NCTA Literacy Coach
Lesson Plan Format
Heather Myers – Lincolnton Middle School
Aquatic and Terrestrial Food Webs
Science
8th grade
3.04 Describe how terrestrial and aquatic food webs are
interconnected.
Coach:
Lesson Title
Curriculum Area
Grade Level
Curriculum Objective(s)
(from the NCSCOS)
Technology Objective(s)
(from the NCSCOS)
List only if applicable.
NA
Essential Question
What question should students be able
to answer at the end of the lesson?
What are the components of a food web?
How are the aquatic and terrestrial food webs related?
Activity Summary
Write one sentence describing the
activities you will use to teach new
information to students.
First, use You Ought to be in Pictures to activate prior
knowledge about food webs. Then, use a Content Frame to
help students compare two texts on the subject. Sentence
Expansion will improve comprehension on the topic while a
Learning Log will be used to summarize the content.
To engage students in the topic, use You Ought to be in
Pictures.
Activating Strategy
Describe the strategy you will use to
activate what students already know.
Suggested Strategies:
 Anticipation/Reaction Guide
 Fast Write / Roulette
 Humor in the Classroom
 KWL Plus
 Mindstreaming
 Possible Sentences
 Probable Passages
 Quick Activators
 The First Word
 Think-Pair-Share
 Three Step Interview
 Walk Around Survey
 Word Splash
 You Ought To Be In Pictures
If students are unfamiliar with this strategy, model it using a
picture related to a well-known fairy tale or previously taught
literature.
Make an overhead of the food web graphic on page 29 of
Who Eats What? by Patricia Lauber. It is important that
students not know where the picture comes from.
Allow students 5 minutes to discuss a possible story plot for
what is happening in the picture. Students can either write a
brief paragraph or discuss their ideas whole group.
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Organizing Strategy
Describe the strategy you will use to
help students organize new
information into a format that will
help them to better understand and
remember it.
Suggested Strategies:
 Content Frames
 Content Mapping
 Dump and Clump
 Informative Text
 Jigsaw Reading / Missing
Pieces
 Power Thinking Notes
 Semantic Feature Analysis
 Story Maps
 Story Star
 Target Notes
 Think Aloud
 Two-Column Notes
 Venn Diagram
 Sticky Notes
Use a Content Frame to help students organize the
information found in the two texts Who Eats What? and
“Aquatic Ecosystems”.
1) Read aloud Who Eats What? to the entire class. It may
help to have color transparencies of the major pictures
in the text or use a document camera. This text
provides a quick overview of the general concept of
food webs and food chains.
2) Put students in small groups to read “Aquatic
Watersystems” or read aloud the text to the class.
3) Students work in small groups to match up the Who
Eats What? text examples with the content vocabulary
from “Aquatic Watersystems”. Vocabulary can be
student generated or teacher generated. The following
vocabulary works the best for comparison:
photosynthesis
primary consumers
secondary consumers
autotrophs
herbivores
scavengers
terrestrial
predators
producers
scavengers
decomposers
heterotrophs
omnivores
aquatic
prey
4) Provide students with preselected animal choices or
allow them to choose examples from the story. The
preselected choices in the attached content frame have
been chosen because of the variety of responses they
represent.
5) For vocabulary words with no comparison, discuss
whole-group with students any outside examples that
would fit in each category.
6) Some categories may trigger discussion, especially
predator vs. prey
Comprehending Strategy
Describe the strategy you will use to
help students understand new
information in multiple contexts.
(See sample/answer key attached)
Use Sentence Expansion to help student comprehend key
concepts from the text.
Put the following simple sentences on the overhead and ask to
work in groups or individually to expand them using
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Suggested Strategies:
 3x3 Vocabulary
 CLVG
 Give One-Get One
 Opinion-Proof Notes
 Problem/Process Chart
 Problem/Solution Guide
 QARs
 RAFT
 Sentence Expansion
 Story Impressions
 Talking Drawings
 Trading Cards
 Vocabulary Mapping
Applying / Summarizing Strategy
Describe the strategy you
will use at the end of your lesson to
help determine if students can
answer the lesson’s Essential
Question.
knowledge of both texts.
1) Food chains are related to food webs, but they are not
the same.
2) Aquatic and terrestrial food chains have different
lengths.
3) Land trees are helpful to aquatic ecosystems.
4) Each organism has its own niche in the ecosystem.
5) Eliminating a link in the food chain can affect the
entire food web.
Use Exit Slips to help students summarize what they have
learned.
Have students draw their own food web or chain. You can
either give them a starting/ending point or have students trace
their lunch/dinner/breakfast.
Suggested Strategies:
 Cartooning
 Epitaphs
 Exit Slips
 Final Countdown
(3-2-1 Review)
 Four-Box Synectics
 Four Corners
 Free Form Mapping
 Learning Frames
 Learning Logs
 One Sentence Summary
 Shaping Up Review
 Vanity Plates / Bumper
Stickers
 Window Pane Summary
Resources and Materials
What resources and materials are
needed to teach this lesson?
Who Eats What? By Patricia Lauber (elementary thin book)
“Aquatic Ecosystems” (abridged)
www.boquetriver.org/adoptaqeccosys.html
Document camera
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Re-teaching and Enrichment
Activities
How would you extend students’
understanding of the lesson concepts
through another activity or lesson?
Modifications
Are there any students for whom
you need to make modifications?
A food chain game or matching activity could be used that
asks students to match a picture from an ecosystem to its role
in that ecosystem (use content frame vocabulary)
Provide appropriate students with a typed version of Who Eats
What? so that they can follow along as you read.
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Content Frame for “Aquatic Ecosystems” and Who Eats What?
Kelp
Hawk
Krill
Humans
Producers
Primary Consumers
Secondary
Consumers
Decomposers
Autotrophs
Heterotrophs
Herbivores
Carnivores
Omnivores
Photosynthesis
Prey
Predator
Scavenger
Aquatic
Terrestrial
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Wren
Cows
Fish
Grass
Penguin
Grasshopper
Content Frame for “Aquatic Ecosystems” and Who Eats What?
Producers
Kelp
X
Hawk
Primary Consumers
Secondary
Consumers
Decomposers
Autotrophs
Krill
Humans
X
X
X
X
Cows
Fish
Penguin
X
Grasshopper
X
X
X
X
X
Herbivores
X
X
X
X
Carnivores
Grass
X
X
X
Heterotrophs
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Omnivores
Photosynthesis
Wren
X
X
X
X
X
Prey
X
Predator
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Scavenger
Aquatic
Terrestrial
X
X
X
X
X
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X
X
X