Science
SCI.III.5.1
Strand:
Using Scientific Knowledge in Life Science
- Ecosystems
Standard:
Benchmark:
Grade: 3
All students will explain how parts of an ecosystem are related and how
they interact
Identify familiar organisms as part of a food chain or a food web and
describe their feeding relationships within the web.
Constructing and Reflecting:
SCI.I.1.1 - Generate reasonable questions about the world based on observation
SCI.I.1.2 - Develop solutions to problems through reasoning, observation, and investigation.
SCI.I.1.3 - Manipulate simple devices that aid observation and data collection.
SCI.I.1.5 - Develop strategies and skills for information gathering and problem solving.
SCI.I.1.6 - Construct charts and graphs and prepare summaries of observations.
SCI.II.1.1 - Develop an awareness of the need for evidence in making decisions scientifically.
SCI.II.1.2 - Show how science concepts can be illustrated through creative expression such as language arts and fine
arts.
SCI.II.1.4 - Develop an awareness of and sensitivity to the natural world.
Vocabulary / Key Concepts
Context
Words describing parts of a food web:
Food chains and food webs involving these
common organisms:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
producer
consumer
predator
prey
decomposer
habitat
community
•
•
•
•
•
rabbits
birds
snakes
grasshoppers
plants
Knowledge and Skills
All living things depend on each other to survive.
Students will identify and categorize the parts of a
food chain or food web.
Parts of a food chain or web:
• Producer – makes own food (plants)
• Consumer – depends on others for food
• Decomposer – breaks down dead plants and
animals then returns nutrients to the soil
•
•
Resources
Coloma Resources:
Discover the Wonder – Grade 3
Module B, pages 14-17
AIMS Activity: “Yarn Ball Food Web”
(activity attached)
Predator – hunts and devours prey
Prey – hunted for food
Food Chain – traces energy from the sun, to one
plant, to one animal, to another animal…
Food Web – shows interrelationship of food
chains in a community.
Pass the Energy, Please! Show McKinney
Dawn (publisher)
“Nature’s Way” Sing the Science Standards
with Science Explosion Songbook
Videoconferences Available
For more information, see
www.remc11.k12.mi.us/dl or call Janine Lim 4717725x101 or email jlim@remc11.k12.mi.us
3.5.1
Food Webs from the Bronx Zoo/Wildlife
Conservation Society
Circle of Life from the Columbus Zoo
Food Chains and Webs from the Toledo Zoo
Instruction
Benchmark Question: How are parts of an
ecosystem related and how do they interact?
Focus Question: How are organisms linked
together in a food chain or food web and what is the
flow of energy in the chain or web?
Have each student make (draw) separate pictures
of each member of a four-member food chain
beginning with a plant. (For example: grains,
mouse, snake, hawk) Children will name and
explain the roles (link to benchmark clarification
III.5.E.1) of the members of the food chain to the
class. Once done, the food chains will be stapled to
a bulletin board, as spokes on a wheel with the
plant as the hub. Students then use yarn to connect
the predators within their chains to the prey in other
chains. The resulting web demonstrates the
dependence of living things on one another for
survival and that the interrelationship of food chains
forms a food web. Next, have students attach
paper triangles (pointing AWAY from the plant) to
the pieces of yarn to show the direction of the flow
of energy. Paper triangles closest to the plant
should be larger and than the triangles further away
from the plant to show the decrease in the amount
of usable energy.
Assessment
Each student is given a poster (teacher created
using words or pictures) with six organisms
circled, representing at least one of each of the
following: producer, consumer, predator, and
decomposer.
Using their poster, each student will choose four
out of the six organisms and from them construct
a food chain. They will explain the feeding
relationship within that chain.
Students are now placed in groups of three.
Each student contributes the four organisms from
their food chain for a total of 12 organisms.
Create a food web depicting the interrelationship
of the food chains. Next, ask each student to
choose one organism from his or her group’s
web to eliminate. Students must then develop in
writing a five-step sequence of consequences to
the food web that could occur if the organism
they chose is eliminated. Students will then
share their writing and rationale with the entire
class.
(Give students the rubric before the activity.)
Criteria
Apprentice
Basic
Meets
Exceeds
Identification
of feeding
relationships
Recognizes
that there are
feeding
relationships
between
organisms,
but does not
identify them
specifically.
Identifies one
or more
feeding
relationships.
Identifies at
least three
common
feeding
relationships.
Identifies
common
feeding
relationships
and also
provides
evidence
of lesser
known
relationships.
Accuracy of
predictions
Writes one
prediction/
consequence
but is unclear
on the
sequence of
events/the
reason.
Writes one or
two predictions/
consequences
and accurate
reasons.
Writes three
predictions/
consequences
and accurate
reasons.
Writes four or
more
predictions/
consequences
and provides
accurate
reasons.
Simple food chain example (direction of arrow
shows flow of energy; size of arrow shows amount
of energy):
Simple food web example:
Teacher Notes:
Explain how parts of an ecosystem are related and how they interact.
It is important for students to learn about many ecosystems, but they need to begin with those that have the
closest connection to them. Very young children think in terms of organisms that are around them such as pets,
animals in zoos, and houseplants. At a young age, many children think humans help to feed wild animals. As
they mature, children begin to understand the concept of populations of organisms in the wild. The concept of
populations is most clearly understood in terms of food chains and food webs.
In elementary school, students should be introduced to food chains and learn about some of the organisms
involved. Early in this time, students may only be able to understand the relationship between two organisms.
Later, students should be able to identify the organisms involved in both food chains and food webs and the
feeding relationships that occur. Interestingly, children in elementary school may not believe that food can be a
scarce resource in a food web. They think that all animals are more like people in that animals can change what
they need to eat whenever they want according to what is available. Students in these grades should be able to
describe all of the basic requirements needed for all living things to exist.
As students progress through the upper elementary grades and go into middle school they should become more
aware of different interactions between organisms, besides food. For example, there are mutually beneficial
relationships like plants depending on animals for pollination. There are also competitive relationships in which
different animals with similar environmental requirements compete for the same resources. In the middle school,
students should be made aware of the relationships between organisms in which neither could survive without
the other. By high school, students should be able to describe common ecological relationships between and
among species and their environments. They should understand the difficult concepts of competition, territory,
and carrying capacity among others.