Ecosystems and Cycles – 5th grade- Lesson Plan

Objectives: Students will:

1) Trace the transmission of energy in a small, simple ecosystem
2) Identify the roles of organisms in the energy movement within an ecosystem
3) Recognize the positive and negative impacts of human activities on an ecosystem
4) Demonstrate an understanding of the cycling of resources on Earth, such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and water.
5) Identify and sequence steps in carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and water cycles.
6) Identify steps and processes in the carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and water cycles (e.g. respiration, transpiration, combustion, photosynthesis, decomposition, evaporation, condensation, precipitation)
7) Use skills of scientific inquiry processes

Pre-Visit Activity: Whats For Dinner?(Objective 1, 2)

Fall Naturalist Visit:

Topic: Energy flow and roles of organisms in ecosystems, Nitrogen cycle (Objective 1, 2, 5, 6, 7)

1. INTRODUCTION ( 5 min): How many of you live close to here? How many of you have been to this park before? Today we are going to be doing lots of fun things to learn about habitat in your park. Because we have lots to do, we need to establish some ground rules. First, I expect you to listen when I’m talking. Stay with the group. Raise your hand if you want to speak. Follow directions. Set other expectations of behavior as needed.
2. ENGAGE (5 min): You will have 3 visits by us this school year; 2 outdoors at this park and one indoors this winter. During each visit, we will learn about how an ecosystem works (I like to compare the components of an ecosystem to the inner mechanics of a car; you see that it works when it drives down the road but what makes it work is the real question) Show students the terrarium. This jar is just like the earth. Take a look. Show students that the lid is closed tight. What can enter the jar? Students will probably say “nothing.” Don’t give them the right answer now. Something can enter the jar; I want to see if by the end of the day, someone can figure out what enters the jar. Answer: Energy can in the form of sunlight.
3. EXPLAIN (5 min): There are 3 components to an Ecosystem: Energy, Matter and Living Things. Each of these components have a job/needed process in an ecosystem that we can summarize as our theme: In an Ecosystem, Energy flows, Matter cycles and Living and Non-Living Things interact. Repeat theme with body movements. Today, we will be learning about how Energy flows in an ecosystem.
4. ENGAGE (15 min): Quick Frozen Critters from Project WILD. Students will learn predator/prey relationships and energy flow from producers to consumers while they play this active version of freeze tag. (Objective 1)
5. ENGAGE (5 min): Who ate what in the game? What is a producer…What represented this in the game? Solicit answers on consumers (primary and secondary) and decomposers. Explain that we saw how energy moved in nature during this game. Energy from the sun is captured by the producers to make their own food, is transferred to the plant-eating animals (primary consumers), then moved on to the animals that eat the plant-eaters (secondary consumers) and is finally used up by the decomposers. (Objective 2)
6. EXPLORE (20 min): Field Studies. Students grouped into teams of 2-3. Go over Energy Pyramid and Field Study Worksheet with students. Two field studies will be performed; students will investigate a miniature version of an ecosystem and explore the park as a larger ecosystem. (Objective 1, 2).

7. ENGAGE (5 min): Students share their results. What kinds of producers and consumers were found in both?…only in one? Any decomposers? What other role does decomposers have in an ecosystem? Let’s find out!
8. EXPLAIN (5 min): Nitrogen Cycle. Discuss why it is important and illustrate through visuals how it cycles in an ecosystem. Explain the terms; fixing bacteria, denitrifying bacteria, combustion.
9. ENGAGE (15 min): Nitrogen Cycle Activity. Students will actively role play Nitrogen molecules as they cycle through an ecosystem. During the game, students record their journey on a worksheet. Students will share results and debrief game back at school. (Objective 5)
10. ENGAGE (5 min): Show the terrarium again. Can anything enter the jar? Hopefully, kids may realize that sunlight can. If they don’t, ask them what the plants need from outside the jar to make their food. Can anything leave the jar? Students will probably say “no.” Answer: Energy can in the form of heat. An ecosystem can be as small as a terrarium or as large as a lake or forest. In fact, you could view the entire earth as a giant ecosystem. Ask students to repeat the theme: In an Ecosystem, Energy flows, Matter cycles, Living and Non-Living things interact. (Objective 1)
11. EXPAND (10 min): Terrariums. Students will each make their own terrariums to use back in the classroom for post-visit activities. Each terrarium will contain: gravel, soil, plants, pill bugs and gathered materials from the park. Review elements in terrarium; plants are producers, pill bugs are consumers, decomposers are bacteria/fungi. Go over terrarium care.
12. Conclusion: discuss post visit projects and hand out evaluation.

Winter Visit for Ecosystems and Cycles:

Topic: Matter (non-living things) cycles through an ecosystem. (Objective 4, 5, 6)

1. REVIEW (15 min): Review the program theme. “In an Ecosystem, Energy flows,
Matter cycles, Living and Non-Living things interact.” During the first lesson, we
learned about how energy flows through ecosystems, entering as the sun’s energy and
leaving as heat energy. Review the concept of ecosystem. What are the four components
of an ecosystem? Today we are going to learn how matter/non-living things cycle in an
ecosystem?
2. ENGAGE (15 min): Air Cycle Activity. What needs oxygen for life? What uses carbon dioxide
for growth? Students simulate the cycle of oxygen between plants and animals. (Objective 4, 5)
3 . ENGAGE (20 min): Incredible Journey; Water Cycle Simulation. Review terms;
precipitation, condensation, evaporation. Students will role play the journey
of a water molecule within the ecosystem using the roll of dice and worksheets. (Objective 5) For more information and educational activities about weather, please visit skyeye weather.com.
4 . EXPAND (10 min): Each student will share one step of their journey and explain how the water moved to the new destination. (Objective 4, 6)
5 . ENGAGE (15 min): Carbon Cycle Skit. Review cycle of oxygen between plants
and animals. Discuss terms; respiration, transpiration, photosynthesis. Several students are chosen to demonstrate the carbon cycle process by role playing. (Objective 5)
6 . EXPAND (10 min): Each student will create a 4-step carbon cycle. Several students will share results. (Objective 4, 6)
7 . WRAP UP (5 min): Using fill-in-the-blank posters, students will review each cycle
and identify their steps and processes. (Objective 4, 5, 6)
8. Conclusion: discuss post visit project and hand out teacher evaluation.

