UNIT 6: FOOD CHAINS AND WEBS (Foundations Science Curriculum series)

Explore the ways the Sun’s energy passes among all living organisms—and save 20%—with UNIT SIX: FOOD CHAINS AND WEBS, from the Foundations Science Curriculum series. This unit has everything you need to meet your science standards and offers a wide variety of resources to keep your young scientists engaged. Planning is a breeze with the Teacher’s Guide, which includes detailed lesson plans and a list of applicable NGSS/TEKS standards.

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BUNDLE PRICING

Although this unit does not qualify as a bundle (because only the activity book and PowerPoint are available to purchase separately), I have treated it as a bundle since it contains so many resources. This unit is discounted 20% off the individual prices of the materials and also includes a free bonus resource.

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This comprehensive 93-page/slide unit is divided into three sections that include the following resources:

INTRODUCE AND REINFORCE

• POWERPOINT: Let’s Explore the Biosphere is a 26-slide interactive PowerPoint—with FOUR video clips—that introduces the four spheres of the Earth (atmosphere, biosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere) and focuses on the ways energy from the Sun passes to all plants and animals in the biosphere.
• ACTIVITY BOOK: Food Chains and Webs uses numerous examples of food chains and webs to illustrate the way energy is passed through producers, consumer, and decomposers, and includes three review activities.
• ANCHOR CHARTS: This unit includes two11 x 17 inch anchor charts, illustrated with colorful photos. The Four Spheres highlights the atmosphere, biosphere, geosphere, and hydrosphere. The Energy Cycle illustrates how the Sun’s energy flows through producers, consumers, and decomposers.

EXTEND AND ENRICH

• 4 HANDS-ON PROJECTS: This unit features a variety of projects and includes 6 templates for creating models of food chains.
• 15 WORD WALL VOCABULARY CARDS in two formats. The large cards are 3 inches tall and 8 inches wide, and the small cards measure 3.75 inches tall by 5 inches wide. Each word is paired with a colorful photo to increase memory and retention. The large set also includes more than 20 vocabulary-building activities and games.
• BONUS RESOURCE: Food Web Challenge is a set of 96 2.5 by 2.5 inch illustrations featuring plants and animals that live in five American ecosystems—Pacific Ocean, Southwestern desert, temperate forest, Great Plains grassland, and Alaskan tundra—that students can use to create food webs.

REVIEW AND ASSESS

• REVIEW ACTIVITY: Forest Energy Cycle is a cut-and-glue sorting activity featuring producers, consumers, and decomposers in a temperate forest.
• UNIT ASSESSMENT covers the key concepts and vocabulary words introduced in the unit.

Word Wall Vocabulary:

atmosphere, biosphere, carnivore, consumer, decomposer, energy, food chain, food web, geosphere, herbivore hydrosphere, omnivore, predator, producer, scavenger

Targeted Skills: (partial list)

• Recognizing the Sun as the source of energy for all living organisms
• Identifying producers, consumers, and decomposers in the Energy Cycle
• Creating food chains and webs for a single ecosystem
• Developing critical thinking skills
• Building content-area literacy in science
• Reading fluency and comprehension

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TARGETED NGSS STANDARDS

• Crosscutting Concepts: Cause and Effect, Patterns, Systems and System Models
• Cycles of Matter/Energy Transfer in Ecosystems
• Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning, and Resilience
• Energy in Chemical Processes and Daily Life
• Heredity and Variation of Traits
• Interdependent Relationship in Ecosystems
• Organization for Matter/Energy Flow in Organisms
• Science and Engineering Practices
• Structure, Function, and Information Processing
• Transfer of Energy and Matter

TARGETED TEKS STANDARDS

• Crosscutting Concepts: Patterns, Systems, Cycles, Structure and Function
• Organisms and Environments: Characteristics of Environments
• Organisms and Environments: Flow of Energy in Food Chains and Webs
• Organisms and Environments: Photosynthesis
• Organisms and Environments: Roles of the Sun, Producers, Consumers, and Decomposers in the Energy Cycle
• Scientific Investigation and Reasoning

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Sample Pages: Please see the preview for sample pages/slides from the unit.

Image Credits: The illustrations in these are my own original drawings (©Dr.J). The photos come from a variety of sources—including copyright-free images, copyrighted images licensed under the Creative Commons, and copyrighted images that I have purchased for commercial use—and are listed on the included Image Credits Page. Photo credits for the PowerPoint are listed on the last slide of the presentation.

Technical Info: The slides are in PowerPoint format, and the additional resources are in PDF format. All of the materials are grouped into a single zip file.

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SAVE 25% WITH THE BUNDLE!

• Save an additional 25% with the FOUNDATIONS SCIENCE CURRICULUM BUNDLE, which contains all 20 units in the year-long curriculum. The bundle also includes detailed Scope and Sequence charts for the curriculum as a whole and for each individual unit. Click on the BONUS PREVIEW to view the Scope and Sequence charts.

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UNITS IN THE FOUNDATIONS SCIENCE CURRICULUM:

INTERDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES

• UNIT 1: INTRODUCING THE WORLD OF SCIENCE
• UNIT 7: CYCLES IN THE NATURAL WORLD
• UNIT 20: DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS

LIFE SCIENCES

• UNIT 2: THE ANIMAL KINGDOM
• UNIT 3: THE PLANT KINGDOM
• UNIT 4: BIOMES AND ECOSYSTEMS
• UNIT 5: PLANT AND ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS
• UNIT 6: FOOD CHAINS AND WEBS

EARTH SCIENCES

• UNIT 8: GEOLOGY AND THE GEOSPHERE
• UNIT 9: WEATHER AND THE ATMOSPHERE
• UNIT 10: WATER AND THE HYDROSPHERE
• UNIT 11: OUR CHANGING EARTH
• UNIT 12: NATURAL RESOURCES AND CONSERVATION
• UNIT 13: EARTH AND SPACE

PHYSICAL SCIENCES

• UNIT 14: STATES OF MATTER
• UNIT 15: FORMS OF ENERGY
• UNIT 16: EXPLORING WAVES
• UNIT 17: EXPLORING ELECTRICITY
• UNIT 18: FORCE AND MOTION
• UNIT 19: MAGNETS AND MAGNETISM

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ABOUT THE CURRICULUM

This unit is part of the Foundations Science Curriculum, a set of 20 units designed to give students a solid understanding of the basic science concepts outlined in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standards. The year-long curriculum has the following features:

• Comprehensive: The curriculum contains 20 units that highlight key concepts in the earth, life, and physical sciences. Each unit is based on a 9-day lesson plan, which can easily be lengthened or shortened to meet the needs of your students.
• Sequential: The units are arranged sequentially, with each unit building on knowledge gained in the previous units.
• Adaptable: The curriculum covers the standards for Grades 3-5, which makes it perfect for differentiated teaching and learning in a multi-level classroom. It can also be used as a stand-alone curriculum or as an enriching supplement to your required curriculum.
• Engaging: Each unit contains a wide variety of high-interest resources, including an introductory PowerPoint, activity books, experiments and projects, word wall vocabulary cards, anchor charts, review activities, and assessments.

CLICK HERE to view all of the activity books, PowerPoints, units, and other resources currently available in the Science Foundations series.

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