Megan Rosko

School of Education
The College of New Jersey
Science Mini-Unit

Title: Hungry, Hungry Animals

Topic of the Lesson and Grade Level:
Biodiversity (producers/consumers/decomposers) (herbivores/omnivores/carnivores)
Second Grade
Essential Questions:
1-What is biodiversity?
2-What do animals need to live?
3-What is the relationships between producers, consumers and decomposers?
4- What do animals eat?
5-How do animals depend on each other for survival?
5-What are carnivores, omnivores and herbivores? Can you name some examples?
Standards
Content Standards:
5.3.2.A.1 Group living and nonliving things according to the characteristics that they
share.
5.3.2.B.1 Describe the requirements for the care of plants and animals related to
meeting their energy needs.
5.3.2.B.2 Compare how different animals obtain food and water.
5.3.2.C. 1 Describe the ways in which organist interact with each other and their
habitats in order to meet basic needs.
5.3.2.C.2. Identify the characteristics of a habitat that enable the habitats to support
the growth of many different plants and animals.
NGSS:
LS4.D-Biodiversity and humans: There are many different kinds of living things in any
area, and they exist in different places on land and in water.
2-LS4-1 Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in
different habitats.
CCSS-LA:
W 2.8-Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources
to answer a question.
Learning Objectives/Assessments:
Learning Objectives

Assessments

SWBAT to list and

explain the basic
needs of all living
animals.

The students will gather on the carpet and

create a chart as a class explaining the basic
needs of an animal to survive.

SWBAT explain what

the differences are

The students will complete an animal

categorizing activity where they will have to sort

between producers,
consumers, and
decomposers.

SWBAT identify
examples of
carnivores,
herbivores and
omnivores.

cards with animals/habitat images into three

categories: producers, consumers or
decomposers. The images on the cards live on
land and in water. The students will also answer
the review questions:
- What is the difference between a producer
and consumer?
- Why are decomposers important?
- What is an example of the herbivore,
carnivore
and omnivore?

The students will be assigned a homework

worksheet at the end of the lesson and will be
asked to bring back the assignment the next day
to be checked.

Materials:
Easel and markers
What Do Animals Need to Live chart
Animal sort cards in plastic bags (see attached)
Producers, Consumers, Decomposers, Omnivores, Carnivores, and Herbivores
header tags (see attached)
Pencils
Consumer Riddles worksheet (see attached)
Review Questions worksheet
Lesson Beginning:
I will gather the students on the carpet. I will write the question on the easel, what do
animals need to live? I will tell the students to turn to a partner and discuss some ideas
while I draw a chart on the easel. I will draw a square in the middle of the paper that
says, Animals Need and draw five lines connected to circles surrounding the Animals
Need box. (5 minutes)
Prior Knowledge:
The students have learned about the basic needs of animals in the first grade and in
their everyday life. Many students have pets at home and know what they need daily.
Instructional Plan:
Timetable & Transitions:
0:5:00
While on the carpet, I will brainstorm with the students and discuss what animals
need to survive, and write their ideas on the chart on the easel
What do animals need to survive?
0:5:00-0:20:00
I will explain the definitions of a producer, consumer, and decomposer.
I will show the students examples of each so they can see the differences.
What are the differences between all three?

I will explain a consumer is broken up into three categories: herbivores,

omnivores, and carnivores
I will show a PowerPoint highlighting the different animals in each category
What do animals eat?
What are some examples of herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores?

