Fifth Grade Unit 1: Ecosystems

I. Ecosystems Unit

Time and Flow: Nine weeks

  1. Activity Examples: hands-on, centers, reading maps and building

models, small and whole group discussion, using student science notebooks, technology: using computers for research, lecture, student presentations, simulation games

III.Flow Chart:

  1. Content Blast:

Ecosystems come in a variety of sizes. They can be as small as a puddle of rain or as large as a continent. When any group of living and nonliving things interact, it can be considered an ecosystem. Any type of ecosystem is an open system in the sense that energy and matter are transferred in and out of the system. Natural ecosystems are made of both abiotic factors (air, water, rocks, energy) and biotic factors (plants, animals, and microorganisms).

Within all ecosystems there are habitats that also vary in size. The habitat is where the population lives. A population is considered any group of living organisms of the same kind living in the same place at the same time. When all of the populations interact, they form a community. Non-living things interact with the community of living things to form the ecosystem. Within the habitat, the needs of the organisms must be met. These needs are food, water, temperature, shelter, oxygen, and minerals. If the needs of the population are not met, that population will move to an area more suited to its needs. The processes of competition, predation, cooperation, and symbiosis occur because two differing populations cannot occupy the same niche at the same time. This means habitats are specific to a population. Each population has it own habitat though several populations may share a habitat.

Biomes are where several habitats intersect. Biomes are natural occurring environments, although people can create controlled biomes. Within all biomes, habitats, and ecosystems is an energy cycle. This energy cycle determines which populations survive or die. Every living thing on Earth needs energy and ultimately the sun is the source of all energy within an ecosystem.

A food chain is how energy is passed, in the form of food, from one organism to another. See lesson 1.02 for a good definition of the organisms in the food chain. The organisms in the food chain are either producers, consumers, or decomposers. Some organisms make their own food (producers), while others need to eat other organisms for food (decomposers and consumers). A food chain is the path of food given from the final consumer back to a producer. A food chain is one single path, but in the real world there is not a straight path, but rather a web of paths. This is because many animals do not consume only one type of plant or animal. A food web is made up of interlocking food chains.

Water and energy are vital to the survival of an ecosystem, conservation is needed. Most ecosystems conserve the resources naturally. An example would be the exchange of carbon dioxide (given off from animals) and oxygen (given off by plants). Another example is the waste of some species becomes the food of another. When there are limited resources, the conservation process is urgent and more visible. If the conservation efforts do not succeed, then species can become endangered or even extinct. Species become endangered with the available habitat can no longer support the members of a population. When a habitat disappears and all of the members of a population die, the species is considered extinct.

For a more detailed and specific explanation of food chains, webs, and energy flow, go to:

  1. Objectives:

1.01Describe and compare several common ecosystems (communities of organisms and their interaction with the environment).

1.02Identify and analyze the functions of organisms within the population of the ecosystem:

  • Producers.
  • Consumers.
  • Decomposers.

1.03Explain why an ecosystem can support a variety of organisms.

1.04Discuss and determine the role of light, temperature, and soil composition in an ecosystem’s capacity to support life.

1.05Determine the interaction of organisms within an ecosystem.

1.06Explain and evaluate some ways that humans affect ecosystems.

  • Habitat reduction due to development.
  • Pollutants.
  • Increased nutrients.

1.07Determine how materials are recycled in nature.

