7L.3.1.1.3: Develop and use a model to describe the cycling of matter and flow of…

How Plants Make Food: Photosynthesis and Respiration Grades 6–8

Where does a tree's mass come from, what happens to the sugar a plant makes, and how does the Sun's energy run a whole ecosystem? Three no-materials lessons with a 400-year-old willow experiment, printed atom cards and a carbon-atom role-play.

• How does energy from the Sun move through a whole ecosystem? 50–60 min

  Every student becomes a carbon atom and travels between four stations, air, plants, animals and decomposers, drawing printed cards that say what happens next. The class tallies the journeys, then follows energy through a food chain, and explains why carbon goes round and round while energy passes through once.

Printable practice for 7L.3.1.1.3

• How Plants Make Food: Photosynthesis and Respiration 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.

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