5E Lesson Plan

Teacher:

Delaney Kohnen, Paige Woodall

Date: September 28, 2015

Subject / grade level:

Science/ grade 5

Materials:

Video on living organisms, food chains, and food webs for explain section
Food Chain Memory Game (laminated cards used in game)

TEKS: 5.9B
(9) Organisms and environments. The student knows that there are relationships, systems, and cycles within environments. The student is expected
to:
(A) Observe the way organisms live and survive in their ecosystem by interacting with the living and non-living elements;
(B) Describe how the flow of energy derived from the Sun, used by producers to create their own food, is transferred through a food chain
and food web to consumers and decomposers;

Lesson objective(s): The student can organize living things into producers, consumers, and decomposers and explain the flow of energy
Differentiation strategies to meet diverse learner needs (special needs):
Slight hearing disability- Wear a microphone while teaching to allow your voice to be projected so all students can clearly hear. Provide visuals
throughout the lesson so students can follow along visually while teaching. When students ask or answer questions, repeat what they said so that
all students can clearly hear their comments and questions. Seat student with a hearing impairment at the front of the room in close range to the
teacher so that they can easily hear information given. Designate a volunteer to sit near the student with a hearing impairment so that he can help
out or repeat information to the student when needed.

ENGAGE

Ask students Who in here owns a chain necklace? Lets take a second to think about our chain necklaces and how they hold together.
So they start with one big circle chain at the beginning and then there are a bunch of little connecting circle chains, one after another,
that makes one long line of chains right? Then at the end of our necklace, there is one big clamp/clip, which we use to hook the chain
together, forming this circle that we call a necklace! The way that a necklace holds together is very reflective of a food chain and how
living organisms survive!
o Who can tell me how you think living organisms survive? Ill ask for three volunteers. One will be labeled producer,
consumer, and decomposer. I would then ask them to Decide what you think each volunteers food source would be. After
students answer, explain the correct answer, reviewing with students what type of food each category depends on and why.
Some questions I would want the students to have are why do living organisms have different labels, and how are they classified?

EXPLORE

After our lesson we will break up into pairs and play a fun game to test our knowledge of what living organisms fall under which
category. It will allow you to visually see examples of different organisms for consumers, producers, and decomposers.
What would be the order of energy flow between producer, consumer, and decomposer?
What are some characteristics of od producers, consumers, and decomposers?
If you were a lion, and you only eat meat, do you eat producers? Why or why not?

EXPLAIN

Begin by tapping into students background knowledge of living organisms and building off of it to explain the food chain. (Do this by
showing them this website and the video explaining food chains https://jr.brainpop.com/science/animals/foodchain/talkaboutit/)
o This video will tell students how in a food chain, living organisms depend on one another for food. It also shows how energy
is transferred from one living organisms to the next. It will then go on to model a food web and explain how a web connects
food chains. It finished off by explaining and defining producers, consumers, and decomposers and provides characteristics
and examples of each
After showing the video, check for students understanding by asking 3 different students to Define a Producer, Consumer, or
Decomposer then ask another student to Explain how the food chain works
Model a food chain on the board writing Producer consumer decomposer
Have students raise their hand to provide examples of each producer, consumer, and decomposer
Discuss with students the order of events in a food chain and as a group, have students raise their hands to help you place a food web
model in the correct sequence of events.

5E Lesson Plan

We will then implement the Food Chain Memory Game for the students to hands on see the correlation between all living organisms. It
will show the students the roles of them and how they benefit the organisms around them.
What are one pro, and one con of a consumer such as a lion?
Explain the transfer of energy
How might lack of sunlight disrupt the food web

ELABORATE

The students at this point have been over the needs of living organisms, and what they require to live. Now with this information the
students gain the how their needs are met, and how once the needs are met energy is transferred.
Ask students What do you think would happen to the food chain if one species went extinct? Justify to give them a better
understanding of how the food web works together, and how each living organism in the web depend on each other for food and energy.
The vocabulary that will be introduced and that the students should have a grasp of are Producer, Consumer, Decomposer, and Energy
Flow.
This knowledge is applied to our everyday life because living organisms surrounds us, and it helps the student gain a better
understanding of how they all coordinate with each other in the natural world, while also recognizing the importance of the presence of
each category of living organisms in the food chain.

EVALUATE

Students will demonstrate that they have achieved the lesson objective by working in groups to come up with an explanation as to how a
food chain/ webs works and holds together and sharing it aloud. Students will then work together to fill in a food web placing the 9
living organisms provided in the correct sequence on the web.

Horizontal Alignment within the Grade chosen for the 5E lesson

What other TEKS can be aligned to this lesson (what will this lesson build upon and build for)?

Vertical Alignment within the Grade Chosen for the 5E lesson

Prior Grade
What other TEKS can be aligned to this lesson (what will this lesson build upon and build for)?

(A)investigatethatmostproducersneedsunlight,water,andcarbondioxidetomaketheirownfood,while
consumersaredependentonotherorganismsforfood;and
(B)describetheflowofenergythroughfoodwebs,beginningwiththeSun,andpredicthowchangesinthe
ecosystemaffectthefoodwebsuchasafireinaforest.

How would you integrate this foundational knowledge for developed 5E lesson?

We would build upon the 4th grade science foundational knowledge on living organisms by explaining to students the types
of food that each category (producer, consumer, and decomposer) depends on and why. This would then lead us in to how
each type of living organism depends on each other to survive through food and energy, and how the transfer of energy
works.

Next Grade
What other TEKS can be aligned to this lesson (what will this lesson build upon and build for)?
(12) Organisms and environments. The student knows all organisms are classified into Domains and Kingdoms. Organisms
within these taxonomic groups share similar characteristics which allow them to interact with the living and nonliving parts
of their ecosystem. The student is expected to:
(F) diagram the levels of organization within an ecosystem, including organism, population, community, and ecosystem.

How would this aid their knowledge in future grades?

Understanding how food chains/webs as well as the transfer of energy works sets students up to later learn where the levels
of organization of the food chain fall within an ecosystem.

5E Lesson Plan
GROUP EVALUATION:
Delaney Typed up our lesson plan
Came up with TEKS, Materials, Lesson Objective, Explore, and Evaluate
Contributed to editing lesson plan and answering vertical and horizontal alignment questions
Paige Typed up and laminated game
Came up with Strategies to meet student disability, Engage, Explain, and Elaborate
Contributed to editing lesson plan and answering vertical and horizontal alignment questions

5E Lesson Plan