KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

LESSON PLAN FORMAT

Teacher Candidate:

Tiana Hammond

Date: March 9, 2016

Cooperating Teacher: Lauren Miller Coop. Initials

Group Size:

20

Subject or Topic:

Allotted Time

1hr

Grade Level 4th

Ocean Food Web Part 2 Section

STANDARD:
Standard - 3.1.4.A2
Describe the different resources that plants and animals need to live.
Standard - 3.1.3.A2
Describe the basic needs of living things and their dependence on light, food, air,
water, and shelter

I. Performance Objectives (Learning Outcomes):

A. Students will
Identify how food webs illustrate the ways in which organisms depend on each
other for energy and nutrients by making food webs showing the feeding relationships
among organisms encountered in the Galpagos coastal waters.
.

II. Instructional Materials

Ipads

Smartboard

Index cards (4 by 6 inches)

String

List of marine organisms and pictures

Pictures

plankton

hammerhead shark

triggerfish

spinner dolphin

baleen whale

striped marlin

sardine

manta ray

surgeonfish

yellowfin tuna

spotted dolphin

sailfish

mackerel

blue shark

pilot whale

sunfish

jellyfish

olive ridley turtle

shearwater

III. Subject Matter/Content (prerequisite skills, key vocabulary, big idea, outline of
additional content)
A. Prerequisite skills
1. Students should be familiar with the food chain.
2. Students should know how to collect and organize data
B. Key Vocabulary
1. Food web: a way of showing how plants and animals in a
habitat depend on each other
2. Habitat: the place where a plant or animal naturally lives or
grows; an ecological community
3. Predator: an animal that kills other animals for food
4. Prey: an animal that is hunted by another for food
5. Decomposer: Decomposers are organisms such as bacteria
and fungi that break down the organic matter in the dead
bodies of plants and animals. As the decomposers feed from
the dead animals, they break down the organic compounds into
simple nutrients.
6. Consumers: Consumers are animals that eat primary
producers; they are also called herbivores (plant-eaters).

7. Producers: Producers (organisms that make their own food

from sunlight and/or chemical energy from deep sea vents) are
the base of every food chain - these organisms are called
autotrophs
8. Omnivores an animal or person that eats food of both plant
and animal origin.
9. Carnivore an animal that feeds on flesh.
10. Herbivore an animal that feeds on plants.
C. Big Idea
1. Food webs show how the organisms in the ocean depend upon
one another.
D. Content
1. Every ecosystem has its own food web.
2. This activity focuses on a food web for the marine ecosystem
in the coastal waters of the Galpagos Islands.
3. The ecology of a marine food web is influenced by
environmental factors such as the climate, the salinity of the
water, the ocean currents, and the winds.
4. In most ecosystems, the first level of a food web is composed
entirely of producers organisms such as plants that get
their energy directly from the sun.
5. In some others, there is an outside energy source such as
thermal vents in the deep oceans.
6. Food webs are divided into trophic levels; the organisms in a
particular trophic level are all the same number of steps away
from the primary producers on the lowest, or first, level.
7. The higher levels of a food web, by contrast, are composed of
consumers organisms that get their energy by eating other
organisms.
8. The second level is composed of herbivores, which get their
energy by eating producers;
9. The third level is composed of carnivores, which get their
energy by eating herbivores; and the highest levels are
composed of carnivores that eat other carnivores. Students will
need to understand this concept of energy flow to construct
their marine food web.
10. Decomposers exist at every level of a food web.
11. Decomposers are those organisms that get their energy by
devouring the dead organisms from every food web level.
Whether breaking down dead plants to the inorganic nutrients
that make up the soils, or decomposing dead animals, these
organisms are as important in a food web as all of the others.
12. Decomposers help to replenish the nutrients that are essential
to the producers and help to rid the ecosystem of dead
organisms that would quickly pile up.