0:20:00-0:30:00
Students will independently complete an activity on their own. They will receive a
plastic bag of animal cards and six headings.
First, they will sort the cards by producers, consumers, and decomposers.
Next, they will sort the cards by herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores.
0:30:00-0:40:00
I will have the students complete an assessment consisting of five questions to
evaluate what they learned. The questions will be:
1. What is the difference between a producer and consumer?
2. Why are decomposers important?
3. What is an example of a carnivore?
4. What is an example of an herbivore?
5. What is an example of an omnivore?
I will pass out the students homework and explain to them what they have to do.
I will let them know that I will be collecting the homework tomorrow to check it.
Differentiation:
For students who are having difficulty, I will instruct them not to rush and only
have them sort their animal cards into the three basic categories:
producers/consumers/decomposers or herbivores/omnivores/carnivores rather
than both.
If they finish early, they have two options: they may redo either of the sorting
options or they may write down other examples of herbivores, carnivores, or
omnivores that we did not talk about.
Questions:
1. What do animals need to live?
2. What do you notice about the differences between producers, consumers, and
decomposers?
3. What do animals eat?
4. What are some examples of herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores?
Classroom Management:
I will circulate the room while the students are independently sorting the animal
cards to assist and answer any questions.
Students will be given positive points on class dojo to reward positive behavior. I
will instruct students how to organize the animal cards so that they know the
expectations.

I will have students silently raise their hands when they want to answer a
question and only call on the students who are following directions.

I will warn students once for any inappropriate behavior and if it continues, I will
have a conversation with the student at the end of the lesson about how that
student can change his/her behavior.

Transitions:
Using the whole brain approach, the teacher will say, class, class and the
students will answer, yes, yes when moving from one activity to the next. This
will get their attention and the teacher will be able to explain the next activity.
The teacher will also say, mirror and the students will answer mirror when
the teacher want them to repeat after her.
Closure:
The students will be given a worksheet titled, Review Questions. They will have five
minutes to answer the questions and then I will collect it. I will use the questions to
assess how well the students grasped the lesson. The students will then be given their
homework titled, Consumer Riddles. The worksheet consists of four pictures and a
description for each. The students will have to decide if the animal is a carnivore,
herbivore, or omnivore.

Title: Were All in This Together

Topic of the Lesson and Grade Level:
Food Chain, Second Grade
Essential Questions:
1-What is a food chain?

2-What do animals need to live?

3- What do animals eat?
4-How do animals depend on each other for survival?
5-What happens if an animal is missing from the food chain?
Standards:
Content:
5.3 Life Science
5.3.2.A.1 Group living and nonliving things according to the characteristics that they share.
5.3.2.B.1 Describe the requirements for the care of plants and animals related to meeting
their energy needs
5.3.2.B.2 Compare how different animals obtain food and water.
5.3.2.C. 1 Describe the ways in which organist interact with each other and their habitats in
order to meet basic needs.
5.3.2.C.2 Identify the characteristics of a habitat that enable the habitats to support the
growth of many different plants and animals.
5.3.2.C.3 Communication ways that humans protect habitats and/or improve conditions for
the growth of plants and animals that live there, or ways that humans might harm habitats.
NGSS
LS4.D Biodiversity and humans: There are many different kinds of living thing in any area,
and they exist in different places on land and in water.
2-LS4-1 Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different
habitats.
CCSS-LA:
W 2.8 Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to
answer a question.
Learning Objectives/Assessments:
Learning Objectives

Assessments

 SWBAT to explain how The class will participate in a virtual game to complete
animals in certain
multiple food chains to learn how plants and animals
habitats depend on
depend on one another in several habitats.
plants and other animals
for food.
SWBAT identify that food
The students will complete their own food chain. Each
chains start with energy
student will get a different habitat, demonstrating that a
from the sun.
food chain starts with the sun and placing the animals in
the correct order to complete the food chain.

Materials:
Consumer Song worksheet (see attached)
Food Chain definition sheet
Food Chain game online: https://www.brainpop.com/games/foodchaingame/
Food chain animal cards and labels (see attached)
Pencils, Scissors, crayons
Food Chain diagram sheet
The Sun picture
6.) Lesson Beginning:
The teachers will have a student hand out a lyric sheet to each of his/her classmates. The
song that the class will sing together will be a song about consumers, producers, carnivores,
herbivores and omnivores. This will review the topic that was taught the week before to
review the old material before beginning the new material. The teachers will sing the song
first and then the class will join the teachers and sing the song two times together.
7.) Prior Knowledge:
After the song is done, we will ask the students to identify the three animals on the
worksheet as an herbivore, carnivore or omnivore. This will be a review from the prior lesson
and a good introduction for the food chain.