 

Spring Visit for Ecosystems and Cycles:

Topic: Living and non-living things interact in an ecosystem. (Objective 1, 2, 3)

1. REVIEW (10 min): Review the program theme. “In Ecosystem, Energy flows,
Matter cycles, Living and Non-Livings Things Interact.” During the first lesson, we
learned about how energy flows through ecosystems, entering as the sun’s energy and
leaving as heat energy. In winter, we learned about how matter cycles through an
ecosystem. Today we are going to learn how living and non-living things interact.
2. ENGAGE (20 min): Why does a fox need a flower? What does a bird and a beaver have
in common? Web of Life Activity. Students discover connections/relationships between
non-living and living things in an ecosystem. See attached instructions. (Objective 1, 2)
3. EXPLORE (30 min): Interact Scavenger Hunt. Review terminology of inter-
relationships such as symbiotic, mutualism, etc. Students participate in a scavenger hunt
to learn the interaction of living things. See attached worksheet. (Objective 2)
4. ENGAGE (5 min): Students share results of scavenger hunt. People also interact with
living and non-living things in an ecosystem. Name some ways that humans interact in a negative way….positive way.
5. EXPLAIN (5 min): How have non-native and invasive plants changed an ecosystem?
Naturalist led discussion.
6 . EXPAND (20 min): Service Project. Students make a positive impact in their park by
participating in a service project; litter and invasive species removal
7 . Conclusion: discuss post visit project and hand out teacher evaluation. Repeat theme:
“In an Ecosystem, Energy flows, Matter cycles and Living and Non-Living Things
interact”.

 

 

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State Science Benchmarks Met by the Ecosystems Module

Earth and Space Sciences (By the end of the 3-5 program):

C. Describe Earth's resources including rocks, soil, water, air, animals and plants and the ways in which they can
be conserved.

Life Sciences

A. Differentiate between the life cycles of different plants and animals.

B. Analyze plant and animal structures and functions needed for survival and describe the flow of energy
through a system that all organisms use to survive.

C. Compare changes in an organism's ecosystem/habitat that affect its survival

Physical Sciences

B. Identify and describe the physical properties of matter in its various states.

D. Summarize the way changes in temperature can be produced and thermal energy transferred.

Scientific Inquiry

B. Organize and evaluate observations, measurements and other data to formulate inferences and conclusions.

Scientific Ways of Knowing

A. Distinguish between fact and opinion and explain how ideas and conclusions change as new knowledge is gained.

B. Describe different types of investigations and use results and data from investigations to provide the evidence to support
explanations and conclusions.

C. Explain the importance of keeping records of observations and investigations that are accurate and understandable.

 

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Science Grade Level Indicators Met by the Ecosystems Module (For Grade 5)

Earth and Space Sciences

The Universe

3. Describe the characteristics of Earth and its orbit about the sun (e.g., three-fourths of Earth's surface is covered by a
layer of water [some of it frozen], the entire planet surrounded by a thin blanket of air, elliptical orbit, tilted axis and spherical planet).

Earth Systems

5. Explain how the supply of many non-renewable resources is limited and can be extended through reducing, reusing
and recycling but cannot be extended indefinitely.

6. Investigate ways Earth's renewable resources (e.g., fresh water, air, wildlife and trees) can be maintained.

Life Sciences

Diversity and Interdependence of Life

1. Describe the role of producers in the transfer of energy entering ecosystems as sunlight to chemical energy
through photosynthesis.

2. Explain how almost all kinds of animals' food can be traced back to plants.

3. Trace the organization of simple food chains and food webs (e.g., producers, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores
and decomposers).

4. Summarize that organisms can survive only in ecosystems in which their needs can be met (e.g., food, water, shelter,
air, carrying capacity and waste disposal). The world has different ecosystems and distinct ecosystems support the
lives of different types of organisms.

5. Support how an organism's patterns of behavior are related to the nature of that organism's ecosystem,
including the kinds and numbers of other organisms present, the availability of food and resources, and the
changing physical characteristics of the ecosystem.

6. Analyze how all organisms, including humans, cause changes in their ecosystems and how these changes can be
beneficial, neutral or detrimental (e.g., beaver ponds, earthworm burrows, grasshoppers eating plants, people
planting and cutting trees and people introducing a new species).

Science and Technology

Scientific Inquiry

1. Select and safely use the appropriate tools to collect data when conducting investigations and communicating
findings to others (e.g., thermometers, timers, balances, spring scales, magnifiers, microscopes and other
appropriate tools).

2. Evaluate observations and measurements made by other people and identify reasons for any discrepancies.

3. Use evidence and observations to explain and communicate the results of investigations.

Scientific Ways of Knowing

2. Develop descriptions, explanations and models using evidence to defend/support findings.