RBT Tags

Unit Title: Ecosystems / Number of Weeks: 6-9
Number / Competency or Objective / RBT Tag
1.01 / Describe and compare several common ecosystems (communities of organisms and their interaction with the environment). / 2B
1.02 / Identify and analyze the functions of organisms within the population of the ecosystem:
  • Producers.
  • Consumers.
  • Decomposers.
/ 4A
1.03 / Explain why an ecosystem can support a variety of organisms. / 2B
1.04 / Discuss and determine the role of light, temperature, and soil composition in an ecosystem’s capacity to support life. / 4B
1.05 / Determine the interaction of organisms within an ecosystem. / 4B
1.06 / Explain and evaluate some ways that humans affect ecosystems.
  • Habitat reduction due to development.
  • Pollutants.
  • Increased nutrients.
/ 5B
1.07 / Determine how materials are recycled in nature. / 4A
  1. Materials needed for activities:

1.01

  • Science notebook k
  • An outdoor area similar to a field or patch of garden
  • String
  • Magnifying glass
  • Thermometer
  • Popsicle sticks
  • Paper
  • Small gardening tools
  • Research materials that provide information about a variety of ecosystems.
  • Access to the internet
  • Index cards (3 x 5)
  • Markers, colored pencils, or a printer for photos and pictures.
  • Book: A Desert Scrapbook, Dawn to Dusk in the SonoranDesertby Virginia Wright-Frierson

1.02

  • Science notebook
  • 1 set of ecosystem cards made in lesson 1.01 per group
  • Computer lab with access to the internet

1.03

  • Habitat map – 1 copy for group
  • Habitat clues – 1 copy for group
  • Post-it notes (3 x 3)
  • Soda cans – 1 per student
  • Six varieties of beans
  • Four different colors of yarn
  • Colored pencils or crayons

1.04 and 1.05

  • Tri-Fold Project Foam Board (science fair board)
  • Power Point
  • Craft Supplies…glue, markers, etc.
  • Animal Magazines
  • Internet Access

1.06

  • Plastic animals [Those can be found at dollar stores or drug stores. They are normally in a tube.]
  • Plastic house [Monopoly pieces would be good or if you can get objects that represent housing, i.e. paper clip, ball.]
  • Sheet of paper

Per Group

  • A computer or
  • 3 pictures (air, water, and land pollution)
  • Information and pictures on Exxon Valdese

1.07

  • Pictures of a prairie ecosystem for each group of students (mouse, snake, hawk, plants), desert ecosystem, forest ecosystem, etc
  • A copy of Appendixes
  • Computer
  • Notebook
  1. Activities:

Lesson Title: Ecosystems

Objective 1.01

Activity Concepts: A variety of ecosystems can be set up in your classroom using terrariums and “Ecocolumns”. Information about these various set ups can be found in the resources section in this unit. This lesson focuses on an activity where students make observations about the plants, animals, weather, and geology that are found within different ecosystems. After making these observations using a chart, they will design cards and make a game to play to learn more about their chosen ecosystem. This lesson has a literacy connection where students can read various trade books that are set in specific ecosystems or non-fiction reference books that focus on a specific ecosystem.

Process Skills: observing, classifying, inferring, communicating, and collecting data

Materials:

  • Science notebook
  • An outdoor area like a field or patch of garden.
  • String
  • Magnifying glass
  • Thermometer
  • Popsicle sticks
  • Paper
  • Small gardening tools
  • Research materials that provide information about a variety of ecosystems.
  • Access to the internet
  • Index cards (3 x 5)
  • Markers, colored pencils, or a printer for photos and pictures.
  • Book: A Desert Scrapbook, Dawn to Dusk in the SonoranDesertby Virginia Wright-Frierson

Engage:

  • Have students group together in pairs.
  • Take students outside and locate a small patch of land for them to examine.
  • Use string to partition a segment that is 12 inches by 12 inches for each pair of students.
  • Students will record observations about this ecosystem in their science notebook. Remind them to include all living and non-living things.
  • Record the temperature in the ecosystem.
  • Turn over a small patch of the turf. Observe what's beneath the surface.
  • As they observe they need to consider the variety of living and non-living things in their ecosystem.
  • Have them look for how the survival needs are being met in this ecosystem. Air? Food? Water? Sunlight? Shelter?

Exploration

  1. Tell students that you are going to read them a story about a special place. Have them jot down the different things that they observe in the pictures or hear about in the story that may make this place special.

