Curated OER
Discovering Local Food Chains
Fourth graders study about food chains. With the assistance of a local biologist, Students hike the school trail system. They explore ecosystem and collect data by charting the organisms found and identifying the energy source. They...
Curated OER
Construction of Food Chains and Tracing Energy Changes
If you need a few basic activities for teaching food chains to your emerging ecologists, here they are. Three sheets of organism cards are included for learners to cut out and arrange according to trophic relationships. To make the most...
Wild BC
Bearly Any Ice
After reviewing food chains, your class members participate in an arctic predator-prey game that exemplifies the impact of climate change of food availability. If you are in a hurry, skip this lesson, but if you have the time to...
Curated OER
Focus on Food Chains
Third graders collect and analyze data about food chains. They conduct Internet research about the habitat of a selected organism, write a narrative, and create a computer slideshow using Kid Pix computer software that illustrates the...
Curated OER
Food Chains and Food Webs
Fourth graders investigate food chains. For this living environment lesson, 4th graders begin to understand the interdependence of organisms. Students describe the connections organisms have to the ecosystem. Students research online,...
Channel Islands Film
Human Impact on the Food Web of Santa Cruz Island
What happens when a non-native species is introduced onto an island? Santa Cruz Island, part of the Channel Island chain located off the coast of southern California, provides the perfect laboratory for young environmental scientists to...
Curated OER
Project Conclusion
In this cells activity students answer questions regarding the characteristics of living organisms observed during a pond water survey. Students draw diagrams of a food chain.
Curated OER
Exploring Owls
What can young scientists discover from dissecting an owl pellet? Explore the owl food chain, beginning with an introduction to these predatory birds. Suggested strategies here include creating a podcast and purchasing a poster, however...
Curated OER
Food Chains: Simple or Complex?
Students explore the relationships within the food chain between plants and animals. They construct modules of food chains, keeping them simple and not complex. They focus on what the animals eat and not on what eats it.
August House
Go to Sleep, Gecko
Use this multidisciplinary lesson to delve into these subjects: English language arts, math, science, drama, and character education. After reading, discussing, and making interpretations about Go To Sleep, Gecko!: A Balinese Folktale by...
Pace University
Grades 6-8 Ecology
Why are our national parks important? Scholars research the national parks and explore the basic ecology of these areas in a differentiated instruction unit on ecology. They learn about ecosystems, food chains, symbiosis, and biomes. The...
Curated OER
Create a Food Chain
Learners explore the food chain and the ways that animals depend on each other and on plants for food. They create a paper chain with different colors relating to carnivores and herbivores. The chains are linked to the sun to create a...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Nature's Life Cycle
Become a member of the Pollution Patrol and stand up to litter! After discussing the life cycle of seeds and discussing how plants figure into the food chain, young conservationists engage in several activities involving podcasts,...
Curated OER
Great Lakes Food Web
Young scholars identify species and components of a Great Lakes food web. Using note cards, they place themselves in the correct order of the food chain based on the species present. They discuss what they believe happens to various...
Curated OER
Food Webs in the Barnegat Bay
Students investigate the food webs in the Barnegat Bay. In this organisms lesson, students use a graphic organizer to illustrate the types of consumers in the bay. Students use reference books to continue to research the animals found in...
Curated OER
Ecosystems
A critical look into the structure and function of ecosystems is here for young learners as a series of lessons and worksheet activities. Topics covered include land-based and marine ecosystems, connections to the water cycle, food webs,...
Curated OER
Wonderful Wetlands
Fifth graders describe a wetland habitat and its components. They provide, in writing, at least one example of a wetland food chain, relate wetlands to ecological functions, and relate the importance of wetland functions to their own...
Curated OER
Owl Pellets
Sixth graders investigate the role of owls in their ecosystem. In this food chain lesson, 6th graders illustrate an owl food chain, dissect an owl pellet, and analyze data. Students discuss what would happen to owls if there were an...
Curated OER
Strands Walk-An Ecological Obseravtion
In this ecosystem worksheet, students investigate an ecosystem at a local park or national forest, they make observations for five minutes, they complete a grid of their observations and they construct a hypothetical food chain. Students...
Curated OER
The Frog and the Ol' Black Fly
Students explore frogs. In this cross curriculum literacy and frogs lesson plan, students predict the plot and then listen to the book The Wide-Mouthed Frog by Keith Faulkner. Students define "predator" and identify foods a frog might...
Curated OER
Week 8 - Sea Life
Using a magnifier, mini marine biologists examine the barbules of a bird feather. They swirl the it into a mixture of oil and water and then re-examine the feather. After the activity, discuss how the oily feathers pose a problem to sea...
Curated OER
Sustainability and Extinction
Galapagos Penguins are the only penguins on earth that live north of the equator (in the wild). In this last lesson plan a discussion on how the Galapagos islands developed their populations and diversity sparks the introduction. Two...
Polar Trec
Bioaccumulation of Toxins
In 2015, Peter Cook found that sea lions with high levels of exposure to toxins suffered permanent brain damage if they survived at all. Scholars learn about the accumulation of toxins at various levels of the food chain. Using...
Curated OER
Creating a Food Web
Young scholars investigate hunters and prey by creating a food web. In this animal life lesson, students investigate a single organism in preparation for a field trip, discovering its diet and habitat. Young scholars each discuss their...