Food Chains and Habitats: a full term of science

Ten ready-to-teach lessons for Year 4 Biological sciences. Print this pack and the term is prepared: every lesson comes with a step-by-step plan, the questions to ask, a student worksheet, cut-out cards or exit tickets, an assessment kit and every answer.

Start here: five minutes to Monday

1. Skim the term at a glance on the next page.
2. Print the lesson you need. Each lesson is three A4 sheets: plan, worksheet, cards or tickets.
3. Gather the few everyday items under “You need” on the plan. Nothing needs a science cupboard.
4. Open the free interactive unit on your board or projector. Every plan tells you which picture to show and when.
5. Teach straight from the plan. Timings, talk prompts, misconceptions and answers are all on the one page.

No science background needed

This pack is written for the busy generalist teacher. Each plan explains the science idea in plain words, lists the misconceptions children bring, and gives model answers. The big idea of the term: in every habitat, producers make food from sunlight, consumers eat other living things, and decomposers break down the dead and return nutrients to the soil, and a food chain shows who eats whom.

Two ways to run each lesson

Every lesson works as one 60-minute block, or as two 30-minute sessions. The split point is marked in every plan. Lessons 3 and 6 start tests that run for a week or two, so look ahead when you plan.

Safety and care in one look

Children look, but do not touch, when the class finds animals outdoors; an adult lifts logs and rocks and puts them back. Slaters for Lesson 8 are handled gently with a spoon or soft brush and returned the same day. The decomposition bags in Lesson 6 stay sealed and go in the bin unopened. Everyone washes their hands after soil, leaf litter or animals.

The term at a glance

One lesson a week for a term. Each lesson stands on the ones before it, so run them in order where you can.

How the sequence builds

Lesson 1 meets a real habitat. Lessons 2 to 4 name the three jobs and look closely at producers and consumers. Lesson 5 joins them in food chains, and Lesson 6 adds the decomposers that close the loop. Lesson 7 asks what happens when one link goes, and Lesson 8 tests where one small animal chooses to live. Lesson 9 meets the people who care for habitats, and Lesson 10 is the making task and final check.

Curriculum links (Australian Curriculum V9)

The whole term teaches the Science Understanding descriptor AC9S4U01 quoted on the cover. The lessons also work these Science Inquiry and Human Endeavour descriptors:

Assessment in this pack

• Every plan ends with “Answers and look-fors”: what meeting the idea sounds like in a Year 4 voice.
• The assessment sheet near the front has a class observation checklist and a three-level rubric.
• Lesson 10 is the summative pair: a food-web model with an explanation, plus the “Show what we know” check sheet.

Materials for the whole term

One gathering session covers all ten lessons. Everything on this page is an everyday item or comes from the school garden; nothing needs a science cupboard. Start the seedlings a week before Lesson 3.

The one-trip list

• From the classroom: clipboards, scissors, glue, sticky tape, coloured pencils, a ruler, a timer.
• From the garden: fallen leaves, a little soil, and slaters from under a log or in leaf litter.
• From the shops: a packet of cress or bean seeds, two small pots, zip-lock bags, one apple.
• From home donations: shoebox lids or shallow trays, paper plates, wool or string.

Safety and care in one look

• Outdoors, children look but do not touch; an adult with gloves lifts logs and rocks and puts them back the same way.
• No hands in leaf litter without gloves; watch for spiders and ants.
• Slaters are handled with a soft brush or spoon, kept damp and returned to where they were found the same day.
• Decomposition bags stay sealed, are never opened, and go in the bin sealed at the end.
• Everyone washes their hands after soil, leaves or animals.

Assessment without extra work

The term assesses itself. Every lesson plan ends with answers and look-fors, and Lesson 10 is the summative pair: the food-web model with an explanation, and the check sheet. This sheet is the place to jot down what you notice along the way.

The three levels

Class observation checklist

A tick a lesson is plenty; the Lesson 10 check sheet fills the gaps.

