Teacher Guide
Teacher Guides were made by teachers for teachers as a collaborative project of EVSC, USI, and
WNS. Special thanks to the authors of this Guide: EVSC Teachers Jill Money & Deb Vannatter
and to the authors of the bibliography: USI Dept. of Teacher Education faculty Dr. Joyce Gulley
and Dr. Jeff Thomas.
Program: WHO’S FOR DINNER?
Target Audience: Grade 5
Description: All life is connected in a web of life… a food web that is. Witness living
producers, consumers, and decomposers gather their dinner. Bring your appetite for adventure
and your predator instincts to explore who eats whom in nature.
Teacher Guide Contents:
1. Program Agenda & Synopsis
2. Objectives, Academic Standards and Correlations
3. Preparation
a. Vocabulary & Concepts
b. Pre-program lesson plan
4. Follow Up
a. Post-program lesson plan
b. Activity suggestions
c. Arts & Crafts
d. Games
e. Snacks
f. Music
g. Stories
5. Resources
a. Book
b. Web
6. Assessment
a. Pre- and Post-program survey
5/22/13
Program Agenda:
I.
WELCOME & INTRO
II.
ACTIVITIES
A. Niche Hike
B. Predator Game
C. Owl Pellet Investigation
III. CONCLUSION
Time Needed: 2.5 hrs.
15 min.
40 min.
40 min.
40 min.
15 min.
Program Synopsis:
After a brief introduction to vocabulary and concepts, children will be split into smaller groups
for the duration of the program. Groups will move among activity stations demonstrating how
plants and animals interact to survive, namely who eats what /who and predator / prey
relationships. Activities will include a hike in the forest or wetlands to observe and identify
living organisms and discuss their habitats and niches, an interactive clue-based predator / prey
game that demonstrates scientific investigation, observation of a live or taxidermy owl, and an
owl pellet dissection. Students will utilize their notebooks to record their observations and make
conclusions about what they’ve learned, demonstrating their understanding of interrelationships.
Objectives: Students will be able to…
1. Recognize concepts and examples of an ecosystem, organism, and niche.
2. Define and compare organism roles within an ecosystem and give examples of each.
3. Understand and model organism interactions and predator /prey relationships.
4. Define and describe trophic levels within food chains and food webs and how energy
flows from one to another.
5. Use the scientific method to investigate, make predictions, and form conclusions about
their natural world.
6. Have fun!
Indiana Academic Science Standards Summary: Students observe and raise questions about
living organisms in their natural environments, identify and describe organism roles and
relationships, explore predator/prey interactions through role play, and investigate a predator’s
diet. Students will use tools and the scientific method to investigate and predict an organism’s
interactions, and will summarize their findings in notebooks.
Indiana Academic Science Standards Code:
2010 IASS Grade 5 Nature of Science Process Standards and Life Science Standards:
Core Standard: Observe, describe and ask questions about how changes in one part of an
ecosystem create changes in other parts of the ecosystem.
5.3.1 Observe and classify common Indiana organisms as producers, consumers,
decomposers, predator and prey based on their relationships and interactions with other
organisms in their ecosystem.
5.3.2 Investigate the action of different decomposers and compare the role they play in an
ecosystem with that of producers and consumers.
Process Standards:
5/22/13
5.5.4 Perform investigations using appropriate tools and technology that will extend the
senses.
5.5.7 Keep accurate records in a notebook during investigations and communicate
findings to others using graphs, charts, maps and models through oral and written reports.
STEM Correlations:
Science: see standards for science above
Technology: tools to dissect, charts
Engineering: methods of dissection
Mathematics: data collection and analyses
Program Preparation:
Students will get more out of the program if they have been introduced to the following
vocabulary and concepts prior to the program visit.
Vocabulary:
Producer, consumer, decomposer, trophic levels, food chain, food web, ecosystem,
organism, habitat, niche, predator, prey, scavenger, carnivore, herbivore, omnivore
Visit: Promethean Planet Food Chains to introduce vocabulary
http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en/Resources/Item/54804/food-chains
Promethean Planet
Concepts:
 Ecosystems - smallest functional unit of the environment in which all living and
nonliving (rocks, soil, etc.) organisms interact.

Organism – a living thing; plant, animal, or fungi

Habitat – where an organism lives, its home; contains food, water, shelter, and space
in an arrangement appropriate for the organism’s biological needs.

Niche – what an organism does in its ecosystem, its role.

In all ecosystems there are predator / prey dynamics, where predators hunt and eat
prey animals.
o Predator – animal that hunts and kills and eats its prey
o Prey – animal that is hunted and eaten.
o Scavenger – animal that seeks and eats dead prey – carrion.

Animals can be grouped based on their feeding habits:
o Herbivore – eats plant material
o Carnivore – eats meat (other animals)
o Omnivore – eats plants and meat

Food chains - linear connections of who eats whom, one type of interconnectedness
among living things.
5/22/13

Food webs – nonlinear cross-links between food chains; shows many types of
interconnectedness of organisms within an ecosystem.