IV. Implementation
A. Introduction
1. Play this video as the students are entering the classroom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttOZKOGdjR8
2. Give objectives for the lesson
Students will
Identify how food webs illustrate the ways in which
organisms depend on each other for energy and nutrients by
making food webs showing the feeding relationships among
organisms found in the ocean.
B. Development
1. Ask the students, How do you think food chains are different
than food webs? Discuss it in your group for one minute.
2. After one minute ask each group to share what they think the
differences might be.
3. Once every group has shared pull up attatchment #1 and show
the class the differences between a food chain and a food web.
4. Feeding relationships are often shown as simple food chains,
but in reality, these relationships are much more complex,
5. The term food web more accurately shows the links between
producers, consumers and decomposers.
6. Now what do we remember about producers , consumers and
decomposers are?
7. Have the students define producer, consumer and decomposer
8. Show the attached Powerpoint
9. Play the food web game as a class
http://coolclassroom.org/cool_windows/home.html
10. Choose three students at a time to get ipads. Do this until every
student has an Ipad
11. Explain to students that they will research one animal,
including whether it is predator, prey, or both; how it helps
other species survive; and how other species help it survive. On
index cards, students will illustrate an animal and include the
information below.
12. Let the students choose which animal they want to research
from the list starting with student who shows he/she is ready
for the project by following class rules. Then do boy girl boy
girl.
13. Hand out the Food Web Data Worksheet (Attached)
14. The students will do research to answer the following
questions.
Name of animal species

Size (length or height and weight; give a range)

Physical characteristics
Where does this animal species live?
What is its habitat?
Is it prey? (if yes, list predators)
Is it a predator? (if yes, list prey)
Both prey and predator?
Does it help other species survive?
How do other species help it survive?
Fun fact
Where do you think it fits on the food web?
Draw a picture of your animal
Provide the following list:
plankton
hammerhead shark
triggerfish
spinner dolphin
baleen whale
striped marlin
sardine
manta ray
surgeonfish
yellowfin tuna
spotted dolphin
sailfish
mackerel
blue shark
pilot whale
sunfish
jellyfish
olive ridley turtle
shearwater
15. Give the students the websites below as approved research
sites.
a. Sea World: Animal Information Database (see also
"Animal Bytes"http://www.seaworld.org/infobook.html
b. Ocean Oasis Field Guide
http://www.oceanoasis.org/fieldguide/index.html
c. Ocean Animals
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/coloring/oceanlife.s
html
d. Ocean Realm: Sea
Dwellershttp://www.pbs.org/oceanrealm/seadwellers/in
dex.html

e. National Aquarium in Baltimore: Animal Index

http://www.aqua.org/animals.html
f. Enchanted Learning: Ocean Life
http://www.EnchantedLearning.com/coloring/oceanlife.
shtml
16. After 20 minutes Have the students present their research
findings and pin their completed index cards on a bulletin
board.
17. After all the cards are hung, use string to connect
interdependent species. Example: Striped marlins eat sardines,
so a string connects those cards. Ask for student volunteers to
make the connections.
18. Discuss the food web created by the class.
19. Which species are only predators and which are only prey?
Which species are both predators and prey?
20. Have students consider what would happen to the food web if
one species were to become endangered or extinct.
21. Which species would be affected?
22. Would it be limited to only those that are directly connected?
23. Discuss the importance of every species within the food web.
24. Can you make any connections on your diagram that arent a
feeding relationship? (Forexample, bryozoans provide a
nursery habitat for young fish.)
a. Are some organisms more important than others
b. Why are decomposers important in a food web?
c. Do you think anything is missing from your food web?
d. Where do humans fit in the marine food web?
C. Closure
1. Show Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDqzGOa-adc
2. Discuss how we can affect the food web and have the students
share some ideas about how we can protect ocean food webs.
3. Tell the students we will be talking about how we can protect
our oceans on Friday.
D. Accommodations/Differentiation
E. Assessment/Evaluation Plan
1. Formative
a. Have the students turn in the data sheet for credit. Check to see that all
the areas are filled out.
2. Summative

None for this lesson

V. Reflective Response
A. Report of Student Performance in Terms of Stated Objectives (Reflection on
student performance written after lesson is taught, includes remediation for
students who fail to meet acceptable level of achievement)
Remediation Plan
B. Personal Reflection (Questions written before lesson is taught. Reflective
answers to question recorded after lesson is taught)
VI. Resources (in APA format)
Food web game
http://coolclassroom.org/cool_windows/home.html
Information on Food Webs
https://www.nsta.org/publications/interactive/galapagos/activities/marine.html
Book
Hooks, Gwendolyn. Makers and Takers: Studying Food Webs in the Ocean. Rourke
Publishing, 2008

This Book Uses The Ocean As A Backdrop To Define Food Webs And Identifying The
Animals Who Act As Predator, Prey, Or Both.

Food Web Data Sheet

Name of animal species
Size (length or height and weight; give a range)
Physical characteristics
Where does this animal species live?
What is its habitat?
Is it prey? (if yes, list predators)
Is it a predator? (if yes, list prey)
Both prey and predator?
Does it help other species survive?
How do other species help it survive?
Fun fact
Where do you think it fits on the food web?

Draw a picture of your animal