  1. Read A Desert Scrapbook, Dawn to Dusk in the SonoranDesertby Virginia Wright-Frierson
  2. Once you finish reading, allow students to share the different things that they saw or heard.
  3. After listening to what the students share, ask them what types of categories that they can come up with using their observations. [ Possible categories: plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, geology, weather]

Explain

  1. Choose one particular ecosystem for each group of students to research. [This can be done in a variety of ways. There are great trade books such as Jean Craighead George’s novels that are set in a particular ecosystem. A favorite is The Talking Earth, set in the Everglades. You can also use books about specific ecosystems, or research on the internet.]
  2. Use the Flora/Fauna chart [found at end of this lesson] and have students copy this into their science notebook.
  3. As students research the chosen ecosystem, they will compile a list of the plants, mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians, insects, weather, landforms, and bodies of water found in the ecosystem.
  4. [This can be done throughout the year using different ecosystems so students have a chance to make comparisons of a variety of ecosystems.]
  5. Discuss the Flora/Fauna tables the students have made. Have them make observations about the similarities and differences in their charts.
  1. Make a class table of the data the students collected.

Extension/Elaboration

Students are going to use the information they gathered about the ecosystem to make a game. They will make the following cards:

  • 2 element cards (elements found in the ecosystem that represent forces in nature and time)
  • 2 recycler cards (animals that are decomposers in the ecosystem)
  • 10 plant cards
  • 10 mammal cards
  • 5 bird cards
  • 5 insect cards
  • 5 fish cards (if fish are found in the ecosystem)
  • 5 reptile and/or amphibian cards

[Each group of animal cards needs to have a variety of herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores]

Card Layout [see layout at end of the lesson]

  • Animal cards need to have two sections on the cards, Prey (hunted) and Predator (hunted by). Students will need to research what this animal hunts and what hunts it.
  • Plant cards need to have what animals eat it (eaten by) listed on the card.

Evaluation

As students make their cards, have them refer back to their Flora/Fauna charts. Students need to make sure they have used plants and animals from this chart. They also need to make sure they use animals and plants that rely upon each other for survival. The plant and animal cards should connect back to each other. Some students may need to conduct further research.

Note: These cards will be used in the second lesson of this unit. It would be a good idea to laminate them.

Flora/Fauna Chart

Plant Life / Mammals / Birds / Reptiles and Amphibians / Insects / Fish / Weather / Landforms / Bodies of Water

Card Layout

Lesson Title: Ecosystems

Objective 1.02

Activity Concepts: Students will be working with the cards they made in the previous lesson. This time, they will be looking specifically on what animals and plants fit into the food chain as producers, consumers, and decomposers.

Process Skills: observing, classifying, inferring, communicating,

Materials:

Science notebook

1 set of ecosystem cards made in lesson 1.01 per group

Computer lab with access to the internet

Engage:

Have students go to the following website:

This site has a food chain game, so click on “play the game.”

Students can try both the Northern Food Chain and the Forest Food Chain. Here they will try to put the organisms in order as they feed upon each

other.

Exploration:

Each group of students will take a set of ecosystem cards. They will work together to place all cards into a chain using the information found on the cards.

  1. Shuffle the deck of cards and place the stack face down on the table.
  2. One student takes a card and turns it over, face up, on the table.
  3. Then next student takes a card and tries to place it into the chain. To fit into the chain the animal or plant on the card has to be eaten by the first animal or must eat the first animal. If it matches, then it is placed next to the card. If it doesn’t fit, it is discarded and goes back to the stack of cards, but at the bottom of the deck.
  4. Students continue picking up cards and placing them on the food chain. Cards may be added above, next to and below the cards on the table. More than one chain can be made.
  5. Students should attempt to make as many connections as possible.

Explain:

Using the cards, have a discussion of the food chains created by the students during the card game. Discuss the functions of each of the organisms in relationship to the food chain. Explain that energy is transferred from one organism to the other as they eat each other.

