Teacher: Grade/Subject: Date:

Miss Cheska Science, 5 Grade

th
March 2010
Standard:
Second Science Lesson Plan on Living Environment w/
NYS Intermediate Science Standard 4, Key Idea 6:
Virtual
Plants Trip
and animals depend on eachPage
other1and their physical
environment.

Strand:
6.1a: Energy flows through ecosystems in one direction, usually from
the sun, through producers to consumers and then to decomposers.
This process may be visualized with food chains or energy pyramids.
6.1b: Food webs identify feeding relationships among producers,
consumers and decomposers in an ecosystem.

Objective: By the end of the class students will be able to:

• To explain the significance of energy flow on interactions
between living organisms in an ecosystem
• To break down the parts of an ecosystem into categories of
producers, consumers, and decomposers
• To identify relationships between living and nonliving organisms
in an ecosystem
• To evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of organisms
being interconnected or interdependent
as demonstrated by
• Student responses in group discussions
• Student completion of lists categorizing different living
organisms and roles
• Student performance and reflections on online games and virtual
field trip
• Student questions to biologists
• Student products on food chains/food webs from virtual field trip

Teacher and Student Activities

Do Now (Activator):
Students will work in pairs or small groups to list as many examples of
animals and plants that they know. After generating a list, students will
describe the roles of the organisms, and try to match an animal to
another animal, an animal to a plant, or a plant with another plant
based on what they know about their roles and relationships.

Hook / Intro:
“All organisms in a habitat play a certain role in the food chain; they
are producers, consumers, or decomposers. A food chain is really an
energy chain. The chain starts with energy from the sun, which is
captured by producers (plants), and passed on to consumers (animals).
Consumers are categorized based on what they eat; there are
herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers. All of the living
organisms are linked to one another, creating an interdependent
relationship. We are going to explore these different types of
relationships via online games, simulations and a virtual field trip.”

Mini Lesson (I):

Students are divided into two groups, one per laptop. Each team will
work together on completing three online games: 1) The Food Chain