Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Producers and Consumers

For Teachers 1st - 4th
Students make lists of producers and consumers and act as consumers that eat producers in a garden. In this producers and consumers lesson plan, students demonstrate a food chain by using a piece of yarn to connect all of them together.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Producers, Consumers, Decomposers (3-5)

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students gather evidence to explain that organisms in an ecosystem are tied together by their need for energy. They see that decomposers break down dead organisms and wastes and release the nutrients they contain into the soil,
Interactive4:02
Scholastic

Study Jams! Food Chains

For Students 3rd - 7th Standards
Rhinozilla is Mia's bearded dragon and the focus of this lesson on energy flow in an ecosystem. She uses him to explain the energy pyramid, from producers through third level consumers, and she likens the food chain to a video game. Mia...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

An Introduction to the Ocean World

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students comprehend how the organisms that exist within the ocean biome, and categorizing each into producer, consumer, or decomposer. They place various human actions under the headings of "hazard" or "help," illustrating how humans can...
Activity
Exploring Nature Educational Resources

Building A Classroom Food Web

For Teachers 2nd - 5th Standards
From bears and owls to chipmunks and trees, all life depends on the sun for the energy to survive. Young biologists develop an understanding of this big idea as they arrange this series of plant and animal picture cards into food...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ecosystem Game

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students examine the ecosystem by playing a game. In this ecosystem lesson, students are put into groups of decomposers, consumers, and producers. Students create a list of animals that fit into each group and items that represent...
Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Crawly Composters

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Get your hands dirty with an interactive lesson that showcases the process of decomposing and returning nutrients back into the soil. After building a compost pile, pupils regularly observe the...
Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Matter Cycles — Sum It Up

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Scholars become part of the cycle of matter with a reader's theater that showcases producers, consumers, decomposers, and the sun. A diagram and discussion concludes the learning experience and enhances comprehension. 
Lesson Plan
Science Matters

Energy Flow

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Budding scientists work collaboratively to reenact energy flow in a food chain. Scholars take on roles such as producer and consumer and perform tasks that symbolize energy flow in order to provide evidence of how much energy passes...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Forest Ecosystem

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Students become familiar with the temperate rainforest.  In this forest ecosystem instructional activity, students identify the producers, consumers and decomposers in the forest ecosystem.  Students sort cards and identify the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Marshland Ecosystems

For Teachers K - 12th
Learners identify animals in ecosystem depicted on 16th Century ceramic basin and classify them as herbivores, carnivores, or omnivores based on physical characteristics and prior knowledge, determine which life forms in ecosystem are...
Organizer
Curated OER

What is a Food Web?

For Students 3rd - 5th
In this food web worksheet, students will brainstorm organisms and classify them as either a consumer, producer, or decomposer. Students will write the organisms under the correct category in this graphic organizer worksheet.
Worksheet
Curated OER

Energy Through the Ecosystem

For Students 3rd - 8th
In this ecosystem activity, students use a diagram of an ocean-based food web to complete 5 short answer questions about the energy flow through this ecosystem.
Worksheet
Curated OER

Food Web II

For Students 3rd - 4th
Young ecologists are shown a picture of eight animals and two plants. On another piece of paper, they are asked to construct a food web that includes the animals pictured. They must also identify the producers, consumers, herbivores,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

What's For Dinner?

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students explore the food chain. They brainstorm and create a consumer-consumed food chains using magazine pictures and research materials. Students identify consumer-consumed relationships.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Energy Flow and the Food Chain

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Young scholars complete discussions and worksheets about the Hawaiian food chain. In this food chain lesson plan, students research decomposers, consumers, and producers.
Assessment
Science Matters

Formative Assessment #3

For Students 3rd - 5th
Thirteen short-answer questions follow a brief food web activity in a formative assessment designed to test knowledge of ecosystems and the energy that flows through them.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

LEAF (Learning Exercises and Activities in the Forest

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students observe populations and determine the functions (e.g., decomposers, producers, consumers) they serve in an ecosystem. They investigate the energy flow ecosystems. Students investigate factors (.g., Resources, light, water) that...
Activity
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Science Geek

Build a Food Web Activity

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Entangle your life science class in learning with this collaborative food web activity. Using pictures of the plants and animals native to a particular ecosystem, young biologists work in small groups to construct visual...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Worm Composting: Vermiculture

For Teachers 1st - 8th
Young scholars compost in a limited space and describe the decomposing process. Students convert unwanted, organic matter, particularly food scraps and paper into fertile soil.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Food Web

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students identify producers and consumers, including scavengers and decomposers, and discuss role each plays in food web. They then make diagram of possible food chain that might include skull pictured on Montana's quarter, and...
Lesson Plan
National Park Service

Living & Non-Living Interactions

For Teachers 2nd - 6th Standards
What better way to learn about ecosystems than by getting outside and observing them first hand? Accompanying a field trip to a local park or outdoor space, this series of collaborative activities engages children in...
Activity
National Wildlife Federation

Habitat Web

For Teachers K - 6th Standards
Young scientists weave together an understanding of ecosystems with this fun collaborative activity. Taking on the roles of different living and non-living elements of specific habitats, learners use a ball of yarn to create...
Activity
University of Waikato

Build a Marine Food Web

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Dive into a lesson on marine ecosystem interactions. Individuals learn about and devise a marine food web. The resource provides organism cards and pupils use article resources to discover interactions before modeling them in a food web.