8.) Instructional Plan:

Timetable & Transitions:
0:5:00
The teachers will begin the lesson by having a student hand out song lyrics to a song about
consumers. The song will review herbivores, carnivores and omnivores which was the
information the students learned in the prior science lesson.
Then, the teachers will ask the students to identify which animals on the song lyrics page
are herbivores, carnivores or omnivores.
0:5:00-0:20:00
After the song, the teachers will teach the class the definition of food chain by projecting
the definition onto the board for the whole class to see.
The teachers are going to show the students a virtual food chain game on the board. The
students and the teachers will work on it together as a class. The game is going to consist of
creating multiple food chains.

0:20:00-0:35:00
The teachers will hand out a worksheet to each student that has a diagram for a food chain.
Each student is going to receive a group of different animal cards, which consists of either
pond, grasslands, rainforest, desert, arctic, or ocean animals.
The students will individually complete their food chain using whichever animal cards they
get to represent different habitats.
0:35:00-0:40:00
The teachers will then collect the assignment and give the students feedback at the next
class.
Differentiation:
During the lesson, the teachers will work closely with the students who are having trouble
with the concept of the food chain. The teachers made six different habitats for the
independent activity so that the students can have different animals depending on their
ability level. The teachers are also using visuals, such as the game, verbal activities like the
song and worksheets so that the students can have a variety of activities for all different
levels of learning.
Questions:
1. Does anyone remember what herbivores, carnivores and omnivores are?
2. Which animal is an herbivore, carnivore or omnivore?
3. What is a food chain?
4. What happens if an animal is missing from the food chain?
5. Where does the sun belong in the food chain?
Classroom Management:
The teachers will circulate the room during independent work. The students will be
given positive points on class dojo to reward positive behavior. The teachers will
instruct students how they want them to complete the activity and play the game, so
they know the expectations. Have students silently raise their hands when they want
to answer a question and only call on the students who are following directions. Warn
students once for any inappropriate behavior and if it continues, have a conversation
with the student at the end of the lesson about how that student can change his/her
behavior.
Transitions:
Using the whole brain approach, the teachers will say, class class and the students
will answer, yes, yes when moving from one activity to the next. This will get their
attention and the teachers will be able to explain the next activity. The teachers will
also say, mirror and the students will answer mirror when the teachers want
them to repeat after them to reinforce certain concepts.

9.) Closure:
The students are going to fill in a food chain worksheet using various habitats. They
will be instructed to place the animals and plants in order using the correct food
chain. Each student will receive a different food chain to put together. When the
students are finished, the teachers will collect their work. The teachers will grade the

assignments and give the students feedback at the next class. If the teacher allows,
we can hang up the students food chains around the classroom.

Title: The Circle of Life

Topic of the Lesson and Grade Level:
Food Web, Second Grade
Essential Questions:
1-What is a food web?
2-What happens if you remove something from the food web?
3-What can cause a food web to change?

4-What do animals need to live?

5- What do animals eat?
6-How do animals depend on each other for survival?
Standards:
Content:
5.3 Life Science
5.3.2.A.1 Group living and nonliving things according to the characteristics that they share.
5.3.2.B.1 Describe the requirements for the care of plants and animals related to meeting
their energy needs
5.3.2.B.2 Compare how different animals obtain food and water.
5.3.2.C. 1 Describe the ways in which organist interact with each other and their habitats in
order to meet basic needs.
5.3.2.C.2 Identify the characteristics of a habitat that enable the habitats to support the
growth of many different plants and animals.
5.3.2.C.3 Communication ways that humans protect habitats and/or improve conditions for
the growth of plants and animals that live there, or ways that humans might harm habitats.
NGSS
LS4.D Biodiversity and humans: There are many different kinds of living thing in any area,
and they exist in different places on land and in water.
2-LS4-1 Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different
habitats.
CCSS-LA:

W 2.8 Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to
answer a question.
Learning Objectives/Assessments:
Learning Objectives
SWBAT explain that there
is an interdependency of
plants and animals that
can be shown in a food
web.

