SUBJECTS: Science, Math
TIME: Two class periods
MATERIALS:
six cards
six pins
tags marked grasshopper, snake, or hawk
colored game markers(25 each of three colors)
small plastic bags
science journal
construction paper for each student
student activity page reproduced for each student
information sheets copied
OBJECTIVES
The student will be able to:
1. Understand the meaning of the term"food chain."
2. Name the components of several different food chains.
BACKGROUND
Plants, animals, and other living things existing in one place make up a community.
In communities the food chain begins with plants, which are the producers. Animals
eat these producers or some other animal. Even meat eating animals(carnivorous)
eat animals that eat these plants. A food chain is the transfer of food energy
from the plants through a series of animals with repeated eating and being eaten
behaviors. For example, a green plant, a leaf-eating insect, and an insect-eating
bird would be a simple food chain. All living things make food chains.Plants
need the sun to grow. Many insects eat plants, many toads eat insects, many
snakes eat toads, and many hawks eat snakes. This is another example of a food
chain. Whenever we eat food, we are members of a food chain.
VOCABULARY
community- plants, animals, and other living things existing in one place
food chain- the transfer of food energy from the plants through a series of
animals with related eating and being eaten behaviors
producer- an organism that makes its own food and is the beginning of a food
chain
ADVANCE PREPARATION
1. Make six cards with one of these words on each: sun, plant, insect, toad,
snake, hawk.
2. Label tags with grasshopper, snake, or hawk.
3. Instruct students to have science journals on hand.
4. Copy or make an overhead transparency of the information sheets.
5. Copy for each student the"Food Chain Review"
page
PROCEDURE
(Setting the stage)
1. Ask students if they are a member of a food chain.
2. Lead students to understand they are a member of a food chain whenever they
eat food.
3. Explain to students how every food eaten by them has energy stored earlier
by other living things.
4. Ask students on which energy source does every living organism on Earth depend.
• Accept various responses.
• Lead students to understand that the sun is the main source of energy
upon which all food chain members depend.
• Display picture of a food chain(see Energy
Pyramid Information Sheet).(An overhead transparency of diagram could be
made.)
(Activities)
1. Have students perform a food chain simulation to determine what happens when
a food chain is broken.
• Pin a card labeled sun, plant, insect, toad, snake, or hawk on six students.
• Stand in a line and hold hands in this order: sun-plant-insect-toad-snake-hawk.
• Ask the following questions;
What animals would die if there were no snakes to eat?(The snake person drops
hands.)
What animals would die if there were no toads to eat?(The toad person drops
hands.)
What animals would die if there were no insects to eat?(Insect person drops
hands.)
What animals would die if there were no plants to eat?(Plant person drops hands.)
What would happen if there were no sun to let plants grow?
2. Play"Where's the Food" simulation
• Put on a tag identifying students as a grasshopper, a snake, or
a hawk.
• Play in 30 second turns.(Note: before game begins, distribute colored
game markers along the ground.)
On the first turn, grasshoppers collect the colored game markers and place
them in their plastic bags.
On the next turn, snakes feed on grasshoppers by taking them and taking their
bags.
On the third turn, hawks feed on snakes.
Grasshoppers and snakes can continue to feed.
• Sort and count the markers.
• Determine which animals had the most food when the game ended.
• Explain why this happened.
• Have students record their findings in a tally table.
• Have them graph the collected data in a pictograph.
3. Reproduce the information sheet,"Food Chains."
• Have students cut out the food chain parts.
• Instruct students to glue these in proper order onto a piece of construction
paper.
(Follow-up)
1. Have students make up two food chains and display in a diagram of their own
creation.
2. Ask student to write meaningful definitions for the vocabulary terms.
3. Complete the Food Chain Review Sheet.
EXTENSIONS
1. Read aloud to class Chipmunk Song by Joanne Ryder.
2. Ask students to work in small groups to write a song or a poem about a food
chain.
3. Use the book Biology: Plants, Animals, and Ecology by Ifor Evans to help
students better understand the structures of life.
RESOURCES
Bernstein, L. et al.(1996). Environmental Science. Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley
Publishing Company.
Bryant, A. Jr. et al.(1995). Science Anytime. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace and
Company.
Butzon, C.& Butzon, J.(1989). Science through Children’s Literature.
Englewood, CA: Teacher Ideas Press
Gega, P.(1982). Science in Elementary Education. New York, NY: John Wiley and
Sons, Inc.
(This lesson plan was reprinted by permission from A Classroom Activities Guide
and Resource Directory produced by Legacy, Inc. Partners in Environmental Education.
Funding for this project is made possible by proceeds from the sale of Alabama’s
Environmental License tags.
If you'd like a copy of this excellent source for environmental Activities
please contact:
Legacy, Inc.
P.O. Box 3813
Montgomery, AL 36109
1-800-240-5115