Have students compare and contrast the roles of different organisms in a food web.
Follow-up/extension
Have students make individual food web mobiles instead of the mural.
Have students draw their own ecosystem and the organisms of the food web. They may draw lines to illustrate the complex food chains that make the food web.
Have students write the names of the organisms on index cards, punch two holes in each card, and string yarn through the holes so they can wear the cards around their necks. Starting with a plant, create a food chain by having the plant hold onto the end of the skein of yarn and passing the skein to the next organism in the food chain. Passing the skein of yarn from organism to organism, the students will create a complex food web.
Have students create the food web mural at the beginning of the unit, and use it throughout the unit to reinforce other terms, such as predator, prey, carnivore, omnivore, herbivore, niche, habitat, community, population, organisms, structural adaptation, behavioral adaptation, food webs, food chains, producers, and consumers.
To reinforce the understanding of the word niche, have students complete the attached data sheet called “What’s My Niche?” Students may use the data sheet to find the niche of the different life stages of organisms, such as frogs and butterflies.
Resources
Chesapeake Bay Program: America’s Premier Watershed Restoration Partnership.http://www.chesapeakebay.net/. Provides articles and other resources on the Chesapeake Bay’s natural resources.
Connections: Connecting Books to the Virginia SOLs. Fairfax County Public Schools and The College of William and Mary. http://www.fcps.edu/cpsapps/connections. Presents a database of more than 1,000 works of children’s literature and their connection to the Virginia Standards of Learning.
Lessons from the Bay. Virginia Department of Education. http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/LFB/. A resource for grades 3–6, including 16 lessons concerning watersheds and the negative human impact on the environment, specifically the Chesapeake Bay.
Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12. National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). http://www.nsta.org/ostbc.
Project Learning Tree. American Forest Foundation. http://www.plt.org/. Provides details on this national environmental education program.
Project WET (Water Education for Teachers).http://www.projectwet.org/. Offers watershed resources through an online store.
Project WILD. Council for Environmental Education. http://www.projectwild.org/.
Search for Literature: Literature for Science and Mathematics. California Department of Education. http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/sc/ll/ap/searchlist.asp. Offers a searchable database.
Virginia Naturally: Linking Virginians to the Environment. http://www.vanaturally.com/. Offers environmental resources for teachers.
Virginia Naturally School Recognition Program. Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. http://www.dgif.state.va.us/education/van_school_recognition.html. Provides information about the Virginia Naturally program to recognize environmental stewardship in schools.
Virginia’s Wildlife. Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries. http://www.dgif.state.va.us/wildlife/va_wildlife/index.html.
What’s My Niche? Data Sheet
Name: Date:
A niche (rhymes with ditch) is the way of life that an organism adopts to survive in a particular habitat.
