S4L1: Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the roles of…
Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the roles of organisms and the flow of energy within an ecosystem. a. Develop a model to describe the roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers in a community. b. Develop simple models to illustrate the flow of energy through a food web/food chain beginning with sunlight and including producers, consumers, and decomposers. c. Design a scenario to demonstrate the effect of a change on an ecosystem. d. Use printed and digital data to develop a model illustrating and describing changes to the flow of energy in an ecosystem when plants or animals become scarce, extinct or over- abundant.
The Georgia Standards of Excellence, Science outcome S4L1 (Life Science) for Grade 4 says: “Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the roles of organisms and the flow of energy within an ecosystem. a. Develop a model to describe the roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers in a community. b. Develop simple models to illustrate the flow of energy through a food web/food chain beginning with sunlight and including producers, consumers, and decomposers. c. Design a scenario to demonstrate the effect of a change on an ecosystem. d. Use printed and digital data to develop a model illustrating and describing changes to the flow of energy in an ecosystem when plants or animals become scarce, extinct or over- abundant.” This Fieldbook unit teaches it hands-on, with everyday materials and a printable teacher guide and student sheet for every lesson. Official wording: Georgia Standards of Excellence, Science.
Food Webs: Who Eats Whom? Grade 5 · partly supports this outcome
Where a plant's food comes from, what happens when the wolves disappear, who cleans up, and how much life hides under a log. Four lessons on how energy and matter move through living things.
- Where does a plant get its food? 50–60 min, plus 10 min to weigh seedlings two weeks later
Students sink spinach leaf disks in baking soda water and watch them float back up in the light as they make oxygen, then start bean seedlings with no soil at all and weigh them two weeks later. They explain that plants build their food from air and water using light, not from the soil.
- What would happen if the wolves disappeared? 45–60 min
Students become species in a northern forest or a prairie and connect themselves with yarn into a living food web. When one species is removed, everyone who feels the yarn tug finds out how far the change spreads, and students explain why no species lives on its own.
- Who cleans up? 45 min to set up, 5 min check-ins twice a week, then 30 min after 2 weeks (bread) and 20 min after 4 to 6 weeks (leaves)
Students seal bread and fruit in taped zip bags to watch mould grow without ever opening them, and bury mesh bags of dry leaves in soil to weigh what's left weeks later. They explain how decomposers break down dead things and return matter to the soil for plants to use again.
Printable practice for S4L1
These pages practise a closely related idea; the match to S4L1 is partial.
- Food Webs: Who Eats Whom? workbook included with the unit
4 practice pages, 4 readings, 3 English-support pages, 1 word wall, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.
- Our Living Planet workbook included with the unit
1 word wall, 1 English-support page, 1 practice page, 1 reading, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.
Need just this outcome? Build a custom pack from these pages, with its answer key, in about a minute. Custom packs come with All-access and school licences.
Compared with NGSS: 5-LS2-1 (partial), 5-PS3-1 (partial).
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