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2-5 EnergyFlow LessonOverview

This lesson plan overview teaches students in grades 2-5 about energy flow through ecosystems. It discusses how energy from the sun is transferred through producers, consumers, and decomposers in food chains. Students will learn about these different ecological roles and identify examples in their schoolyard. They will demonstrate understanding of energy flow through food chains and be assessed through role presentations, a scavenger hunt, discussions, and a food chain assignment. The overview provides background on how organisms obtain energy and defines key vocabulary terms related to energy flow and food chains. It includes four hands-on activities aligned to Next Generation Science Standards.

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KimberlyAnneAlbaciteBabanto
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41 views2 pages

2-5 EnergyFlow LessonOverview

This lesson plan overview teaches students in grades 2-5 about energy flow through ecosystems. It discusses how energy from the sun is transferred through producers, consumers, and decomposers in food chains. Students will learn about these different ecological roles and identify examples in their schoolyard. They will demonstrate understanding of energy flow through food chains and be assessed through role presentations, a scavenger hunt, discussions, and a food chain assignment. The overview provides background on how organisms obtain energy and defines key vocabulary terms related to energy flow and food chains. It includes four hands-on activities aligned to Next Generation Science Standards.

Uploaded by

KimberlyAnneAlbaciteBabanto
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lesson Overview: Energy Flow through Ecosystems

Grades 2-5

Big Idea/Learning Goal


Energy flows through ecosystems in food chains from the sun, producers, consumers, and decomposers.
Organisms depend on each other to gain enough energy to survive in their habitats.

Essential Questions
● How do different organisms obtain energy to survive, grow, and reproduce?
● How is energy transferred in ecosystems through food chains?
● How do different organisms, including humans, affect food chains?

Objectives
● Students will investigate how different organisms obtain energy.
● Students will identify producers, consumers, and decomposers in their schoolyard.
● Students will demonstrate how energy flows through an ecosystem in food chains.

Assessments
● Ecological role presentations
● Ecological role identification in schoolyard scavenger hunt
● Ongoing discussions and questioning
● Backyard Food Chain assignment

Background
All organisms need energy in order to survive, grow, and reproduce. They obtain this energy in a variety
of ways. Ultimately, the energy in an ecosystem comes from the sun, and flows through an ecosystem
from one organism to another through complex ecological relationships. Some organisms can use the
sun’s energy to produce their own food; while others like humans need to eat food (consume) in order
to gain energy; still others break down (decompose) dead material for energy. We call these organisms
producers, consumers, and decomposers, respectively.

In order for organisms to survive, they must obtain energy either from the sun or by consuming or
decomposing other organisms through a food chain. Each step of the food chain provides energy for the
next step. The arrows show the direction of energy flow from one to another.

Sun → Grass → Grasshopper → Toad → Hawk → Fungi

The grass uses the sun’s energy to produce its own food. The grasshopper eats the grass, the toad eats
the grasshopper, and the hawk eats the frog. After the hawk dies, it provides energy to decomposers,
such as fungi, which break down the organism and return its nutrients to the system.
1
Vocabulary
Carnivore: An animal that eats meat
Consumer: An organism that obtains energy by consuming another organism; includes carnivores,
herbivores, and omnivores
Decomposer: An organism that obtains energy by breaking down dead organic material
Energy flow: The transfer of energy through a food chain from one organism to another
Food Chain: The flow of energy in an ecosystem beginning from the sun to a primary producers (plant)
to a consumer to decomposers.
Herbivore: An animal that eats plant materials
Inference: A conclusion reached based on evidence and reasoning from observations
Observation: The process of carefully examining or looking at something in order to gather information
Omnivore: An animal that eats both plant materials and meat
Predator: An organism that hunts another organism
Prey: An organism that is hunted by a predator
Producer: An organism that obtains energy through photosynthesis: sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water

Activities
1. Predators and Prey
2. Producers, Consumers, Decomposers
3. Building Food Chains
4. Food Chains Rummy

Next Generation Science Standards


5-LS1-1. Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air
and water.
5-LS2-1. Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals,
decomposers, and the environment.
5-PS3-1. Use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth,
motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.
**3-LS1-1. Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all
have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
**In Activity 2, relevant when discussing that animals may herbivores, omnivores, carnivores,
scavengers at different life stages.

This activity was developed by the Encyclopedia of Life Learning + Education Group as part of the
Okaloosa SCIENCE grant, supported by the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) under Award No. H#1254-14-1-
0004. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed
by the Department of Defense. Learn more about this grant at: www.okaloosaschools.com/okaloosascience/

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