South Carolina ETV

South Carolina ETV
1101 George Rogers Boulevard
Columbia, SC 29201-4761
Phone: 803-737-3545

Web of Predators and Prey (Grades 6-8)

Master Teacher

Tracy Brown

Time Allotment

Four 90-minute class periods

Overview

Students will investigate the components food chains and food webs in various ecosystems.

Subject Matter

Life Science

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

identify a predator, prey, omnivore, herbivore, carnivore, and an ecosystem
describe how living things depend on one another for food energy (food chain) and how more than one food chain exists in an ecosystem (food web)

South Carolina Standards

These Standards can be found online at Office of Curriculum Standards.

Life Science-Grade 7

D2: Populations and Ecosystems

b-c: Identify kinds of relationships organ- isms have with each other (predator/prey, competition)

Analyze energy flow in a food chain and its relationship to a food web

Media Components

Video

Community of Living Things, Lesson 12:

"Competitor and Predator."

Web Sites

The Balance of Nature: Food Chains & Webs. Students will use this site as a resource to obtain the information needed to complete Activity Sheet 1.

In addition, students are to use the Web site Planet Pals to complete the first activity. Students will need to click on Recycle Lesson 11: The Food Chain to obtain the information.

The Living Sea: Predators and Prey is a classroom game to demonstrate the balance of life in the ocean.

Prep for Teachers

Cue videotape to start at the beginning. The tape lasts about 12 minutes.

Bookmark all sites to be used with this lesson.

Print out the directions for Activity 6 found at The Living Sea: Predators and Prey Web site

When using media, provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction, a specific task to complete and or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites and other multimedia elements.

Day 1- Introductory Activities

Step 1: Have the students read The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten.

Give copies of Activity Sheet 1: KWL Chart to the students. Have them list in complete sentences what they know about prey and predators and food chains and food webs. Secondly have students list in complete sentences what they want to learn from this lesson. When the students have completed all the lesson activities, have them fill in the last column.

(Note to Teacher: This sheet should be a part of the student's portfolio. Explain to students that they will begin part of their portfolios by researching the questions assigned on Activity

Sheet 1 on the assigned Web sites.

Step 2: Provide a Focus for Media Interaction by having students use the second activity to define the vocabulary used to describe a food chain and food web in a given ecosystem.

Send students to the bookmarked site The Balance of Nature: Food Chains & Webs. Tell them to click on the concept labeled Predator/Prey. (This will show a listing of some of the vocabulary needed to complete Activity Sheet 2: Animal Lingo.) Students will also use the bookmarked site Planet Pals to complete Activity Sheet 2.

Step 3: Introduce the title of the video to students, Community of Living Things, "Competitor and Predator." Tell students to take a sheet of paper and divide it into three columns and label the columns competitors, prey and predators. Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction by having them identify various animals under one of the columns while viewing the program. Explain to students that some animals might appear under more than one column. Also have students identify relationships between animals while viewing the film. Example: Human>bird>caterpillar. (The human kills the bird and the bird kills the caterpillar.) After viewing the complete video lesson, discuss the different types of animals and their relationships.

Learning Activity I

Step 1: Give students Activity Sheet 3: "Tic-Tac-Toe I Know My Predator." Students should not have any notes at this time. Allow students about 10 to 15 minutes to answer all nine questions and then give them the answers. Scoring one point for each correct answer and one point for each tic-tac toe. A perfect score is 17 points. Check students' papers to see how close they came to this score.

Day 2 - Learning Activity II

Step 1: Give students a Focus for Media Interaction by asking students to use the following site to identify the levels of a food web in a given ecosystem. This will enable students to analyze different types of animals such as herbivores, omnivores, carnivores, etc., within a given food web. Students will also identify different relationships within a given food web (food chains).

Have students go to the bookmarked site Food Webs, Kids Webs.Tell them to click on each ecosystem: the African grasslands, Antarctic, and the Australian grasslands. They are to complete each food web online following the instructions provided below the blank web. Have them write down each level of the food web and whether the animal is a top-level carnivore, carnivore, omnivore, herbivore, or producer on a separate sheet of paper. Have them print out their completed web if possible.

Learning Activity III

Step 1: Give students Activity Sheet 4: "Mystery Web." This activity will allow students to identify the different parts of a food web such as producers, consumers, etc. Students will do this assignment individually and answer given questions on the sheet. Remind students to refer to their glossary if necessary.

Day 3 - Learning Activity IV

Step 1: Have students design a food chain by using the animals and plants listed on

Activity Sheet 5: "The Chain Link." Prior to students creating the food chain, allow them to research each animal. This will give students background information on which animal is included in a certain food chain.

Step 2: The class will do Activity 6: "The Web of Life." This activity is about the living sea predators and prey. It will demonstrate the balance of life in the ocean. (Note to Teacher: Remember to go to The Living Sea: Predators and Prey Web site [ and print out the directions for this activity.)

Day 4 - Culminating Activities/Assessment

Step 1: Allow students to complete what they have learned on their KWL Chart.

Step 2: Allow students to choose an ecosystem placing the following names in a bag: Antarctic food web, African grassland food web, and the Australian grasslands food web. Have two of each one, with the first saying food web and the other food chain. Students will make a mobile of a food chain or food web of a particular ecosystem based on the one they choose from the bag.

Materials for this exercise are: pictures of various animals, string, single-hole puncher and straw.

Step 3: Students will include the following as part of their portfolios—

a) glossary of terms

b) KWL Chart

c) Choose one of the ecosystems researched and write a summary about the location, animals found and the food chain/web. (Use line arrows to show given predator/prey relationships. Identify the carnivores, herbivores, omnivores and etc.)

d) Create a Food Web. Write a description explaining the food web.

Step 4: Complete Activity Sheet 7, which involves students identifying different interactions.

Cross-Curricular Extension

Language Arts: Assign a group of students at least two animals. Have them write a report that includes as many facts as possible including what prey they eat and what prey eats them.

Social Studies: Allow students to go to a local grocery story and make a list of all they can find that come from animals. Have them list what animals produced the food.

Community Connections

Invite a local forest ranger to talk about prey and predators in their local habitat.