value system, and develop understanding of operations with decimals to hundredths.
Science Connections (no more than 1):
(LS2-1A) Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
The food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants. Organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants. Some organisms, such as fungi and bacteria, break down dead organisms (both plants or plants parts and animals) and therefore operate as “decomposers.” Decomposition eventually restores (recycles) some materials back to the soil. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their particular needs are met. A healthy ecosystem is one in which multiple species of different types are each able to meet their needs in a relatively stable web of life. Newly introduced species can damage the balance of an ecosystem.
Vocabulary: ecosystem, producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, food chain, food web, food pyramid, sustainability, interdependence, survival
Student product/assessment: Students will write a description of a pond ecosystem using key vocabulary.
Daily Activities to Support Learning:
(Day One)
1. Watch the Discovery Education video on the Food Pyramid to review what students already know about food chains, food webs, and ecosystems and to introduce the concept of balance. Discuss with students:
-What is the relationship between producers, primary consumers, and secondary consumers? Why is this relationship depicted in the form of a pyramid?
-In an environment where sharks are the secondary consumers, what would happen if sharks disappeared?
-What else might happen to make an ecosystem to become unbalanced?
2. Complete the BrainPop Lesson Plan on Sustainable Ecosystems.
(Day Two)
3. In preparation for field trip to Range Pond, have students design a pond viewer using the directions found here.
(Day Three)
4. Visit the Gulf of Maine Research website on turtles and have students explore the site using the following guiding questions:
-What do turtles need to survive?
-What part of the food pyramid do they represent?
-What threats do turtles face?
-What can humans do to help them?
After students conduct their research, have them report back to the class and develop further questions for the Gulf of Maine Research scientists they will meet tomorrow.
(Day Four)
5. Assess students by asking them to write a descriptions of the pond ecosystem using key vocabulary.
Literature Connections:
Field Trip: Range Pond
Materials We Need:
Week One: Food Web/Food Chain
ELA Priority Standards (no more than 2):
W.9 Draw evidence from literary and informational text to support analysis, reflection, and research.
W.1 Write arguments to support claims.
Math Connections (no more than 2):
Priority Standard #2 Fluency with whole number operations. Extend division to 2 digit divisors, integrating decimal fractions into the place value system, and develop understanding of operations with decimals to hundredths.
Science Connections (no more than 1):
(LS2-1A) Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
The food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants. Organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants. Some organisms, such as fungi and bacteria, break down dead organisms (both plants or plants parts and animals) and therefore operate as “decomposers.” Decomposition eventually restores (recycles) some materials back to the soil. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their particular needs are met. A healthy ecosystem is one in which multiple species of different types are each able to meet their needs in a relatively stable web of life. Newly introduced species can damage the balance of an ecosystem.
Vocabulary: Food chain, food web, ecosystem, producer, consumer, predator, prey, herbivore, omnivore, carnivore, organism, decomposer
* Check out flashcards for this unit here.
Student product/assessment: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Food Chain Edition!
Daily Activities to Support Learning:
1. (Day One) Read Who Eats What? by Patricia Lauber to introduce food webs and food chains. Discuss with students why they think this system exists. Introduce the word "Ecosystem" and have students write the word, definition, and draw a picture in their science journals. Visit the school garden to have students observe and record the components of the food chain/food web they see right in their own backyard.
2. (Day Two) Read Pass the Energy Please! by Barbara Shaw McKinney. Then, play the Food Web Game. You may choose the online version or the active version. For the active version, scroll down in the document to "Farm Food Web Game." Use colored yarn instead of cords and replace the sun/water posts with a sun and water drops drawn with chalk on the pavement.
3. (Day Three) Complete the BrainPop Lesson Plan on Food Webs.
4. (Day Four) Assess students' understanding by playing Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Food Chain Edition! (scroll down in the lesson plan to locate the game) Each student should write their answers to the questions as they are given to assess individual knowledge.
Literature Connections:
Who Eats What? by Patricia Lauber
Pass the Energy Please! by Barbara Shaw McKinney
Field Trip: York Center Wildlife
Materials We Need:
Who Eats What? by Patricia Lauber
Pass the Energy Please! by Barbara Shaw McKinney
For active food web game--yellow, light blue, and dark blue yarn, sidewalk chalk
Week Two: Photosynthesis
ELA Priority Standards (no more than 2):W.9 Draw evidence from literary and informational text to support analysis, reflection, and research.
W.1 Write arguments to support claims.
Math Connections (no more than 2):
Priority Standard #2 Fluency with whole number operations. Extend division to 2 digit divisors, integrating decimal fractions into the place value system, and develop understanding of operations with decimals to hundredths.
Science Connections (no more than 1):
(PS3-1) Use models to describe that that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.
Vocabulary: chlorophyll, sunlight, chloroplasts, hydrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, sugar, stomata, xylem, phloem, respiration, transpiration
* Check out flashcards for this unit here.
Student product/assessment: Using given vocabulary words, students will write a paragraph describing the process of photosynthesis.
Daily Activities to Support Learning:
1. (Day One) Read Living Sunlight by Molly Bang. Have students draw a picture in their science journals to show the cycle of energy from the sun to plants to animals and humans. Complete the BrainPop Lesson Plan on Photosynthesis.
2. (Days Two and Three) Complete the Photosynthesis Play Lesson Plan.
3. (Day Four) Have students explore plant cells using the Lakeshore Prepared Slides/ Plants. As they explore the slides, they should draw pictures of what they see in their science journals. Have students color and label the Plant Cell Diagram. Discuss chloroplasts as the part of the plant cell that plays an active role in photosynthesis. Have students continue their exploration using the E-Science Online Plant Cell Exploration. (Choose "Plant Cell/ Grade 5" from the menu of games.)
4. Assess students by asking them to write a paragraph describing the process of photosynthesis. Give them key vocabulary words they must use in their paragraph.
Literature Connections:
Living Sunlight by Molly Bang
This book shows how plants harness the sun's energy through photosynthesis and share that energy with humans by creating both our source of oxygen and also the fruits and vegetables we eat.
Field Trip: Chewonki
Materials We Need:
Living Sunlight by Molly Bang
Microscopes
Lakeshore Prepared Slides/ Plants LC3541
Week Three: Herbivores, Omnivores, and Carnivores
ELA Priority Standards (no more than 2):
W.9 Draw evidence from literary and informational text to support analysis, reflection, and research.
W.1 Write arguments to support claims.
Math Connections (no more than 2):
Priority Standard #2 Fluency with whole number operations. Extend division to 2 digit divisors, integrating decimal fractions into the place value system, and develop understanding of operations with decimals to hundredths.
Science Connections (no more than 1):
(PS3-1) Use models to describe that that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.
(LS2-1A) Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
The food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants. Organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants. Some organisms, such as fungi and bacteria, break down dead organisms (both plants or plants parts and animals) and therefore operate as “decomposers.” Decomposition eventually restores (recycles) some materials back to the soil. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their particular needs are met. A healthy ecosystem is one in which multiple species of different types are each able to meet their needs in a relatively stable web of life. Newly introduced species can damage the balance of an ecosystem.
Vocabulary: herbivore, omnivore, carnivore, interdependence, food chain, food web
Student product/assessment: Students will design a presentation about the food chain/ food web and herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores for a group of kindergarten students.
Daily Activities to Support Learning:
1. Complete the National Park Service Lesson Plan to review herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores. In this lesson, students will make a book of animals and identify them as carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores. You will need lots of National Geographic magazines for cut outs!
2. Read the Skull Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta and Bones by Steve Jenkins. Using the kit from the Children's Museum and Theater of Maine and the lesson plan located here, have students conduct a skull investigation. They will look at how the structure of each skull assists in the function it must perform to eat plants, other animals, or both. (Jenn Carter has reserved this kit with the Children's Museum and will drop it off to Longley School on Monday and pick it up on Friday.)
3. In small groups, have students read the books Trout are Made of Trees by April Pulley Sayre and Pond Circle by Betsy Franco. Then have students conduct an animal cells investigation using the Lakeshore Prepared Slides/ Animals. They will use these materials to design a presentation on food chain/ food web/ herbivore/ omnivore/ carnivore for a group of kindergarteners.
4. Present to kindergarten students.
Literature Connections:
Skull Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta
Trout are Made of Trees by April Pulley Sayre
Pond Circle by Betsy Franco
Field Trip: Reid State Park
Materials We Need:
For NPS Lesson Plan--National Geographic magazines, scissors, glue, construction paper
Microscopes
Lakeshore Prepared Slides/Animals LC3547
Bones by Steve Jenkins
Skull Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta
Trout are Made of Trees by April Pulley Sayre
Pond Circle by Betsy Franco
Week Four: Decomposers
ELA Priority Standards (no more than 2):
W.9 Draw evidence from literary and informational text to support analysis, reflection, and research.
W.1 Write arguments to support claims.
Math Connections (no more than 2):
Priority Standard #2 Fluency with whole number operations. Extend division to 2 digit divisors, integrating decimal fractions into the place value system, and develop understanding of operations with decimals to hundredths.
Science Connections (no more than 1):
(LS2-1A) Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
The food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants. Organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants. Some organisms, such as fungi and bacteria, break down dead organisms (both plants or plants parts and animals) and therefore operate as “decomposers.” Decomposition eventually restores (recycles) some materials back to the soil. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their particular needs are met. A healthy ecosystem is one in which multiple species of different types are each able to meet their needs in a relatively stable web of life. Newly introduced species can damage the balance of an ecosystem.
