Ecosystems Turboquest

Lesson Plan 4 (Task 4)

Ophelia Gregory
Title of Lesson: Whats for lunch?
Topic: Ecosystems: Food chains and the flow of energy
Subject Area(s): Science and ELA
Grade Level: 4th
Description: This lesson will begin with direct instruction on what a food chain is and what one looks like
for several different animals. We will use the Active Board to create a list of several items students plan
on eating for lunch and how that food item fits on a food chain; an anchor chart will be created through
the discussion. Then students will watch a Study Jams video while filling out a handout that provides key
vocabulary. Research groups will then complete two stations: half of the groups will continue their
animal research, this time focusing on finding a solution to their given scenario based on their
knowledge of their animals ecosystem (a different research handout will be provided). The other half
of the groups will complete a food chain QR code game with task cards to create a prairie animal food
chain. As the assignments for each part of the task are completed, groups will switch. Then, after
completion of both the research and the game for this task, students will be guided on their Turboquest
through activities that review food chains and the flow of energy. We will conclude the task with an
assessment on food chains and the flow of energy. We will also add more information to our KWL chart
throughout this lesson.
Objectives:
The students will be able to demonstrate the flow of energy through a food chain beginning with
sunlight and including producers, consumers, and decomposers.
The students will be able to justify in writing the importance of food chains in an ecosystem.
Standards:
S4L1. Students will describe the roles of organisms and the flow of energy within an ecosystem.
b. Demonstrate the flow of energy through a food web/food chain beginning with sunlight and including
producers, consumers, and decomposers.
Essential Questions: How do people, animals, and their surroundings interact with one another to
create a community?
How can we justify the importance of food chains in an ecosystem?

Materials Needed:

Active Inspire Presentation: Whats for Lunch? (see other resources)

StudyJams link: http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/ecosystems/foodchains.htm
Vocabulary handout (1 per student)
Graphic organizer for research (see other resources)
QR code game: link to TeacherspayTeachers site provided on teacher page
Food chain assessment (see other resources)
Assessment checklist (see other resources)
Ecosystems KWL chart
Chart paper
Markers
20 sticky notes

Technology: Active Inspire will be used to discuss food chains with students using lunch as a
basis for discuss. Students will come to the board and move pictures, arrows, and vocabulary words
around on the page to create a food chain that represents what they ate for lunch. In addition, smart
phones will be used for the QR code game, and links to other online activities will be provided on the
Turboquest itself.
Procedures:
1. Motivation: Students will begin the activity with a whole group discussion on what is for
lunch, which is relevant to students and also accesses a students funds of knowledge
through guided discussion. We will discuss healthy choices vs. non-healthy choices,
which could eventually tie into a health lesson on the energy that calories provide.
2. Statement of Purpose: This lesson is designed to have students practice using key
vocabulary that will strengthen their research projects and understanding of the
material. It also presents food chains and the flow of energy in several different ways:
an Active Inspire activity, a video, online games, and a QR code game that can used a
couple of different ways.
3. Body:
1. Students will begin this task through a whole group discussion using the
Whats for Lunch? Active Inspire presentation. The teacher will write students
ideas on the board and will then call on students to drag and drop items in the
appropriate place on the board to create a simple lunch food chain.
2. This will open a discussion on where our food comes from and the importance of
food chains in an ecosystem. The teacher will fill out more information on the KWL
chart throughout the discussion, and an anchor chart on Why are Ecosystems
Important? will be created.

3. The teacher will show the Study Jams video after a quick brain break, and students
will fill out the vocabulary handout as they watch.
4. The teacher will explain each station: the QR Code game and the graphic organizer
for continuing research. The teacher will divide the research pairs in half and will
send one group to complete the game and one group to wrap up their research
through the Turboquest. After students have completed the assigned activity, the
groups will switch.
5. Individual assessments will be given as a group finishes their task.
Assessment: In a student/teacher conference set-up, students will independently pick a picture of an
animal out of a file folder and will align pictures of the sun and other animals appropriate to the food
chain in a line using arrows (on paper) to demonstrate the flow of energy. I will ask them what would
happen to other animals in the food chain if one or more of the animals were removed, and I will jot
down their answers. Then, at the very end of the task, students will write on a large sticky note 1-3
sentences justifying the importance of our ecosystems to sustain life and will turn the sticky in for the
teacher to check for understanding. These assessments are somewhat both formative and summative
because I want students to have met the standard by the end of this task so that they successfully
complete task 5. This task is the last instructional task, so these assessments are summative in nature
but will allow me to remediate for students who are struggling with any part of the standard.
Closure: As a whole group (after assessment), discuss what weve learned about ecosystems thus far
and finish the KWL chart. Clear up any questions students still have.
Accommodations and differentiation: Vokis will be used for read aloud purposes on the Turboquest.
Also, students who need it will be given a checklist to complete as they finish each section of the task.
Struggling students will be given a scaffolded assessment with arrows and fill-in-the-blank type of set up,
whereas gifted students will be given an open-ended assessment with the instructions to put the
animals in sequential order as they see it best.
Reteaching: Review food chains and ecosystems in center rotations using games such as ecosystem
bingo, a vocabulary match-up, a listening station that reads an ecosystem story aloud and pulls out the
important information. If needed, guide students step-by-step again through the QR Code game and a
written food chain drawn by the teacher.
Extensions: Students will be instructed to complete the extension activity with the QR Code game,
practice percentages of energy flow through a food chain, do an online owl dissection that names the
bones, and/or create their own QR codes using a different animal.