Pond Food Web Detective: Who Eats Whom?

SubstitutePlans.com
Science · Life and Earth Science 6-8
SP-SCI68-001  ·  Free to print and use in your classroom  ·  substituteplans.com
Page 2
Pond Food Web Detective: Who Eats Whom?
Science · Life and Earth Science 6-8 · Grades 6-7 · 45 minutes
Time needed
45 minutes (one class period)
Prep
Copy the 2-page worksheet (one per student). No board work needed.
Technology
None.
Student
independence
High. Students read and work alone, then compare with a partner.
Copies to make
One 2-page worksheet per student
Materials
Pencils, Worksheet
Goal for today: Students will classify organisms in a pond food web as producers or consumers and predict how
removing one organism affects the others.
Before the bell
☐ Copy the worksheet, one per student (2 pages).
☐ Keep the answer key (the page after the worksheet) on your desk. You do not need any science knowledge to
run this lesson.
☐ Optional: write FOOD WEB = who eats whom on the board.
Say this to start
Good morning! Today is an ecosystem puzzle. A pond is full of living things that depend on each other for food. You will
read a short description of one pond, sort the organisms into roles, and figure out what would happen if one of them
disappeared. Work quietly on your own first. Everything you need is on the worksheet.
Run of show
Minutes
What you do
What students do
0–5
Take attendance the way the school requires. Hand out the
worksheet.
Settle in, take out a pencil, and read the
title and directions.
5–12
Ask students to read the passage and the feeding table
silently. Read the first two sentences of the passage aloud
if the class seems unsure how to start.
Read the passage and study the table of
who eats what.
12–22
Tell students to complete questions 1–4 (the word-bank
blanks) and the role table.
Fill in the blanks using the word bank, then
label each organism’s role in the table.
22–35
Tell students to complete questions 5–13. Walk the room. If
a student is stuck, ask, “Who eats this organism, and what
does it eat?”
Answer the multiple-choice, true/false and
short-answer questions.
35–42
Read the answers to questions 1–10 aloud from the key.
Students mark their own papers. Short answers (11–13)
can be shared by volunteers.
Check their work and correct mistakes.
Share a few short answers.
42–45
Collect all worksheets and stack them for the teacher.
Hand in the worksheet.


SubstitutePlans.com
Science · Life and Earth Science 6-8
SP-SCI68-001  ·  Free to print and use in your classroom  ·  substituteplans.com
Page 3
If things go wrong
• If students say they have not studied food webs, tell them the passage and table contain everything they
need. Pair them with a neighbor.
• If a student argues that an animal eats something not in the table, remind them to use only the table for this
pond.
• If students finish early, send them to the early finisher list. Do not give them extra copies.
• If the class is noisy, remind them this is quiet reading and thinking time; partners may whisper only after
question 10.
Early finishers
• Draw a food web on the back of the worksheet using arrows that point from the food to the eater.
• Invent one new pond organism, say what it eats, and say what might eat it.
Support and challenge
• Support: Have students complete only questions 1–4, the role table, and questions 5–9, working with a
partner.
• Challenge: Ask students to write a second food chain with five organisms and to explain which organism has
the most energy available to it.
Notes for the teacher (you fill this in)
Jot a few lines before you leave. A full Daily Sub Report is in the free Sub Survival Kit at SubstitutePlans.com.
How far the class got / what to pick up next:
Students who were especially helpful:
Anything the teacher should know: