Great Lakes Lesson 3
Field Trip Re-Cap, Review of Watershed, Ecosystem, Food Chain
Date:
LWBBAT…
-Define watershed, ecosystem and food chain
-Recognize watersheds, ecosystems and food chains and how negative ingredients could have
adverse affects.
Materials:
“Great Lakes Food Web Diagrams” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Great
Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
(http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/res/projects/food_web/food_web.html)
-Lake Michigan
-Lake Superior
-Lake Huron
-Lake Erie
-Lake Ontario
Geography Alive! Textbook (TCI)
Signs: Green Algae, Mollusk, Yellow Perch, Lake Trout
Squishy Ball or Colored Paper
Introductory Activity:
Ask students what a food chain is. List their responses on the board. Ask for 5 student
volunteers and assign them each a part by giving them a sign (Green Algae, Mollusk, Yellow
Perch, Lake Trout). Have them, with help from the other students, create a food chain. Once
they are line up in order, ask a student to describe what this food chain is. Next, give the algae a
squishy ball or piece of colored paper and say that this is a toxin. Have each student pass the
‘toxin’ up the food chain. After a student has passed the ‘toxin’ they should sit down to signify
that they are eaten. As the ‘toxin’ moves up the food chain, add more ‘toxin’ to it (use paper or
another ball. Ask students in the audience to describe what they see. Explain that food
chains/food webs are how animals eat each other to survive and that when outside things such as
chemicals get introduced that often screws up the food chain.
Learning Activities:
1. Introductory Activity
2. Ask students to review the field trip from yesterday. What did they learn? What did they
like?
3. Using a Choral Reading Method (Teacher reads the text aloud, but drops out for certain
words and the students must say that word), read section 4.2 (pgs. 66-67) aloud as a class.
(Oral Cloze, “Shared Reading”
http://www.oe.k12.mi.us/balanced_literacy/shared_reading.htm)
4. Ask students some questions dealing with the reading: What is the difference between a
food web and a food chain? Why were the Great Lakes called the “Sweetwater Seas?”
What is another word for a watershed?
5. After students have responded to the questions, split students into groups of 4. Pass out
each student group copies of Great Lakes Food Webs.
6. Explain how the food web is organized and works to the whole class.
7. Pass out “Food Web Worksheet” to students and have them work on it as a group.
8. Come back together as a class to discuss their findings.
9. Ask 1-3 students to summarize what was learned today.
Formative Assessment:
-Having students observe what they see during the physical representation of a food chain allows
the instructor to see how well students are understanding the demonstration or what content they
are getting out of it.
-Asking questions after reading the text aloud will help to make sure that students understood the
reading.
-The “Food Web Worksheet” will evaluate how well students understand the concept of food
webs.
Food Web Fun
What lake is your food web of?
Name the organisms that are at the bottom of the food
web.
Name the organisms that are at the top of the food web.
Who do you think eats those?
What does the Sea Lamprey eat? Why do you think the Sea
Lamprey could be a problem?
Why do you think having chemicals and toxins in the water
is so dangerous?