Vocabulary: organic matter, inorganic matter, minerals, water, decompose, verma composting, humus, topsoil, subsoil, bedrock
* Check out flashcards for this unit here.
Student product/assessment: Students will write letters to the school principal arguing for or against the development of a school-wide verma composting system.
Daily Activities to Support Learning:
1. (Day One--Monday) Read Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin. Participate in Verma Composting Activity with Nick Geer from Food Corps.
2. (Day Two) Read A Handful of Dirt by Raymond Bial. Have students draw a picture in their science journals to show the cycle of energy from soil to insect to reptiles/mammals. Ask students to compare/contrast this cycle with the energy cycle described in Living Sunlight by Molly Bang (which they read during week. Begin the BrainPop Lesson Plan on Soil.
3. (Day Three--Thursday) Read An Earthworm's Life by John Himmelmann. Participate in Verma Composting Activity with Nick Geer from Food Corps.
4. (Day Four) Finish the BrainPop Lesson Plan on Soil. Have students write their letters to the school principal.
Literature Connections:
Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
The "New York Times" bestselling author of "Click, Clack, Moo" and "Giggle, Giggle, Quack" teams up with illustrator Harry Bliss for this hysterical journal about the daily doings and the hidden world of a lovable underground dweller. A great introduction to a unit on soil!
A Handful of Dirt by Raymond Bial
Soil may not be alive, but amazingly, multitudes of microscopic creatures live there, battling it out in an eat-or-be-eaten world. These tiny creatures, invisible to our eyes, provide food for the insects that in turn feed the reptiles and mammals that live in and above the soil.
An Earthworm's Life by John Himmelmann
Simple text and realistic illustrations describe the daily activities and life cycle of the earthworm. Makes a good nonfiction companion to Diary of a Worm.
Dirt by Steve Tomececk
Informative text and playful illustrations explain how soil is made, how soil changes if you dig deep enough, what each layer of soil is called and its importance as a natural resource that living things need to survive.
Field Trip: Ferry Beach
Materials We Need:
Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin
An Earthworm's Life by John Himmelmann
A Handful of Dirt by Raymond Bial
Dirt by Steve Tomececk
For Brainpop lesson plan--
- Soil sample probe
- Large sealable baggies
- Soil samples
- Two shallow pans
- Deep pan
- Soil
- Soil with grass growing in it
- Water in a container
Week Five: Balance of the Ecosystem: Survival of the Fittest
ELA Priority Standards (no more than 2):
W.9 Draw evidence from literary and informational text to support analysis, reflection, and research.
W.1 Write arguments to support claims.
Math Connections (no more than 2):
Priority Standard #2 Fluency with whole number operations. Extend division to 2 digit divisors, integrating decimal fractions into the place value system, and develop understanding of operations with decimals to hundredths.
Science Connections (no more than 1):
(LS2-1A) Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
The food of almost any kind of animal can be traced back to plants. Organisms are related in food webs in which some animals eat plants for food and other animals eat the animals that eat plants. Some organisms, such as fungi and bacteria, break down dead organisms (both plants or plants parts and animals) and therefore operate as “decomposers.” Decomposition eventually restores (recycles) some materials back to the soil. Organisms can survive only in environments in which their particular needs are met. A healthy ecosystem is one in which multiple species of different types are each able to meet their needs in a relatively stable web of life. Newly introduced species can damage the balance of an ecosystem.
Vocabulary: ecosystem, producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer, food chain, food web, food pyramid, sustainability, interdependence, survival
Student product/assessment: Students will write a description of a pond ecosystem using key vocabulary.
Daily Activities to Support Learning:
(Day One)
1. Watch the Discovery Education video on the Food Pyramid to review what students already know about food chains, food webs, and ecosystems and to introduce the concept of balance. Discuss with students:
-What is the relationship between producers, primary consumers, and secondary consumers? Why is this relationship depicted in the form of a pyramid?
-In an environment where sharks are the secondary consumers, what would happen if sharks disappeared?
-What else might happen to make an ecosystem to become unbalanced?
2. Complete the BrainPop Lesson Plan on Sustainable Ecosystems.
(Day Two)
3. In preparation for field trip to Range Pond, have students design a pond viewer using the directions found here.
(Day Three)
4. Visit the Gulf of Maine Research website on turtles and have students explore the site using the following guiding questions:
-What do turtles need to survive?
-What part of the food pyramid do they represent?
-What threats do turtles face?
-What can humans do to help them?
After students conduct their research, have them report back to the class and develop further questions for the Gulf of Maine Research scientists they will meet tomorrow.
(Day Four)
5. Assess students by asking them to write a descriptions of the pond ecosystem using key vocabulary.
Literature Connections:
Field Trip: Range Pond
Materials We Need: