Though the walrus spends roughly one third of its time on land, it eats organisms that live on the bottom of the ocean. The first in a series of five, the lesson plan uses a variety of plant and animal cards to have scholars build an arctic food web. Then they play a game with another group and see what it takes to disrupt the food web.

Concepts

the arctic, food webs, arctic animals, producers, consumers, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, predators, decomposers

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Challenge scholars to think of three additional animals they could add to their food webs
• Extend the lesson by having class members research the long-term implications of an arctic food web going extinct

Classroom Considerations

• Assumes prior knowledge of the arctic food web, but you can offer extra time during the first portion of the lesson to teach the concept

Pros

• Includes both common and rare animals from the arctic
• Provides opportunities for cooperation and competition in the same lesson
• High quality, color cards emphasize the variety in the ecosystem

Cons

• None

Common Core

RST.9-10.4 RST.11-12.4