This lesson plan introduces 9th grade students to ecosystems through an exploration of food chains and food webs. Students analyze the components of meals and categorize ingredients as producers or consumers. They then construct physical models of food chains and connect them to build a class food web. As an extension, students will research organisms found at a local park and create a comic strip demonstrating the ecosystem relationships and energy flow. The lesson incorporates various hands-on activities and assessments to help students understand key concepts and generalizations about interdependence in ecosystems.

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Email: cmlorena@gmail.com Food Chains & Webs Lesson Plan
LESSON PLAN DETAILS
Grade Level: 9th Grade Number of Students: 25+
Subject: Life Science/Living Environment Total Class Time: 50 minutes
Lesson Topic: Ecosystems
Keywords: Energy flow, interactions, environment, food chain, and food web;
Producers and types of consumers (herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, detritivore)
NYS INTERMEDIATE MST STANDARDS
Standard 1 Scientific Inquiry – Students formulate questions for explanations of everyday
observations; construct explanations; design and read charts, tables, graphs and
diagrams.
Standard 4: Living Environment – Plants and animals depend on each other and their physical
Key Idea 6 environment. SWBAT describe flow of energy and matter through food chains and food
webs; provide evidence that green plants make food; and explain the significance of the
process to other organisms.
CONCEPTUAL LENS
Interdependence
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
“What significance does energy flow have on interactions between living organisms in an
ecosystem?”
MAIN GENERALIZATIONS
1. Living organisms depend on interactions between one another and their physical environment
to survive.
2. Interactions between living organisms and the environment drive the flow of energy.
3. Energy flow cycles nutrients and materials that living organisms need to survive.
4. The sun is the main source of energy in an ecosystem.
TEACHING OBJECTIVES – Students will be able to…
1 Break down the components of an ecosystem into categories of producers and consumers
2 Construct a physical model of a food chain and a food web
3 Research and summarize information on choice of habitat and organism found at John Boyd
Thacher State Park
4 Create a comic strip featuring a community of organisms that may be found at John Boyd
Thacher State Park
MATERIALS
For the teacher For the students (each)
Computer station Science journal
Projector Writing utensil
Internet access Index cards or half sheets of white paper
Slideshow file Markers or crayons
Dry erase markers and eraser Scissors
Ball of yarn Tape
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PREPARATION
Lesson Plan Summary
Bloom Remembering Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation
Taxonomy
Level X X
This lesson plan is the first arrangement in the ecosystems unit. It serves as an introduction to food
chains and food webs. Students have previously learned about producers and the different types of
consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and detritivores). They are asked to use deductive
reasoning by breaking down their dinner into its individual ingredients. Students’ reasoning skills are
also employed to categorize the ingredients into plant or animal, and to further classify animal
ingredients into different types of consumers. With this background knowledge and the creation of
food chain and food web models, students should be able to produce generalizations about energy flow
in ecosystems.
With the generalizations, students can move forward and learn more in-depth about interdependence in
ecosystems. The last half of the lesson introduces the activities for the next 2-3 days. Students will work
in collaborative groups to design and create an ecosystem comic strip. Students will select a community
of organisms that may be found at a local state park. Each member will pick and choose an organism,
research information, compile organism profiles and create a comic strip that demonstrate the
relationships of their organisms and the role of energy flow in their particular community.
INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS
05 Mins Introduction – Engagement, Building Connections to Students
Activities Resources
Brain Buzzer- “What did you have for dinner last night?” Attendance records
Slideshow file
Students will write their responses in their science journals, share
their responses with a seat partner, and discuss answers with
whole class. Teacher will collect student answers and generate a
list on the board. Learning objectives and the essential question
are introduced.
