Food chains, pyramids, and webs

21st Century Skills addressed:

information literacy, critical thinking and reasoning

Overview:
Students will explore the concepts of food chains, pyramids and webs.
Students will learn about the connected nature of the flora and fauna in a
life zone and how they are dependent upon each other for survival.
Objectives:
Students will be able to define the following terms and give an example for
each:

Herbivore
Carnivore
Omnivore
Insectivore
Producer
Consumer (primary, secondary, tertiary)
Decomposer
Scavenger

Students will be able answer the following questions:

Who eats what?

How much is food is enough or not enough?
What happens when food is scarce?
How do natural disasters, weather events, and insect infestations
affect animals?

Students will be able to draw an accurate food chain and web for each life
zone. (This will be assessed in the flip booklet.)
Materials Needed:

Yarn ball
Pictures or word cards with the names of plants and animals in a life
zone, and one labeled sun

Lesson Procedure:
1. Place students in small groups based on reading levels. Have students
read: Tracing the Food Web. As students read, have them fill in food
chains and pyramids on Appendix B. After reading and discussing
books, terms identified above should be reviewed for understanding.
Curriculum created by Melissa Dalrymple

Food chains, pyramids, and webs

2. Students will then play a food web game to illustrate what happens in
a healthy environment and one that has been affected by a natural
disaster, weather event, or insect devastation.
3. Give each student a role in the environment (carnivore, herbivore,
omnivore, producer, consumer, decomposer, pollutant, insect, etc.)
This can be done in several ways. Pictures of different animals and
plants could be used (a sun is needed, also). Words could be written
on index cards as well.
4. Have students stand in a circle with their picture or card. The sun
should be in the center of the circle with the ball of yarn. The sun
needs to pass its energy to a producer/ plant in the circle by tossing
the yarn to him/her.
5. Then, the producer passes the yarn to someone in the circle who
would get energy from the plant.
6. The chain continues until a consumer or top consumer gets the yarn.
7. Once the top of the chain is reached, snip off the yarn and hand it
back to the sun and start the process again.
8. After creating a slew of chains that interweave, have the students
comment on how large the web has become. You can add elements at
this point that help the students understand the intricate balance of
the web. You can add insect infestation that kills off a certain type of
plant, or a drought, or animals that were hunted for sport and left
(minus rack or fur, etc.) or hunted to scarcity in an area, etc. You can
also add decomposers to the mix and have kids discuss how they
assist.
9. Wrap up the lesson by having students discuss ways they can help
maintain the balance of the food web in their life zone (not littering,
not destroying animals homes, etc.)
References used:
1. Katzins Tracing the Food Web for background information.
2. Boyes (2012) article was used for inspiration on environmental
behavior and actions (lesson summary).
3. USDA- Ag in the Classroom food web activity support

Curriculum created by Melissa Dalrymple