Word wall cards

Cut out the cards and build the wall as the words arrive. Lesson 1 starts the wall with habitat; add the three jobs in Lesson 2.

Dear families

This term in science, Year 4 investigates habitats and food chains. We look at the jobs living things do: producers such as plants make their own food from sunlight, consumers such as birds and insects eat other living things, and decomposers such as fungi and earthworms break down dead plants and animals and return nutrients to the soil.

A food chain shows who eats whom, with arrows from the food to the eater, such as grass to grasshopper to magpie. Your child will learn to build food chains, and to predict what happens when one link in a chain goes missing.

Try this at home

• In the garden or a park, find a producer, a consumer and a decomposer. Ask: what does each one do?
• Look at a meal together. Trace one food back to a plant, the producer at the start of its chain.
• Look in a compost bin or under leaf litter with gloves on. Which decomposers can you see?
• Ask: what would happen to the birds if all the insects in the garden disappeared?

What to ask your scientist

• Is that a producer, a consumer or a decomposer? How do you know?
• Which way does the arrow point in a food chain?
• Why does every food chain start with a plant?
• What would happen without decomposers?

A small note on care: at school we look at animals without harming them, and put every log and slater back where we found it.

Warm regards,

The Year 4 team

Printed from the free seegongsik Food Chains and Habitats teaching pack · seegongsik.com/au/y4/biological/AC9S4U01/pack

A habitat is a home

A habitat is the place where a living thing finds what it needs to live: food, water, shelter and space. Children walk a habitat in the school grounds, find living things in different spots, and record what each one gets from the place it lives. The class list of living things they make today is sorted by the jobs those things do in Lesson 2.

We are learning to

• describe a habitat as a place that gives living things what they need,
• find living things in a habitat and record where each one lives,
• ask questions about why a living thing lives where it does.

Success criteria

• I can name three living things in our habitat and say where each one lives.
• I can say what a living thing gets from its habitat.

You need

• the habitat walk cards (third sheet), one card per group,
• clipboards, pencils and magnifiers,
• an adult with gloves to lift logs and rocks,
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after the habitat walk; start Session B with the class list.

Watch for these ideas

• “A habitat is a forest or a jungle.” A schoolyard, a log or a pond is a habitat too.
• “Plants are not alive.” They grow, take in water and make seeds: they are living things.
• “Animals only need food.” They also need water, shelter and space.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: walk one spot together and record it as a class.
• Bigger: draw a map of the habitat and mark where each living thing was found.

Answers and look-fors

• Part A answers vary, for example slaters under a log (damp, dark shelter), birds in a tree (insects to eat, a place to nest), grass in the field (sunlight and water).
• Part B: food, water, shelter, space and sunlight are needs; a television and toys are not.
• Part C: a question that can be explored, such as “Why do slaters live under logs?”

Our habitat walk

A. What lives here?

B. Circle what living things need from their habitat.

C. My question

Habitat walk cards

Cut out the cards. Each group takes one spot to search. Look closely; do not pick anything up.

Teacher note: wash hands after the walk. If a spot has nothing in it, that is a finding too: ask what the spot lacks.

Three jobs in a habitat

Every living thing in a habitat can be grouped by how it gets its food. A producer, such as a gum tree or grass, makes its own food from sunlight. A consumer, such as a grasshopper or a kookaburra, eats other living things. A decomposer, such as a fungus, an earthworm or a slater, breaks down dead plants and animals. Children sort organism cards, then the class list from Lesson 1, into the three jobs.

We are learning to

• name the three jobs in a habitat: producer, consumer and decomposer,
• sort living things by how they get their food,
• explain how we know which job a living thing has.

Success criteria

• I can sort living things into producers, consumers and decomposers.
• I can say what each job means in my own words.

You need

• the organism cards (third sheet), one set per pair,
• the class list of living things from Lesson 1,
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after the card sort; start Session B with the class list.