20 Mins Lesson Activities – Exploration, Direct Experiences with Concepts
Activities Resources
Brainstorm/Graphic Organizer – Students are asked to choose Online bubble map generator
one of the meals on the list for analysis. A student volunteer is Index cards, paper, yarn, and tape
picked to create a bubble-map diagram on the whiteboard or
interactive white board, using information determined by fellow
classmates. Together students break down a meal into its
individual ingredients. They will use the diagram to answer the
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following questions:
 Which of these foods come from plants?
 Which of these foods do not come from plants?
 Which of the animals eat plants? Other animals? Both?
 Are there any decomposers?
A second student volunteer is picked to label the bubble-map
diagram. With the help of fellow classmates, together they will
assign the following vocabulary words to the individual
ingredients: producer, consumer, herbivore, carnivore, and
detritivore.
Looking at the diagram at this point, is there anything that
students think or feel that is missing? Students should be able to
add the plants’ food source, which is the sun. Revise the diagram
to fit the new information.
Students should look at the diagram again. What can students say
about ecosystems based on this diagram? What patterns do they
see? Answers should include the following: there are different
organisms in an ecosystem, the organisms interact with one
another, there is a general flow of energy from producers to
consumers, and the energy flow starts with the sun.
Individual Practice* - Students create their own food chains by
taking their own dinner meal and breaking it down into its
individual ingredients onto index cards. They should list one
ingredient per index card and label them as producer or as a type
of consumer. Students will select one of their ingredients and
draw a picture of it on a half sheet of paper. The half sheet must
also be properly labeled.
Group Practice** – In small groups, students will work together
to form a food web using their individual food chains. Each
student will display one of his or her organisms to each other.
Teacher will give a ball of yarn to one student. That student must
toss the yarn to another organism that 1) it feeds on; or 2) is
eaten by another organism. Another variation is to start with all
producers and then include different consumers into the web.
Students will continue adding additional different organisms to
their food web by adding the sun, producers, consumers and
decomposers. They should create a giant food web and realize
that all members of the web are interconnected. They will also
discover that some organisms share the same role in the food
web—eating the same foods or being eaten by the same
predators.
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*Students can draw their individual ingredients/organisms of
writing names down onto index cards.
**This activity can also be performed as a whole class standing up
in a circle, or by their desks depending on available room space
and remaining class time.
20 Mins Discussion – Explain, Building Connections to Ideas
Activities Resources
Group Discussion- Slideshow file
At the end of the group activity, display diagrams of a food chain
and food web. How is a food chain similar to and different from a
food web? Students should be able to reflect on the previous
activities and answer the following questions:
 Why is a food web a better representation of who eats
who in an ecosystem than a food chain?
 What would happen to the rest of the food web if an
organism became extinct? If the habitat was damaged?
 What are the pros and cons of organisms being
interconnected or interdependent on one another?
 How does this translate to survival of a living organism?
00 Mins Expansion – Elaboration, Building Real World Connections
Activities Resources
Food Pyramid- Display a picture of a food pyramid. Ask students YouTube Video Clip
what they see. Answers should include the following: there are Slideshow file
more producers at the bottom; the numbers of organisms Project handout and rubrics
decreases as you go further up the pyramid; there is less energy Animals of NY Checklist
as you go up the pyramid because the organisms at the previous 6-Panel Comic Storyboard Template
level use some of it for their own growth and survival. Online Comic Strip Generator
Ask the essential question again: What significance does energy
flow have on interactions between living organisms in an
ecosystem? Refer to main generalizations for answers. Show
YouTube music video clip, “It’s The Food Webby Web”, as
summary of today’s topics.
Student Research- Introduce the next assignment. Students will
work in collaborative groups to design and create a comic strip,
using organisms found in a park ecosystem as characters. Each
member will pick an organism to research. Each organism in the
group should be part of the group’s food web. Students will use
remaining class time to look through the park wildlife checklist,
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choose their communities and individual organism to research.
Distribute project handouts and rubrics. Depending on amount of
remaining class time, students can start brainstorming research
questions and storyboard ideas. Students can also decide how to
obtain additional materials.*
See section on Student Involvement.
