L.

Calvin November 10, 2014

Web of Life
Grade Level: 5
Time Frame: Day 1: 20 minutes
Day 2: 40 minutes
Standard(s):
Science 5-2 Students will demonstrate an understanding of relationships among biotic and
abiotic factors within terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
Objective(s):
The students will understand that ecosystems are made up of interdependent organisms and other
components.
Material(s):
Project Learning Tree Environmental Education Activity Guide
Organism for each student (on paper)
Access to computers

Sticky name tags

Science Notebooks
Ball of yarn

Adequate space in the classroom

Organism possibilities: oak tree, coyote, fox, deer, owl, rabbit, bark beetle, grasshopper,
opossum, clover, honeysuckle, tree frog, turtle, earthworm, hawk, tick, woodpecker, moth
Procedure(s):
Day 1:
The teacher begins day one by explaining to the students that this activity will hopefully
refresh their memory about information that was previously learned on food webs and food
chains. He or she will ask the students to take out their science notebooks. While the students are
taking out their notebooks, he or she will randomly give each person an animal name (these
animals should be those of ones found in the ecosystems around the school). The teacher will
then inform students that they are to take 5 minutes to answer the following questions to the best
of their knowledge, without a computer;
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Where does this organism live?

What does this organism need to survive?
What organisms might prey on this one?
What plants and animals may live in the forest with this animal?
In what way does this organism depend on the other plants and animals?

L.Calvin November 10, 2014

After the students have worked on the above questions without a computer, the teacher allows
them to use the site kidrex.com to safely search for answers. Upon completion of this research,
the teacher asks the students to keep track of their notebook and put it away until the next day.
Day 2:
The teacher asks the students to take out their notes from the previous day. He or she
goes a little deeper into the information about food webs. The teacher can use prompts such as:
Can anyone tell me the definition of a food chain? What makes up a food web? What kinds of
relationships does a food web show? What are some organisms that are possibly shown in a food
web (carnivore, omnivore, and herbivore)? etc.. The teacher then tells the students that they will
be portraying the organism that they were given the previous day in a food web simulation. The
teacher will call each animal out from the sticky name tags that were prepared and ask them to
stand in a circle as they come up. The teacher will then ask the student which organism they
think is the least important standing around the circle. Answers should reach the conclusion that
a plant is the least important (prompt when necessary). Starting with one of the plants around the
circle, the teacher hands the student who is labeled with the plants name a ball of yarn and the
loose end. He or she then asks students to name an organism who may depend on the plant to
live. Once the students decide on a plant or animal that depends on the least important
organism, the ball of yarn is passed to them, while the plant holds the loose end of the string.
That student, organism, holds part of the string and the cycle continues. The teacher prompts
students through a few more organisms and then steps back to see how they interact with one
another to reach these conclusions on their own. The teacher can step back in when only a few
students are left. The teacher makes sure that each organism is connected to the food web. The
ball of yarn is then passed back to the original plant.
The teacher brings the students attention to the fact that all the organisms in the web are linked,
somehow, to the other organisms around them. The students are asked to slide back until the
string is taut. The teacher asks the students to name the second lest important organism in the
ecosystem that they created. This student is to slightly tug *monitor closely for yanking and
jerking* on their part of the string. The teacher tells the students that if they feel a tug, then
they should tug their string in response. Eventually, every part of the web should be moving.
This simulates the constant movement of energy throughout the ecosystem.
The teacher asks students what they think may happen to the web if one of the organisms drops
out, or dies. The second least important organism that was chosen to begin the tugging is
instructed to drop their string, essentially dropping out of the ecosystem. When the students no
longer feel a taut string, they, too, are to die. Eventually, the whole ecosystem is affected.
Assessment:
Objective 1 will be assessed trough teacher questions asking the students to recall what happened
when just one, seemingly unimportant, organism drops out of the food web. What happens when

L.Calvin November 10, 2014

we remove a link in the forest ecosystem? Were the changes more dramatic when we the system
was composed of many parts or when it had fewer? What might happen if humans were added to
the web?
The teacher then asks students to draw a food web that resembles the relationships that were just
shown in their science notebooks. The teacher monitors the drawings and points out that the
arrows showing energy transfer can sometimes move both ways in the web.

Accommodations: Students will be allowed to use the computers for research.

*Lesson adapted from Project Learning Tree: Environmental Education Activity Guide