Watch for these ideas

• “Plants eat soil.” Plants take water and nutrients from the soil, but they make their food from sunlight.
• “Decomposers are dirty or bad.” Without them, dead things would pile up and plants would run out of nutrients.
• “Only big animals are consumers.” An ant or a caterpillar is a consumer too.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: sort six cards (two of each job) first, then the rest.
• Bigger: find a living thing that is hard to sort, such as a mushroom or a fly, and explain the choice.

Answers and look-fors

• Producers: gum tree, grass, wattle. Consumers: grasshopper, possum, kookaburra, caterpillar, magpie, blue-tongue lizard. Decomposers: mushroom (a fungus), earthworm, slater.
• Part B: a producer makes its own food from sunlight; a consumer eats other living things; a decomposer breaks down dead plants and animals.
• Part C: a consumer, because people eat plants and animals and cannot make food from sunlight.

Three jobs

A. Sort the living things into the three jobs.

B. What does each job mean?

C. Think about it

Organism cards

Cut out the cards. Read each clue, then sort the cards into producers, consumers and decomposers.

Teacher note: keep the cards. Lessons 4, 5 and 10 use them again.

Producers make food from sunlight

Producers are the only living things that make their own food, and they need sunlight to do it: a green plant uses the energy in sunlight to make food in its leaves. That is why every food chain starts with a producer. Children start a light test that runs for a week: two pots of the same seedlings, one on a sunny sill and one in a dark cupboard, watered the same way.

We are learning to

• explain that producers make their own food using sunlight,
• plan a fair test that changes only the light,
• predict, measure and record over a week.

Success criteria

• I can say why a plant needs sunlight.
• I can name what we change and what we keep the same in the light test.

You need

• two small pots of the same seedlings (cress, beans or grass), started a week ago,
• a sunny windowsill, a dark cupboard, a ruler and a small jug of water,
• the light-test step cards (third sheet), the worksheet (next sheet), one per child.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after setting up the test; start Session B with the predictions.

Watch for these ideas

• “Plants get their food from the soil.” Soil gives water and nutrients; the food is made in the leaves with sunlight.
• “Seedlings in the dark will not grow at all.” They often grow tall and thin for a while, using food stored in the seed, but they turn pale and later droop.
• “Sunlight only keeps plants warm.” Light is the energy a plant uses to make its food.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: run one class test and record it together on the board.
• Bigger: add a third pot in a half-shaded spot, and predict where it will fit.

Answers and look-fors

• Part A answers vary; a reasoned prediction says the dark seedlings will turn pale and droop because they cannot make food without light.
• Part B: we change the light; we keep the same seedlings, pot, soil and water.
• Part C, after a week: the light seedlings are green and leafy; the dark ones are pale yellow, often taller but thin and floppy. Look at colour and leaves, not only height.

The light test

A. My prediction

B. A fair test

C. Our records

How we run the light test

Cut out the cards and follow them in order. Keep them beside the pots for the week.

Teacher note: water both pots with the same small amount at the same time. Wash hands after handling soil.

Consumers eat other living things

A consumer cannot make its own food, so it eats other living things. Consumers can be grouped by what they eat: a herbivore eats only plants, a carnivore eats only animals, and an omnivore eats both. An animal that hunts another is a predator, and the animal it hunts is its prey. Children match each consumer to its food, then sort the pairs into the three groups.

We are learning to

• explain that a consumer gets its food by eating other living things,
• group consumers as herbivores, carnivores or omnivores by what they eat,
• name a predator and its prey.

Success criteria

• I can match a consumer to its food and say whether it is a herbivore, a carnivore or an omnivore.
• I can say which animal is the predator and which is the prey.

You need

• the consumer and food cards (third sheet), one set per pair,
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after the match and sort; start Session B with predator and prey.

