Design School Lesson Plan Food Chain: Make Connections Authored by Monica Burns (@​
classtechtips​
) TITLE OF LESSON Food Chain: Make Connections ACHIEVABLES ● Students will create a food chain that shows the relationships between organisms in an ecosystem. ● Students will identify producers and consumers within an ecosystem. ● Students will gather information on organisms to better understand their relationships. SUGGESTED LEARNING OBJECTIVES ● Gain a better understanding of the relationships between living things within an ecosystem. ● Use vocabulary terms related to ecosystems appropriately. ● Design a poster that serves as a graphical representation of the relationship between organisms in a food chain. PREPARATION ● Students will each need access to a computer or mobile device with an Internet connection. ● Present the ​
Quick Guide to Canva​
to onboard your class quickly. ● Identify the ecosystems and/or organisms you would like students to focus on. This could be your current unit of study, a review of previous coursework, or an opportunity for students to make choices based on interest. ● Read teacher notes. SUGGESTED LEARNING FLOW Part I: Exploring food chains and building domain­specific vocabulary Setup (5 minutes) ● Review a food chain with students. You may decide to show this ​
video​
overview of food chains. Make Connections (10 minutes) ● Ask students to work with a partner to list the important vocabulary words related to a food chain. This might include the terms ​
producer, consumer, living things, energy. Brainstorm (15 minutes) ● In partners, have students make a list of organisms that fit into the different categories they identified. They should have 5­7 organisms for each category. You may choose to give students a list of organisms that they need to place in different categories based on your particular unit of study. Part II: Assembling a food chain ● Students will use what they have learned about different organisms to create a food chain. They should identify the order of each organism and be prepared to describe the role each one plays within a set ecosystem. ● The goal of this lesson is to have students create a poster that shows the relationship between different organisms within an ecosystem. As students assemble their food chain they will need to gather images that represent each organism. ● After students find an image that represents each organism have them write 2­3 sentences that describe the organism and the relationship it has with other members of the food chain. At this stage of the lesson students should know which organisms go where in their food chain, and have an image and description that goes with each organism. Part III: Designing a food chain poster ● Students will use images they have collected and descriptions they have written to create a food chain poster. ● Their poster should include a title as well as captions that go with each image they have selected. You may asks students to include graphics or colors that represent the ecosystem they have chosen. HOMEWORK/EXTENSION ACTIVITIES ● Ask students to find multimedia that connects to the images they have found. They can add links to their poster to make it interactive. ● Have students compare the food chain they made with other members of their class. Students can combine food chains when they find common organisms.