Theme Animals- Lesson 3

Level Grade 4

Essential Question How do food chains and webs work?

Standard 5.6:
All Students Will Gain An Understanding Of The Structure, Characteristics, And Basic Needs Of Organisms

Standard 5.7:
All Students Will Investigate The Diversity Of Life

Students will identify the food chain and food web concepts.

Students will be able to draw conclusions and discover relationships about problems and situations involving food chains and webs.

Time two hours

1.Students will use a food pyramid to discuss foods people eat and where they come from. Connections will be made relating to animals.

2. Students will work in pairs to visit the following site:

http://www.brainpop.com/science/ecology/foodchains/

They will watch the video and take the quiz.

3. As a whole class, we will compile a list of vocabulary and define into notes.

Explain how arrows work, their direction points to who is receiving the energy.

4. Students will use pictures of animals and arrows to model food chains.

For example, six students will get a picture of a mouse, rabbit, hawk, snake, grass, or decomposer and one arrow. They will arrange themselves in a food chain. The class will also name the producers, consumers, herbivores, carnivores, etc. in that chain.

5. Next as a class, the students will construct a food web using pictures and yarn. The student with an animal at the top of the food chain begins by passing yarn to all that it eats. The process continues with another student passing the same yarn to all that it eats. Soon it will look like a spider web because many animals eat the same things.

6. Students will build a food chain of there choice through drawings, magazine pictures, clip art, etc.

7. Teacher will pose situation of pollution in a lake. Students will work in groups to analyze how the food chain will be affected. Next, they will brainstorm other scenarios that would affect the food chain.

8. Students assessment will be a written test consisting of fill in the blanks, multiple choice, and open-ended responses.

Computers with Internet, numerous pictures of animals, yarn