Watch for these ideas

• “Consumers are only meat eaters.” A koala and a kangaroo are consumers too: they eat plants.
• “Big animals are predators and small ones are prey.” A spider is a predator of flies; size does not decide it.
• “An animal is either a predator or prey.” Many are both: the skink hunts grasshoppers and is hunted by the kookaburra.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: start with three pairs, the koala, the spider and the emu, one from each group.
• Bigger: find out what a possum, a magpie or a dingo eats, and decide which group it belongs to.

Answers and look-fors

• Matches: kookaburra: lizards, snakes and worms; koala: only gum leaves; emu: seeds, fruit and insects; spider: flies and moths caught in a web; blue-tongue lizard: snails, beetles and berries; honey possum: nectar and pollen from flowers; bandicoot: worms, beetles, seeds and roots; wedge-tailed eagle: rabbits and wallabies; kangaroo: grass and soft leafy plants.
• Herbivores: koala, honey possum, kangaroo. Carnivores: kookaburra, spider, wedge-tailed eagle. Omnivores: emu, blue-tongue lizard, bandicoot.
• Part B: the kookaburra is the predator and the skink is the prey; the skink is also a predator, of grasshoppers. Part C: with a producer, a plant that makes food from sunlight.

What do consumers eat?

A. Sort the consumers by what they eat.

B. Predator and prey

A kookaburra swoops down and catches a skink.

C. Think about it

Consumer and food cards

Cut out all the cards. Match each consumer to its food, then sort the pairs into plant eaters, meat eaters and both.

Consumer cards

Food cards

Teacher note: keep the consumer cards with the organism cards from Lesson 2; Lesson 10 uses them all.

Food chains show what eats what

A food chain shows what eats what in a habitat. Each arrow points from the food to the eater, the way the energy moves along the chain, so it reads “is eaten by”. Every chain starts with a producer, because only a producer can make food from sunlight. Children read the light test from Lesson 3, then build chains from the organism and consumer cards with arrow cards between them.

We are learning to

• build a food chain that starts with a producer,
• draw each arrow from the food to the eater,
• use the light test to explain why a chain needs its producer.

Success criteria

• I can put living things in order in a food chain with every arrow pointing the right way.
• I can say why every food chain starts with a producer.

You need

• the organism cards from Lesson 2 and the consumer cards from Lesson 4, one set per pair,
• the arrow cards (third sheet), one set per pair, and sticky tape or glue,
• the two pots from the Lesson 3 light test, and the worksheet (next sheet), one per child.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after the board; start Session B by building chains.

Watch for these ideas

• “The arrow points to what gets eaten.” It points from the food to the eater: read each arrow as “is eaten by”.
• “A food chain can start with an animal.” Every chain starts with a producer, because only a producer makes food from sunlight.
• “The animal at the end eats everything in the chain.” The kookaburra eats the skink, not the grass.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: build chains of three with a partner, saying “is eaten by” for every arrow.
• Bigger: build a chain of five, then say where the energy in the producer came from first.

Answers and look-fors

• Part A: grass → grasshopper → magpie; grass → grasshopper → skink → kookaburra; gum tree → ringtail possum → powerful owl.
• Part B: a producer, because only a producer can make its own food from sunlight; every eater in the chain depends on it.
• Part C: the light seedlings stayed green and leafy; the dark ones turned pale and floppy because they could make no food. With no light for its producer, a chain runs out of food, and the grasshoppers go hungry.

Build the chains

A. Put each set in food-chain order. Write one name in each box, then draw the arrows.

B. Finish the sentence.

C. Our light test

D. Draw the chain your pair built today, with its arrows.

Arrow cards

Cut out the arrows. Lay one between each pair of cards, pointing from the food to the eater, and read it as “is eaten by”.

Teacher note: keep a few spare arrows for Lesson 10, when the chains join into a food web.

Decomposers return nutrients

When a leaf or an animal dies, decomposers such as fungi, earthworms and slaters break it down, and what is left becomes nutrients in the soil. Plants take those nutrients up through their roots, so the same material goes round and round. Children seal an apple slice and two leaves in a bag to watch decomposers at work over the next two weeks, then put the nutrient loop in order.

