Lesson Planning of Food Chain
Subject General Science
Grade 4th
Students` Learning Outcomes
- Define producers, consumers and decomposes and explain their importance in food chain.
- Make a simple food chain to show relationship among producers, consumers and decomposes
Information for Teachers
- Plants are called producers because they are able to produce food (glucose) from carbon dioxide and water in the presence of sunlight.
- Animal can`t make their own food so they must eat plants or other animals. That`s why they are called consumers.
- Consumers can be divided into three groups;
- Animals that eat only plants are called herbivores or consumer-I as such; rabbit, sheep, goat, cow etc.
- Animals that eat other animals (herbivores) are called carnivores or consumer-II as such; lion, leopard, etc.
- Animals that eat other animals (carnivores) are called consumers –III as such; snake, hawk etc.
- Animals feed on dead body of plants and animals and after decomposition convert them into simpler compound, are called decomposes as such; bacteria and fungi.
- A food chain is the sequence of “who eats whom” in an environment as such;
Arrows represents the energy flow in a food chain.
- If one part of a food chain alters, the whole food chain is affected. As such; if a disease suddenly wiped out butterfly, caterpillars, it would affect owls, eagles and many other animals.
- During teaching, also consult the textbook as and where required.
Material / Resources
Writing board, chalk / marker, duster, pictures of animals and plants, charts of food chain, papers, and textbook
Introduction
- Ask questions relevant to the topic:
- From where do we get our food?
- Why do we need food?
- What do plants and animals give us?
- From where do animals get their food?
- From where do plants get their food?
- How we, animals and plants are related to each other?
- To make food chain, draw relation among plants, animals and man as such;
Development
Activity 1
- Demonstrate some examples of simple food chains.
- Introduce the concept of plants as producers i.e. organisms that make their own food trough photosynthesis.
- Introduce the concept of animals as consumers i.e. organisms that eat producers or other consumers.
- Explain the role of decomposes in all food chains.
- Ask students to make a food chain by making a sequence of the following organisms. The students will also mention the producers and the consumers.
Activity 2
- Introduce a complex food chain i.e. with more than one consumer. Categorize the consumers –I, II, III and so on.
Activity 3
- Reinforce the learning of food chain through the following role play:
- Write the word producer, herbivore, carnivore-I, carnivore-II and carnivore-III on a separate paper.
- Give one paper to each student.
- Whatever the paper says, that becomes the students` role in the food chain.
- Paste the paper to their neck.
- Herbivore tries to catch the producer. When a producer gets tagged, the two students link arms.
- Carnivore-I tries to catch the herbivore and when he / she is successful, they link arms.
- Carnivore-II tries to catch the carnivore-I and when he / she is successful, they link arms.
- Similarly, carnivore-III tries to catch the carnivore-II and when he / she successful, they link arms.
- Ask the students to draw the developed food chain on paper.
Sum up / Conclusion
- Each living things, whether it is a plant or animals, depends on nutrients and energy to survive.
- Food chain tells us how the food is passed from organism to organism.
- All food chain starts with plants that make their own food. These are called producers.
- Next come organisms that eat plants. These organisms are called consumer-I and we know that they are herbivores.
- Then the next come the animals that eat herbivores. These are called consumers-II and we know that they are carnivores.
- In all food chain; when any organism dies, it is eaten and broken down by decomposes. Some bacteria and fungi are decomposes.
Assessment
Activity 1
- Ask students to make corrections in the following food chain.
Activity 2
- Make a table on the board and ask students to copy the table on their note books.
- Ask students to link the terms with the statements.
Consumer-II |
Organism that feeds on plants. |
Consumer-I |
Order in which food passes from one living thing to another. |
Producer |
Break down the dead body of animals and plants. |
Food Chain |
Living organism that is capable of manufacturing its food. |
Decompose |
Organism that eats animals |
Activity 3
- Ask students to make a correct sequence of plants and animals in the following activities (or the similar ones). If pictures aren`t available, write the names of these organisms on the board.
- Involve the students in solving the questions given at the end of chapter/ unit in textbook.
Follow up
- Ask the students to complete the food chains by filling in the blank boxes with the correct consumers or producers given in the underneath food chains.
Food chain –I:
Grasshopper, Grass, Hawk, Snake, rat
Food Chain-II:
Bird, Cat, Snail, Grass algae
Food Chain-III:
Grass, Fox, Rabbit, Bear
Types of organisms |
Food chain-1 |
Food Chain-2 |
Food chain-3 |
Producer |
|
|
|
Consumer-I |
|
|
|
Consumer-II |
|
|
|
Consumer-III |
|
|
|
- Ask the students to separate different food chains in the following diagram.
Your article gave me a lot of inspiration, I hope you can explain your point of view in more detail, because I have some doubts, thank you.