7th Grade/Science
Unit: Biology
Concept: Ecosystems
Generalizations
TEKS: 7.10
The student knows that different environments support different organisms.
The student knows that there is a relationship between organisms and the environment
7.10A Observe and describe how different environments, including microhabitats in schoolyards and biomes, support
different varieties of organisms
CCA, DCA, Benchmark , TAKS 8
 Define habitat/microhabitat and biome
 Distinguish different biomes by their plants, animals and climate factors
 Identify characteristics of plants and animals that help them survive in different biomes
 Classify characteristics of biomes by climate factors affected by latitude
MISCONCEPTIONS:
 Students may think that an organism can live in any biome or habitat
Student Expectation:
Formal Assessment:
Clarification:
Notes to Teacher:
NOTES:
 Students may need to review components of ecosystems as biotic or abiotic
 Students may need to review producer, consumer or decomposer
 Taiga, boreal, and coniferous forest are all the same thing.
 List of Books for resources
Key Academic Vocabulary:
Niche
habitat
Abiotic
Vertical Alignment:
microhabitat
biome
6th Grade
6.12E Describe biotic and abiotic parts of an ecosystem in
which organisms interact
6.12F Diagram the levels of organization within an
ecosystem including organism, population, community, and
ecosystem
Interdependence
diversity
Before
After
climate
Biotic
8th grade
8.11A. Describe producer/consumer, predator prey and
parasite/host relationships as they occur in food webs I
marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems
8.11B. Investigate how organisms and populations in an
ecosystem depend on and may compete for biotic and
abiotic factors such as quantity of light, water range of
temperatures or soil composition
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7th Grade/Science
Core Instruction:
Engage
UNIVERSAL
GENERALIZATION: Things
exist under specific
conditions
Quick walk outside
identifying biotic and abiotic
factors in a T chart
Explore
School yard safari activity
Biome Summaries with
Student page
Biomes Webquest
Explain
Students will need to explain
their explore activity
Elaborate
Texas Eco-regions
comparison – computer
Teacher talk/whole class
discussion of school yard
safari focusing on the abiotic
factors that might influence
different populations in the
microhabitats
Projects: choose from
the following
 Biome Project
 Travel Brochure
 Biome in a Box
How Much Rain it that?
Home Sweet Biomes – Cornell
notes
Evaluate
Exit card: Change one
abiotic factor in your
schoolyard habit: Predict
how the organisms would
change
CATALYST Houston Climate
Biome Catalyst 1
Biome Catalyst 2
Ecosystem image and
questions
Biome Sweet Biome (Class set
printed in color)
Biome Cards
Biome PowerPoint
Biomes Climatograph
Biomes of the world content
frame – use with PowerPoint
or have students fill in while
viewing Biome Projects
(Evaluate section)
Identifying Biomes
Biome Map
Do you know your biomes?
The Great Graph Match
(computer activity)
EduSmart 7th grade Diversity
of Life
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