CONTINGENCY/ EXTENSION PLAN
 Students can create food chain mobiles using their index cards, yarn and tape. Groups can
connect their individual food chain mobiles with one another to create a large class food web
mobile.
 Students can create a grocery list mosaic using old grocery coupon magazines for their dinner
break-down activity.
 Students can create a 3D energy pyramid using milk cartons or foldable cubes from the
cafeteria.
 Students can watch the following clip: Brain Pop Quick Flick
ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION OF LEARNING
Achievement Selected Performance Personal
Essay Format
Targets Response Assessment Communication
Brainstorm activities, selected
Knowledge and
X X X response quiz, closure
Understanding
summaries
Bubble-map diagrams,
classification of ingredients,
Reasoning food chains and food web
X X
Proficiency models, class discussions,
construct of food web on
product
Teacher observations on class
performances with food
chains/food web,
Performance Skills X X
collaboration, communication
skills, research and technology
use for comic strip product
Food chain/food web models,
Ability to Create
X X function and aesthetics of
Products
comic strip poster
Student self-assessments,
Dispositions X X
rating scales on handout
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ACCOMODATIONS/ MODIFICATIONS
 Speak loudly and clearly.
 Repeat instructions twice.
 Call on various students to read text.
 Provide visual graphics.
 Move around and check on students.
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
Students must do this assignment: 3 points.
1. Log onto the class website and complete the online vocabulary quiz.
2. Students who scored 6/10 items incorrectly must retake the quiz!
Students can choose one out of three assignments: 10 points.
1. Consider the food web that you, as a human, are part of. Draw an illustration of this food web
on an 8x11” sheet, color and label the different categories of producers and types of consumers.
2. Create a T-chart listing 5 different ways each that food chains are similar, and then different to
food webs.
3. Compose a haiku poem or 1-minute song about food chains and food webs.
STUDENT INVOLVEMENT
 Encourage students to obtain additional research materials by contacting local park rangers
and/or members of the community. They can ask for brochures, animal field guides, and set up
online Skype interviews and conferences with biologists and naturalists.
 Encourage students to set up bake sales as fundraisers, arrange a field trip to the local park, set
up guided tours with a park ranger, and take pictures and/or video of their trip to add to their
product.
 Students are given choice on type of organism and habitat and design flexibility of comic strip
product.
 Students are given voice through group roles, self-assessments and rating scales.
CREDITS & RESOURCES
Salter, Irene. (2005, August 26). My Science box: hands-on science curriculum for the adventurous
teacher. Retrieved from http://www.mysciencebox.org/foodwebs
Anderson, B, Dixon, E, & Hayden, B. (n.d.). Create a food chain (k-2). Retrieved from
http://www.sd5.k12.mt.us/glaciereft/foodchk2.htm
Nye, Bill. (Producer). (2008). It's the food web [Web]. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbWyrcY5i3s.
BrainPOP. (Producer). (n.d.). National geographic for kids: food chain movie [Web]. Retrieved from
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngexplorer/0309/quickflicks/
Edelman, K, & Amelyan, L. (2009). Bubbl.us: brainstorming made simple. Retrieved from http://bubbl.us/
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Email: cmlorena@gmail.com Food Chains & Webs Lesson Plan
Zimmerman, B. (2006). Make Beliefs comix. Retrieved from http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/
Enchanted Learning. (n.d.). Foldable cube. Retrieved from
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/math/geometry/solids/Cubetemplate.shtml
NYS Department of Wildlife Conservation. Checklist of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals of New
York State. Retrieved from http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/vertchecklist0907.pdf.
Animals, Plants, Aquatic Life: Information about species. (2009). Retrieved October 31, 2009 from NYS
Department of Environmental Conservation: http://www.dec.ny.gov/23.html.
Color Brochures and Posters of NY Natural Resources. (2009). Retrieved October 31, 2009 from NYS
Department of Environmental Conservation: http://www.dec.ny.gov/pubs/4791.html.
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