We are learning to

• explain what decomposers do in a habitat,
• describe how nutrients go from dead things to the soil and into new plants,
• observe and record changes over time.

Success criteria

• I can say what a decomposer does and name two decomposers.
• I can put the nutrient loop in order and explain it.

You need

• for each group: a zip-lock bag, an apple slice, two fallen leaves, a spoonful of garden soil and a spoonful of water,
• sticky tape and a permanent marker, a shady shelf where the bags can stay for two weeks,
• the loop cards (third sheet), one set per pair, and the worksheet (next sheet), one per child.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after sealing the bags; start Session B with the loop cards.

Watch for these ideas

• “Rotting is bad or dirty.” Rotting is how decomposers return the nutrients new plants need.
• “The leaf just disappears.” Living things break it down, and what is left becomes part of the soil.
• “Mould is dirt.” Mould is a fungus: a living decomposer.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: order three cards first (the leaf falls, decomposers get to work, the tree grows new leaves), then add the other two.
• Bigger: seal a second bag with no water added, predict which bag will change faster, and compare them in Lesson 8.

Answers and look-fors

• Part A answers vary; a reasoned prediction says the apple will go brown and soft, because decomposers are breaking it down.
• Part B: within a week the apple usually turns brown and soft and fuzzy mould (white, green or grey) grows on it; the leaves darken and soften. The bags are never opened.
• Part C, the numbers in the order printed: 4, 1, 5, 3, 2. Part D: dead leaves and animals would pile up, the soil would run short of nutrients, and new plants would grow poorly.

Safety: mould can make people sick, especially people with asthma or allergies, so the bags stay taped shut. At the end of the term, put them in the bin still sealed. Wash hands after handling soil.

Decomposers at work

A. My prediction

B. Bag watch: look through the bag, never open it.

C. Number the loop from 1 to 5. The falling leaf is 1.

D. Think about it

The nutrient loop

Cut out the cards and lay them in a circle, in order. Draw an arrow from each card to the next one, and from the last card back to the first.

Teacher note: glue each pair’s circle onto a sheet of paper for the wall. Lesson 10 uses the loop again.

What if a link is removed?

The living things in a habitat depend on each other, so a change to one can affect many others. In the chain grass, grasshopper, small bird, hawk, losing the grass leaves every animal above it short of food, while losing the hawk leaves the small birds safer. Children predict what-if cards, test their predictions on the board, then read a small food web, where each animal has more than one food.

We are learning to

• predict what happens to a food chain when one living thing is removed,
• trace a change along a chain, to the eaters above and the food below,
• explain why a food web gives animals more than one choice of food.

Success criteria

• I can say who goes short of food when one link in a chain is removed.
• I can use a food web to find another food for an animal.

You need

• the what-if cards (third sheet), one set per group,
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after the what-if cards; start Session B with the most important link.

Watch for these ideas

• “Removing a living thing only affects the animal that eats it.” The change carries up the chain: losing the grass leaves the hawk short too.
• “If a predator goes, nothing changes.” Its prey is safer, so there may be more of them, and they eat more of their own food.
• “Each animal eats only one thing.” Most animals have more than one food, which is why a food web shows a habitat better than one chain.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: work through cards A and D as a class, one change at the bottom of the chain and one at the top.
• Bigger: write a new what-if card for the food web in Part C, and trace it through two chains.

Answers and look-fors

• A: the grasshoppers go short of food, so there are fewer of them, and then the small birds and the hawks go short too. B: the small birds go short of food, and so do the hawks; the grass is eaten less, so it may grow thicker. C: the hawks go short of food; fewer small birds eat grasshoppers, so there may be more grasshoppers, and they eat more grass. D: the small birds are safer, so there may be more of them, and they eat more of the grasshoppers. E: there is more food for the grasshoppers, so there may be more of them, and then more food for the small birds and the hawks. F: dead leaves pile up and the soil runs short of nutrients, so the grass grows poorly, and every animal in the chain goes short.
• Part B: the grass, the producer, because every other living thing in the chain depends on it for food. Part C: caterpillars; yes, the hawk can still eat mice and small birds; in a web each animal has more than one food, so losing one food does not leave it with nothing.

What if?

A. Choose three what-if cards.

B. The most important link

C. A food web

Each arrow points from the food to the eater. Some animals have more than one food.

What-if cards

The chain on every card: grass, grasshopper, small bird, hawk. Read the card, predict, then explain to your group.

Teacher note: there can be more than one good answer. Accept any prediction that follows the arrows and says why.

Where do slaters choose to live?

Slaters are decomposers that live in damp leaf litter and under logs, where they eat rotting leaves and wood. Children test whether slaters choose damp places: a tray with damp paper towel on one half and dry paper towel on the other, ten slaters in the middle, and a count of each side at 5, 10 and 15 minutes. Only the dampness changes; everything else stays the same.

We are learning to

• plan a fair test that changes only one thing,
• count and record results at set times,
• use our results to describe what a slater needs from its habitat.

Success criteria

• I can name what we changed and what we kept the same.
• I can use our counts to say which side the slaters chose.

You need

• for each group: a shallow tray or a shoebox lid, two paper towels, a little water, a soft brush or a spoon, a timer,
• 10 slaters for each group, collected gently from under a log or in leaf litter that morning and kept in a container with damp leaves,
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child, and the exit tickets (third sheet).

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after the plan; start Session B with the choice test on fresh, damp towels.

Watch for these ideas

• “One slater went to the dry side, so slaters like it dry.” Look at the pattern across all the slaters and all the groups, not one slater.
• “They went to the damp side because it is dark.” Both sides had the same light in our test, so the light was not the difference.
• “Slaters are insects.” A slater has fourteen legs; insects have six. Slaters are crustaceans, related to crabs, and need damp places so they do not dry out.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: run one class tray and count together at each time.
• Bigger: plan a second test that changes only the light, light against dark, with both sides damp.

Answers and look-fors

• Part B: we change damp or dry; we keep the same tray, paper towel, light, number of slaters and counting times.
• Part C: by 15 minutes most slaters are usually on the damp side; a few may still wander. Each row adds to 10.
• Part D: slaters choose damp places, so a slater habitat needs to be damp, like leaf litter or under a log; there they also find rotting leaves to break down.

Care: handle slaters only with the brush or spoon, keep them damp, keep the test under 20 minutes, and put them back where they were found the same day. Wash hands afterwards.

The slater choice test

A. My prediction

B. A fair test

C. Our counts (10 slaters)

D. What it tells us

Exit tickets

Print one sheet for every four children and cut along the dashed lines. Each child answers a ticket alone before leaving.

Teacher note: 1 is damp. 2 is any one of the tray, the paper towel, the light, the number of slaters or the counting times. 3 shows a damp place with dead leaves or a log, labelled damp.

People who care for habitats

Many people use food-chain science in their work. A bush regenerator replants the producers that local animals eat, a composter feeds the decomposers, an ecologist collects data to see what is changing, and a farmer can let ladybirds eat the aphids on a crop instead of spraying. Children read job cards, decide which part of the habitat each job helps, and plan one way the class could help a living thing in the school grounds.

We are learning to

• describe how people use what they know about food chains to care for a habitat,
• explain which part of a habitat a job helps,
• plan a way to help a living thing in our school grounds.

Success criteria

• I can say how one job helps producers, consumers or decomposers.
• I can suggest one way our class could help a living thing at school.

You need

• the job cards (third sheet), one set per group,
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after the job cards; start Session B with the farmer and the ladybirds.

