Science Lesson

Title: Food Webs, Grade 3

Essential Questions: How is matter transformed, and energy transferred/transformed in
living systems?
Standard:
NJCCS CPI # 5 5.3.2.B.2: Compare how different animals obtain food and water.
NJCCS CPI # 5.3.6.B.2: Illustrate the flow of energy (food) through a community.
NJCCS CPI # 5.3.8.B.2: Analyze the components of a consumers diet and trace them
back to plants and plant products.
A. Learning Objectives and B. Assessments:
Objectives
Assessments
Students will be able to demonstrate
understanding of a food web and the
transfer of energy among organisms.
Students will be able to identify the
relationship between producers and
consumers in an ecosystem.

Observational assessment of group activity

the creation of food chains among groups of
students to see accurate understanding of
the content.
Check Food Web for students to label the
consumers and producers.

Materials:
Strips of construction paper
Pencils
Predator Prey handout
Food Web handout
Vocabulary Check handout
Food Web anchor chart
7. Prior Knowledge: Students know that some source of energy is needed for organisms
to stay alive and grow. The students also understand that energy is transferred to living
things through the food they eat. Students are familiar with the terms environment and
ecosystem, and have also classified animals into categories (mammal, reptile, amphibian,
etc.)
8. Lesson Beginning: Review with students the necessary components living things need
in order to survive. Discuss the nonliving parts of an ecosystem that are relied on by the
living organisms. Next, inform students that they will be discussing how living things get
their food, and how energy is transferred from each living thing in an ecosystem.

9. Instructional Plan:
o First ask students to think about how living things acquire energy or food in their
environment. Next, call on a student to think of a living thing that relies on the sun for
energy. Draw the organism on the whiteboard, i.e. grass. Then ask another student to
share an animal that eats the grass, i.e. insect or small mammal. Continue doing so
until a food chain is drawn on the board. Stop and explain to students that energy
from the Sun moves from producers to consumers in a sequence called a food chain.
Then identify the living things that make their own food, and introduce the term
producers. Do the same for the living organisms in the food chain that must find their
own food, and identify them as the consumers. Once the terms producer and
consumer have been introduced, continue adding organisms to the food chain until a
food web is formed. Explain to the students that a food web is made up of more than
one food chain. Next, ask students if they can name an animal that hunts for food, i.e.
fox. Tell students that a fox is a predator, because it hunts for its food. Then ask the
students to identify what the fox eats, and explain that what is hunted by the fox is its
prey. The next part of the lesson will involve organizing the students into groups of
three. Each group will get four strips of paper. The activity will require the groups to
label each strip of paper with a nonliving energy source, i.e the Sun, a producer, and a
consumer. The students will be asked to make their own food chain, and be able to
explain and identify the movement of energy from organism to organism.
o Differentiation: Students that need more assistance will be paired with more abled
students. Resources will be available for early finishers: Predator Prey, and Food
Web handout.
o Questions: How are a food chain and food web related? In what ways are two
consumers related? (i.e both consume grass, or other animals). What would happen if
producers were not a part of the food chain?
o Classroom Management: Students will work in groups to complete the activity.
Groups will be made in advance; students who are easily distracted will work with
students who are consistently focused. Turn-A-Card behavioral system will be used to
keep students on task.
o Transitions: I will inform students that they have a total of 5 minutes to think of the
organisms they will use in their food chain. Once five minutes is up, the students will
have to stop working and wait for the stapler to come around to link their chains.
9. Closure: A review of the learned vocabulary terms will conclude the lesson.

Math Lesson
1. Title: Time Review Centers, Grade 2
2. Essential Question: How do we use the hands on the clock to tell time?
3. Standards:
2.MD.C.7
A. Objectives

B. Assessments

Learner will be able to reinforce time to

the hour, half-past the hour, quarter to
and quarter past, as well as time to fiveminute intervals, through interactive
centers and activities.

Observational assessment of progress of

skill during rotations.

4. A.

Collection of Time Cards completed by

students during the Independent
Rotation.

Learning Objectives and B. Assessments:

5. Materials:
Time Cards
Clipboard
Rainbow Race game board and playing cards
Crayons
Pencils
Computers/Laptops
Clock manipulatives
6. Prior Knowledge: Students are able to read an analog and digital clock to the nearest
five minutes. Students are familiar with the terms half past, quarter to and quarter past.
7. Lesson Beginning: Teacher will introduce three center rotations to reinforce learned
concepts regarding telling time. Students will rotate through three 15-minute centers, one
center will require the students to work in pairs, while the other two centers will be
independent.
Hook: Teacher will have students take out clock manipulatives to practice
skip counting by fives around the clock. Teacher will also do a quick
review of the terms half past, quarter past, and quarter to the hour. (5
minutes)

8. Instructional Plan: Teacher will explain and model the following three centers:

Technology Center: Sheppard Software (15 minutes)

o Students will work independently on SheppardSoftware.com to play
games that will allow for them to practice telling time
o Students will choose between the following games:
On Time!
On Time! Digital
Clock Splat! (Identifying digital and analog time)

Independent Center: Time Cards (15 minutes)

o Students will work on the carpet to complete Time Cards
o The Time Cards will have the students read the time shown in written
words, and will have to write the time in digital and analog form
o A corresponding recording sheet will be provided for students to record
their answers

Partner Center: Rainbow Race (15 minutes)

o Students play Rainbow Race with a partner
o Students are supplied with their own set of playing cards, and a rainbow
game board. Students take turns choosing a card, and locating the time
shown on the card, on their rainbow. The students then color the area of
the rainbow that corresponds to their time card. The first player to color
their entire rainbow is the winner.
o Differentiation: Based on assessment, resources for review and
enrichment will be available.
o Classroom Management: The Star Reinforcement System. The teacher
will award a class star if the students are all on task and productive.
However, if the students are off task the teacher will receive a star. The
class cannot earn another star until they have earned the star back from the
teacher.
o Transitions: Students rotate through the centers in 15 minutes intervals. A
timer will be used to aid in smooth transitions.

9. Closure: A discussion of the centers will conclude the activity. The teacher will answer
any questions that the children may have after completing the rotations, and clarify any
unclear topics. (5 minutes)