Preview · the opening missionRead this to the class:
Amira found a muddle of pictures on the classroom floor: a sun, some grass, a rabbit and a fox, all jumbled up. A note said: "Put us in order of who eats who. Draw arrows. Start at the very beginning." Amira put the fox first, because it was the biggest. Her friend Sam shook his head. "The fox has to eat something first," he said. "So what comes before the fox?" Your team's job: build food chains that start at the very beginning, and find out which way the arrows go.
Teams of four, with jobs that rotate after each chain: the Builder lays the cards, the Arrow-keeper places the arrows, the Asker checks each link by asking "What does it eat?" and the Recorder draws the chain on the sheet.
Look inside the PDF
Sample pages, stamped “preview”. The download is the clean, full lesson.
In the full lesson PDF
9 printable pages
- Predict (5 min)
- Hunt (20 min)
- Reveal (10–15 min)
- Act (10 min)
- Background for the teacher
- Assessment
- Student sheet
- Worksheet: Food chain cards
- Worksheet: Label it
- Worksheet: Try it at home
On the student sheet
- My guess
- My chain
- Maker or eater?
- Make your own chain
- Food chain cards
- Label it
- Try it at home
US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white. The student sheet is on its own page, ready to photocopy.
Free with an account (any 3 lessons), or US$19 for all 3 lessons in this unit.
What students show by the end
- Orders a chain
- Uses arrows
- Makers and eaters
From the lesson’s rubric, which scores each one as not yet, getting there or got it.
Questions teachers ask
How long does “Who eats who?” take?
45 min. Group size: teams of 4.
How much prep does it need?
10 minutes: print the Food chain cards and the Arrow cards (Worksheet sections below), one set per team, and cut them apart. Each team also needs a pencil, a scrap of paper and a pair of child scissors, which most classrooms already have. Keep one set uncut for yourself to model on the floor.
What materials do I need?
None. No materials needed: just the printed sheets.
Which curriculum standards does it cover?
It matches England National Curriculum, Year 2 and Cambridge Primary Science, Stages 1, 2 and 4 (not endorsed by Cambridge).
What’s in the lesson PDF?
A teacher guide that walks you through predict, hunt, reveal, act, background for the teacher and assessment, then a student sheet (“My guess”, “My chain”, “Maker or eater?”, “Make your own chain”, “Food chain cards”, “Label it” and “Try it at home”) on its own page, ready to photocopy. It’s US Letter and prints cleanly in black and white.
Can I try it for free?
Yes. A free account includes any 3 full lessons of your choice, and this can be one of them. After that, this unit is US$19 for all 3 lessons, yours to keep, or every lesson is US$199 a year.