Assessments
The students will see on the worksheet how all animals
and plants depend on one another. They will also interact
with one another and create a classroom food web.
Following that, they will have the opportunity to practice
creating individual food webs at their desk with their
animal sort cards.

SWBAT explain what

Students will see during the group lesson what happens
happens if one piece of
when we remove one or more pieces of the food web. The
the food web goes
yarn will fall to the ground demonstrating a fall in the
missing.
chain as well as other animals may go hungry, or cause
over population.

Materials:
Video Clip -- https://www.brainpop.com/science/ecologyandbehavior/foodchains/
Ball of yarn
Animal sort cards https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Food-Chains-128515
Food web chart worksheet (see attached)
Pieces of paper or pieces of yarn
Pencil
Index card
Sun picture
6.) Lesson Beginning:
The teachers will start the lesson off with a three-minute video. It will serve as a review
going over producers, consumers, and decomposers as well as carnivores, herbivores,
omnivores, and food chains. It will also provide an introduction to the food web.
7.) Prior Knowledge:
After the video is done, the teachers will ask students what they learned from the video. The
teachers and students will spend about two to three minutes discussing the video as well as
what they remember from last week's lesson on the food chain.

8.) Instructional Plan:

Timetable & Transitions:
0:5:00
The teachers will begin by showing a three-minute video on the food chain and food web.
Once the video is complete, the teachers will ask what students learned from the video?
Also, what do they remember from last weeks lesson?
0:5:00-0:20:00
After discussing the video, the teachers will introduce the term food web.
The teachers will spend time explaining what a food web is.
The paper passer will hand out a food web worksheet to each student and as a class we will
review the different food chains that make up a food web.

 The teachers will gather students on the carpet. Certain students will be assigned the main
role of the sun, the plant, a herbivore and a carnivore. The other students will be playing the
role of other animals. They will use a ball of yarn and demonstrate how to make a food web.
0:20:00-0:35:00
The students will go back to their desks and they will complete their own food webs using
the animal sort cards.
The teachers will walk around and assist students if they are having any issues. The
teachers will also be assessing how well the students grasped the concept.
0:35:00-0:40:00
The students will receive an exit card and will answer the question, What is one thing you
learned about animals, plants, the food chain or food web?
Differentiation:
During the lesson, the teachers will work closely with the students who are having trouble
with the concept of the food web. Each student is going to get a different animal to
represent in the food web. The teachers are using visuals, interactive activities and
worksheets so that the students can have a variety of activities for all different levels of
learning.
Questions:
1. What
2. What
3. What
4. What
5. What
6. What
7. What

did you learn from the video?

is a food web?
happens if you remove something from the food web?
can cause a food web to change?
do the web lines mean?
should start off a food chain and food web?
is one thing you learned about animals, plants, the food chain or food web?

Classroom Management:
The teachers will circulate the room during the students independent activity. The
students will be given positive points on class dojo to reward positive behavior. The
teachers will instruct students how they want them to complete the activity, so they
know the expectations. The teachers will explain if they cannot follow directions or
fool around, they will not be able to participate any longer in the class food web and
will be sent back to their desk. Have students silently raise their hands when they
want to answer a question and only call on the students who are following directions.
Warn students once for any inappropriate behavior and if it continues, have a
conversation with the student at the end of the lesson about how that student can
change his/her behavior.
Transitions:
Using the whole brain approach, the teachers will say, class class and the students
will answer, yes, yes when moving from one activity to the next. This will get their
attention and the teachers will be able to explain the next activity. The teachers will
also say, mirror and the students will answer mirror when the teachers want
them to repeat after them to reinforce certain concepts.
9.) Closure:

The students will complete their exit cards answering the questions, What is one
thing you learned about animals, plants, the food chain or food web? That will serve
as an assessment not only to this lesson but to the whole mini unit.