Primary Resources - Teachers' Notes

Activity 1 Unscrambling Food Chains A. Learning Objective Living things need energy to survive and thrive. All energy is derived from the Sun. The Sun's energy travels down through the food chain. Humans and animals take in energy through food, but only humans can choose where to eat on the food chain. B. Lesson Plan Explain to pupils that, in order to be alive, all plants and animals need to take in energy. Energy is needed to grow, run around, work, think and even sleep. Animals take in energy by eating food. Plants take in water and carbon dioxide, which they turn into food using the energy they capture from the sun (photosynthesis). To understanding how living things gain their energy and how they are interrelated, we can look at food chains. All food chains begin with the energy sent to Earth from our nearest star, the Sun. The next step is always a living thing that can capture energy: a green plant. The eater of the plant is next in the chain, followed by the eaters of the eaters. Explain to the children that: A green plant is the primary producer A herbivore is the primary consumer The carnivore that eats the herbivore is the secondary consumer The carnivore that eats that carnivore is the tertiary consumer The animal at the top of the food chain is called the top consumer or top carnivore Ask the children if they can think of some examples of food chains and then draw attention to the activity sheet. Here, they have to put the chains in the right order, writing their answers in the spaces. The arrows show what goes into what, e.g. corn into mouse into snake into owl. Once they have grasped the principles of food chains, they can create their own and see how long they can make them. It is useful to have a range of reference books about different environments and the animals that live there. Following on from this, the children could write down the names of all the animals from one environment and work out a food web. Beware of using created environments such as zoos. Remember that in order to eat a food, the animal must come into contact with it i.e. live in the same ecosystem. Dogs do not eat cats! Explain that human beings can choose where to eat on the food chain. They can be a top consumer or choose to eat plant foods that are lower down on the chain. Omnivores can appear in different parts of a food chain. Consider only what they are eating at that point. Stick with people and animals; ultimately even the top carnivores are eaten by microbes. Finally, the children can make a mobile of their favourite food chain. You will need coloured card (to match the environment), a compass to draw circles onto the card, a hole punch, some string, scissors, and either cut out pictures or reference books to copy pictures from. The children draw one animal on to each piece of circular card, and label the back. The name of the environment is written on to a square piece. The cards are strung together in the correct order, starting with the square, then the top consumer, then down to the sun. The mobiles can be taken home or hung from the ceiling to create an impressive classroom display. Links to the National Curriculum KEY STAGE 2 SCIENCE - Life Processes and Living Things - - Green Plants as Organisms growth and nutrition that plant growth is affected by the availability of light and water, and by temperature that plants need light to produce food for growth, and the importance of the leaf in this process that the root anchors the plant, and that water and nutrients are taken in through the root and transported through the stem to other parts of the plant Variation and Classification how locally occurring animals and plants can be identified and assigned to groups, using keys Living Things in the Environment adaptation that different plants and animals are found in different habitats how animals and plants in two different habitats are suited to their environments feeding relationships that food chains show feeding relationships in an ecosystem that nearly all food chains start with a green plant KEY STAGE 2 ART Pupils should be given opportunities to experience different approaches to art, craft and design, including those that involve working individually, in groups and as a whole class In order to develop visual perception, pupils should be taught the creative, imaginative and practical skills needs to: - - design and make images and artefacts