Begin with the plants:

  • What is the role of plants in the food chain? [They provide food for some of the animals]
  • Where do they get their food (energy) from? [They use light energy from the sun to produce their own food from carbon dioxide and water]
  • Explain that this makes the producers on the food chain since plants make [or produce] their own food.

Animals in the food chain:

Animals cannot make their own food so they must eat plants and/or animals and they are called consumers. There are three types of consumers:

  1. Animals that only eat plants are called primary consumers (or herbivores).
  2. Animals that eat other animals are carnivores.
  3. Animals that eat herbivores are called secondary consumers.
  4. Carnivores that eat other carnivores are called tertiary consumers.

c. Animals that eat both plants and animals are omnivores.

Decomposers

Decomposers cannot make their own food. Bacteria and fungi are decomposers and they break down waste products and dead organisms for food.

Students will check over the food chains they made at the beginning of the lesson and draw them in their science notebook. Once they have drawn the food chain, they need to label each part of the food chain using the correct labels for each animal or plant.

Extension/Elaboration

The Survival Game

  1. There are two basic ways to play this game. A player can be on the HUNT, deliberately looking for food or they can be a SEARCH, where they just happen upon food.
  2. For this game, you will add four more cards to the deck. Two cards are ELEMENT cards and two are RECYCLER cards. RECYCLER cards are made for the specific ecosystem that is being used. Make the card by choosing two important recyclers (animals, bacteria or fungi) that eat dead and decaying plant matter.
  3. The ELEMENT and RECYCLER cards will be shuffled into the deck.
  4. A round lasts approximately 20 minutes. It is good to play three or four rounds for this game.
  5. The player with the most “sun” points at the end of the game (all rounds) wins.
  6. To begin, deal out all the cards to the players. There will be a few players who have one less card. These players will receive five extra sun points at the end of the game.
  7. A player begins by asking another player with a HUNT or a SEARCH.
  8. In a SEARCH the player lets the other player know they are SEARCHING for food from their hand. The two players each lay down ONE card face up. The player who has the card that eats the other [example a hawk eats a rabbit], takes the eaten card and puts it into their hand. If the animals are equal and one doesn’t eat another, then it’s a tie and both players keep their original cards.
  9. At the end of a SEARCH, the next player takes a turn no matter if one wins on a SEARCH or not.
  10. In the HUNT a players asks another for one specific card. The player must show the card they are using to take the card. [“I’m going to take your snake with my eagle card.”]
  11. If the player wins the HUNT then the player is able to take another turn, BUT, they must do another HUNT, not a SEARCH. If they would like to do a SEARCH, they must wait another turn.
  12. If the player does NOT win the HUNT, they must give their card to the player they asked for the card. [If the player on the HUNT asked for the snake card has asked incorrectly, and the other player doesn’t have the snake card, they must give their card to the other player.]
  13. Using element and recycling cards: Element cards represent the forces found in nature. Each ecosystem has different Elements that can have an effect upon it.
  14. Element cards can be used to HUNT one time during a player’s turn. The Element cards automatically take all other cards in the HUNT. The only card that can take an Element card during the HUNT is a Recycler card. [Recycler cards can take an Element card during the HUNT.]
  15. If a player holding an Element card is on a SEARCH, there is a tie with a Recycler card. Neither player wins the hand nor does each keep their card. The cards are returned to the bottom of the deck.
  16. [Before playing, determine which Recycler card will be able to take the cards in the following situation.] When an element card takes a plant card, a Recycler card (from another player) can jump in and take BOTH cards. At this time, the Recycler takes the two cards, along with their Recycler card and set them aside. They can use these cards for scoring, but they cannot be used for the rest of the game.
  17. [The second Recycler card will take the cards in the following situation.] When any card is used to take any animal card the second Recycler card can take both cards. Again, the two cards along with the Recycler card need to be placed aside. They can be used for scoring, but cannot be used for the rest of the game.
  18. This game is played until the round is over.