Food Chains: Featuring South Carolina's State Plants and Animals

This lesson is perfect for any teacher who teaches South Carolina history or third grade South Carolina science.

In this lesson, students will demonstrate their knowledge of food chains and learn about South Carolina's state symbols at the same time.

When I do this lesson with my students, I put them into groups of 2 or 3. Each group receives a laptop and researches one of South Carolina's state plants or animals. Each group will research facts about its plant/animal, as well as the food chain the plant/animal is a part of. This lesson usually takes my students about 3-4 days to complete.

This lesson includes 9 activity sheets for the following symbols:
State Flower: Yellow Jessamine
State Insect: Carolina Mantid
State Reptile: Loggerhead Sea Turtle
State Bird: Carolina Wren
State Tree: Sabal Palmetto
State Butterfly: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
State Animal: White-Tailed Deer
State Fish: Striped Bass
State Amphibian: Spotted Salamander
Students will write what they have researched on these sheets. The students will also create a food chain by illustrating and linking strips of paper together.

Note: The Loggerhead Sea Turtle and Striped Bass will require students to have 3 consumers for the food chain. Other food chains will have 2 consumers.

At the end of this packet, I have a page of easy-to-read research tips you can give to your students.

*If you prefer, your students can also do this as a take-home project.

Enjoy!
The Handout Factory