Watch for these ideas

• “Caring for a habitat means helping the cute animals.” Producers and decomposers need care too; the animals depend on them.
• “All insects are pests.” A ladybird is a predator that eats aphids, and helps the farmer.
• “Scientists only work in labs.” Ecologists and rangers collect data outdoors, in the habitat itself.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: read three cards together (the bush regenerator, the composter and the farmer) and match each to one part of the chain.
• Bigger: write two questions to ask a ranger or an ecologist about a habitat near the school.

Answers and look-fors

• Part A: Bush regenerator: the producers, and so every animal that eats them; Composter: the decomposers, and then the plants that use the nutrients; Ecologist: the whole habitat: the data shows what is changing and what needs help; Farmer who uses ladybirds: the crop, by using a predator to keep the aphids down; Indigenous ranger: the whole habitat: the producers and the animals that live there; Park ranger: the producers and the consumers that live there.
• Part B: crop plant → aphid → ladybird. The ladybird is the predator and the aphid its prey; with ladybirds, the farmer needs less spray, which could also harm other living things.
• Part C answers vary; a good idea names the living thing it helps and what that living thing needs, such as a damp log pile for slaters.

Caring for habitats

A. Choose three job cards.

B. The farmer’s food chain

Aphids suck the sap from a crop plant. Ladybirds eat aphids. Put the chain in order and draw the arrows.

The three names: ladybird, crop plant, aphid.

C. Our school habitat

Job cards

Cut out the cards. Read each one and decide which part of the habitat the job helps: producers, consumers, decomposers or the whole habitat.

Teacher note: some jobs help more than one part; accept any answer the child can explain from the card.

Show what we know

The summative lesson, run as a celebration. Children build a food-web model of a habitat on card or a paper plate, with arrows of wool or pencil from the food to the eater, and explain what would happen if one link were removed. They gallery-walk each other’s webs, sit the final check alone, and close with the on-screen quiz as a class game.

We are learning to

• build a food web that shows producers, consumers and a decomposer,
• explain what happens to a web when one living thing is removed,
• show what we know on our own on the final check.

Success criteria

• In my web, every chain starts with a producer and every arrow points from the food to the eater.
• I can show on the final check what producers, consumers and decomposers do.

You need

• card or paper plates, wool or string, sticky tape and coloured pencils,
• the organism, consumer and arrow cards from the term,
• the model-plan worksheet (next sheet) and the final check (third sheet), one each per child,
• the interactive unit open for the closing quiz.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after making time and keep the webs safe. Start Session B with the gallery walk, then the final check and the class quiz.

Watch for these ideas

• Arrows that turn round under pressure. Ask the child to read one arrow aloud as “is eaten by”, then step back.
• A chain that starts with an animal. Ask: what does this animal eat? Keep going back until a producer appears.
• A decomposer that eats a living animal. Decomposers break down dead things; their arrows come from the dead leaves and dead animals.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: give a ready frame of six empty boxes; the child adds the names and the arrows.
• Bigger: join three chains into the web, then trace one what-if card from Lesson 7 through two of them.

Answers and look-fors

• Final check marking guide: 1 grass. 2 herbivore. 3 grass → wallaby → dingo. 4 from the food to the eater. 5 fungus. 6 it breaks down dead plants and animals and returns nutrients to the soil. 7 they go short of food, because they eat grasshoppers, so there may be fewer of them. 8 only a producer can make its own food, using sunlight.
• A score of 6 or more out of 8, plus a web whose chains start with a producer and whose arrows point the right way, meets the descriptor. The rubric near the front of the pack turns this into a level.
• Meeting the idea at the gallery sounds like “if the grass went, the wallaby would go hungry, and so would the dingo”.

My food-web model

A. The living things in my web

B. Draw your plan, with arrows from the food to the eater.

C. What if?

Show what we know

Show what you know about habitats and food chains. Read each one, then circle, write or draw. Take your time.

Teacher note: read the items aloud one at a time. The marking guide is on this lesson’s plan; the rubric near the front of the pack turns the score into a level.