Unit 6 – Lesson 6 – Food Webs

Text(s)/Materials
 PowerPoint Presentation for Mini-Lesson
 Tiered Work Period Worksheets for each academic group
 BrainPop! video “Food Chains” (Station 1)
 Pre-printed cards with organisms from two different ecosystems for a card sort activity (Station 2) – These cards are to be
printed, cut out, and laminated (6 cards per page, 12 cards per ecosystem)
 Erasable markers
Standard(s) G
 HS-LS2-6. Evaluate claims, evidence, and reasoning that the complex interactions in ecosystems maintain relatively
consistent numbers and types of organisms in stable conditions, but changing conditions may result in a new ecosystem.
Objective(s) G
 SWBAT explain how energy flows through an ecosystem.
Connection to Unit/Course Goals G
How does this lesson fit as part of a sequence of lessons that are building towards larger unit, semester, or year-long goals?
 This lesson continues exploring ways in which organisms interact with their environments.
Differentiation and Grouping Considerations
How will you plan to support the learning needs of all of your students? How can you use IEP goals and other assessment information
to plan differentiation into your lesson, lesson materials, and students groupings?
 Students will be placed in groups based on their performance on select pre-test questions that relate to food webs.
 Students will be working on worksheets that are tiered for their academic groups with supports purposefully added for the
lower tier groups. Tier 1 (Einsteins) has the most supports, Tier 2 (Goodalls) a moderate amount, and Tier 3 (DeGrasses)
little to none.
 Spanish translations will be included in PowerPoint presentation and read out-loud alongside English.
 Spanish translations of work period worksheets will be given alongside English to nine (9) Spanish-dominant students.
Assessment
How are you planning to assess student learning during and after this lesson? What criteria will you use to determine
who has met lesson objectives, and to what extent?
 Student understanding is assessed during the mini-lesson through checks for understanding and turn- A
and-talks.
 Student understanding is assessed after the lesson through the collection of work period worksheets and
exit ticket.
Homework
Students should practice skills from today or preview tomorrow’s lesson.
 FOX Book p. 82-84 Questions 6-14
Do Now Time: 5 minutes P
A short, meaningful activity students complete as soon as they enter the classroom to prepare them for the work of the day.
Must be aligned in that it previews today’s material/objectives or reviews yesterday’s materials/objectives.
Teacher Actions Student Actions
 Teacher uses positive narration and distributes coffee  Students are copying the Guiding Question into their
beans (class procedure) to encourage students to notes. Voices are at a level 0.
copy the Guiding Question into their notes.
Ex: “I see group X/student X is already copying down
the guiding question into his/her/their notes.”
“Great job, group X/student X”
 Teacher calls on a volunteer to read the Guiding  Students are listening to the speaker and finishing copying
Question out loud. “How does energy move through down the Guiding Question.
an ecosystem?”
 Teacher calls on a volunteer to read the Quick Write  Students are listening to the speaker and beginning to
(Do Now) out loud. “Which organisms are competing think about the Quick Write question.
for resources?”
 Teacher directs students to discuss Quick Write with  Students show through silent show of fingers how many
their groups. “Take a few minutes to discuss with minutes they would like to complete Quick Write.
your groups about which organisms are competing
for which resources and write down your answers in
your notes.” (1 or 2 minutes).
 Set the timer.
  Teacher circulates the room, listening in on student  Students are studying the image on the board, discussing
discussions and asking scaffolding questions at groups with their groups, and writing their answers down in their
where there is no discussion taking place. notes.
Ex:
- “What do you see happening in this diagram?”
- “What are the arrows showing us?”
 Teacher uses attention-getting signal to call students’  Students repeat attention-getting signal and give their
attention to the front of the class. attention to the teacher.
 Share: Teacher calls on Student volunteers to share  Students are watching and listening to the speaker and
their answers to the Quick Write. Teacher allows first contributing their own answers to add on to the
student to call on other students to add on with other speaker’s.
answers. Possible Responses:
- The hawk, mountain lion, fox, and owl are competing
for the rabbit
- The rabbit and sparrow are competing for the
raspberry bush
Introduction/Mini Lesson/”I Do” Time: 10 minutes P
Spark student interest, invest students in objectives, tap prior knowledge, introduce new vocabulary, provide focus lessons
[explicit teaching/modeling, strategy demonstration], shared reading, shared writing, discussion, writing process, context,
background info, key vocab, skill building...
Teacher Actions Student Actions
 Reveal: “Take a few seconds and take a closer look at  Students are listening attentively by sitting, facing forward
the diagram in the front. All these organisms are and being at a voice level 0.
connected by arrows. What are these arrows
representing?
 Teacher calls on student volunteers to answer  Students raise hands to answer question.
question. Expected Response:
- The arrows represent energy.
 Reveal: “These arrows show us the flow of energy. As
each of these organisms eat their food, the energy
flows from the prey to the predator. (Demonstrate
with specific example from Food Web)
 Next slide: Teacher calls students’ attention to the
diagram on the board. “Now that we know that the
arrows are showing us the flow of energy, what is the
original source of energy in this food web?”
 Teacher calls on student volunteer to give the  Students raise hands to answer question.
answer. Expected Response:
- The sun.
 Next slide: “Taking a closer look at these food webs,
we see three types of organisms: autotrophs,
heterotrophs, and decomposers. Based on these
pictures, take 5 minutes, copy down the terms and
write down your own definitions.
 Set the timer.  Students write down their own definitions for autotrophs,
heterotrophs, and decomposers in their notes.
 Teacher calls on students to volunteer their own  Students raise hands to volunteer sharing their definitions
definitions, revealing each one after student for autotrophs, heterotrophs, and decomposers. Students
definition and allowing time for students to add-on to add-on to their definitions as each definition is revealed.
their notes.
 Next slide: Another way to look at energy flowing
through an ecosystem is with a trophic pyramid.
Teacher asks: “Which direction is the energy
flowing?”
 Reveal: Teacher asks: “Which level has the most  Students raise hands to volunteer answers to question.
amount of energy? Expected Response:
- The first/bottom level because it is the widest.
  The first trophic level on the bottom has the most Other Possible Responses:
amount of energy, you can also tell because it is the - The third/top level because it has the predators.
widest. As the energy travels up the pyramid, the
pyramid gets smaller because the organisms in each
level use some of the energy they get from their food
to grow.
Guided Practice/”We Do” Time: 5 minutes P
Teacher-facilitated group discussion, student or teacher-led collaboration, student conferencing, re-teaching or intervention,
writing process, practice using new skills and strategies...
Teacher Actions Student Actions
 Next slide: Teacher introduces work period: “Today,  Students are listening attentively by sitting, facing forward
you will be taking a closer look at food webs by going and being at a voice level 0.
through three stations. In Station 1, you will watch a
video on BrainPop exploring food webs. In Station 2,
you will have the chance to design your own food web
based on organisms in a particular ecosystem of your
choice between forest and savannah. In Station 3, you
will get the chance to take a closer look at trophic
pyramids, or food pyramids.”
 Teacher asks if anyone has any questions about the  Students raise hands if they have any questions.
directions.
 Set the timer.
Independent Practice/”You Do” Time: 60 minutes P
Independent student practice with new skills, independent reading, student-led discussions, independent writing and/or problem
solving...
Teacher Actions Student Actions
 Teacher circulates the room, going from group to  Students actively work on their provided activities in their
group eliciting student knowledge by conferencing small groups.
with students, asking probing questions, and
providing additional supports when needed.  Station 1: BrainPop! Video Students watch BrainPop
video “Food Chains” and synergize to answer questions
on worksheet.

 Station 2: Design It! Students complete a card-sorting

activity by choosing either a forest or savannah ecosystem
and designing a food web using provided cards. Students
then draw in arrows using erasable markers, then copy
their food webs into their worksheets.

 Station 3: Trophic Pyramids Students synergize to analyze

trophic pyramids and answer questions on their
worksheets.
 Conferencing questions:
Station 1
- Level I: What are
(autotrophs/heterotrophs/decomposers)?
- Level III: How would you organize (organism X and
Y) in a food web?
- Level V: Based on what you know, how would you
explain what would happen if (organism X) were
removed?
Station 2
- Level I: Where are the
(autotrophs/heterotrophs/decomposers) in this
ecosystem?
- Level III: What would happen to (carnivore) if there
was no rain in this ecosystem?
 - Level V: How could you solve a problem if there
were too many (primary consumer X) in this
environment?
Station 3
- Level II: What is happening to the amount of
energy as we go up the pyramid?
- Level IV: Why do you think there is less energy at
each level?
- Level IV: What inferences can you make about the
amount of energy in this ecosystem?

 Next slide: Share: Students choose two student  Students synergize to answer their group’s Discussion
leaders from each group, those students switch with Question.
two students from the other group in their academic
tier to discuss answers on worksheet as well as a
discussion question that is handed out to each group.

- Einsteins: “What would happen to an ecosystem Expected Response:

if there were no more decomposers?” - There would be nothing to break down dead matter,
there would be dead bodies everywhere.
- There would be nothing to return nutrients back to
the soil.

- Goodalls: “What would happen to the food web - There would be no energy flowing through the food
if the sun stopped shining?” web.
- Autotrophs/Plants would not be able to undergo
photosynthesis.

- DeGrasses: “Pick one of the consumers in your - Forest ecosystem: If there were no more foxes, (1) the
food web. What would happen to the food web populations of mice and rabbits would increase (2) or
if this consumer no longer existed in the the population of the grass would decrease.
ecosystem?” - Savannah ecosystem: If there were no more lions, (1)
the population of gazelles would increase (2) or the
population of the trees would decrease.
Exit Ticket and Closing Time: 10 minutes P
Students complete the lesson assessment; tie up loose ends and close out the lesson, revisit/review objectives,
connect lesson to larger unit goals...
Teacher Action Student Actions
 Closing – Discussion Questions: Teacher goes over  Students share out answers to discussion question
each of three discussion questions as a class, with at
least one student from each tier group volunteering
answer to discussion question and calling on other
students to add-on.
 Next slide: Teacher hands out post-it notes or index
cards to each student, instructing them to write
down their answer choice and justify their reasoning.

 Exit Ticket:  Students complete exit ticket.

1. “Which statement would be true if the fox
population decreased?”
- (a) The rabbit population would increase.
- (b) The snake population would decrease.
- (c) The frog population would increase.
2. Justify your response.