Trophic levels – level of energy an organism utilizes in a food chain in the
environment
o Producers – make their own food using energy from the sun (plants)
o Consumers – get energy from eating other organisms
o Primary consumers (herbivores) eat producers
o Secondary consumers (carnivores / omnivores) eat primary consumers
o Tertiary consumers eat any other consumer
Omnivores can eat from any trophic level
o Decomposers – break down dead and decaying plants and animals to be
recycled through the ecosystem as nutrients in the soil
Program Follow Up:
 Review vocabulary & concepts.
 Lead students to discuss / share their field trip experiences
 Review student notebooks as a class and assist students with completion/correction of
answers.
 Rent the WNS Traveling Nature Trunks for your classroom, if available for your program
topic.
 Utilize one of the many supplemental lesson plans available on our website:
www.wesselmannaturesociety.org > Educators (top tab). Most programs have completed
supplements but some are still in development.
Activity suggestions:
Who’s For Dinner (adapted from What’s for Dinner? Project Wild K-12 Curriculum and
Activities Guide www.projectwild.org)
 Learning Objective: Students will generate food webs that help them conclude that all
animals, including people, depend on plants as a food source, either directly or indirectly.
 Materials: Writing materials or student science notebook, Optional: poster board and
drawing materials
 Procedure
1. Post the Focus Question: What is the source of our food?
2. Divide the class into five groups (one for each school day).
3. Assign Monday’s lunch menu to group one, Tuesday’s to group two and so on.
4. Student groups examine each lunch item to create a food chain showing the major source
of each food. Begin with the food on the lunch tray and trace it back to its source.
Students draw or list each item in the chain.
5. Students reference page 2 of the Who’s For Dinner WNS student notebook for guidance
in labeling each item in every chain as: producer, primary consumer, secondary
consumer, tertiary consumer as appropriate.
5/22/13
6. Student groups share their chains looking for similarities and differences.
7. Instruct students to answer the focus question. (Note that the answers should reflect that
all food originates from plant sources.)
Extension: Students/ Student groups make posters of the lunch menu or what they had for
breakfast showing the food chains involved in each. Add soil, water, sun and air. They
may also include soil showing the role of decomposers.
Review and assessment: Promethean PlanetFood Chains andFood Webs
http://www.prometheanplanet.com/en/Resources/Item/29919/food-chains
Arts/ Crafts:
 Food chain mobile
http://www.ehow.com/how_5840863_make-food-mobile.html
 Food Chain “Chain”
Have the students make links like a chain. Use green for producers, yellow for
primary consumers, orange for secondary consumers, (optional: red for tertiary
consumers), and brown for decomposers. Write the names of specific plants or
animals on each link. After they make a basic chain using black links between each
organism (1 producer, 1 decomposer and 2-3 consumers) have them branch their
chains out towards a "web" and find ways to link their chains to other students in the
classroom using black links.
Games:
 Food chain game:
http://www.outdoorbiology.com/files/resources/activities/FoodChainGame.pdf
 Food Chain Frenzy:
http://www.schools.norfolk.gov.uk/view/NCC104036
Snacks:
 Make food chains / webs with a tub of animal crackers! Add some veggies like
carrots and broccoli for the herbivores.
Bibliography:
AFTER THE KILL.Darrin Lunde. Illustrated by Catherine Stock.Charlesbridge. 2012. ISBN
978157091741.A dual-level text provides an interesting story with supportive facts about predator and prey
relationships. (Note: This book is not available in the EVPL, but it is available at online bookstores.)
CAN WE SAVE THE TIGER?Martin Jenkins. Illustrated by Vicky White.Candlewick Press, 2011.
ISBN 9780763649098. EVPL Call Number 591.68 JENKI. Learn about endangered species, how they
became endangered, and ways people are trying to prevent their extinction. The colored pencil illustrations
in this book are nearly as detailed as a photograph.
THE CASE OF THE VANISHING GOLDEN FROGS: A SCIENTIFIC MYSTERY. Sandra Markle. Millbrook
Press, a division of Lerner Publishing Group, 2012. ISBN 9780761351085. EVPL Call Number 597.87
MARKLExplore why the Panamanian golden frogs began disappearing. What there an unexpected
5/22/13
predator in the habitat? Follow scientists who solve this mystery. End matter contains suggested websites
and additional readings.
POND CIRCLE.Betsy Franco. Illustrated by Stefano Vitale.Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2009.ISBN
9781416940210.EVPL Call Number PICTURE BOOK FRANCO.n the pond by Anna's house, a food chain
begins with algae which is eaten by a mayfly nymph which is eaten by a beetle which is eaten by a bullfrog.
Even though this book is fiction, it accurately details the food chain for organisms that live near a pond.
SECRETS OF THE GARDEN. Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld. Alfred A. Knopf, 2012. ISBN
9780517709900.EVPL Call Number PICTURE BOOK ZOEHFEL.Another fiction story that works well to
help readers under the food chain.
WHAT’S FOR DINNER? QUIRKY, SQUIRMY POEMS FROM THE ANIMAL WORLD.Katherine B. Hauth.
Illustrated by David Clark.Charlesbridge, 2011.ISBN 9781570914713.Slightly silly poems will get students
interested in the food chain and who eats whom.
UBIQUITOUS: CELEBRATING NATURE’S SURVIVORS.Joyce Sidman. Illustrated by
BeckiePrange.Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.ISBN 978061871719-, EVPL Call Number 578.4 SIDMA. Creative
poems supported by supplemental explanations and detailed illustrations help students see how nature’s
most prolific organisms have flourished.
VULTURE VIEW.April Pulley Sayre.Illustratred by Steve Jenkins. Henry Holt and Company, 2007. ISBN
9780805075571.EVPL Call lNumber 598.2 SAYRE.The turkey vulture is one of nature’s most efficient
scavengers. See how they find their meals and what an important role they play in the food chain.
YOUNG CHARLES DARWIN AND THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE.Ruth Ashby. Illustrated by Suzanne
Duranceau.Peachtree Publishers, 2009.ISBN 9781561454785. This biography will help students
understand more about Darwin, how he developed his theory of evolution, and what is meant by survival of
the fittest. This is simply an historical account of Darwin’s voyage and his observations. (Note: This book
is not available in the EVPL.)
Other Book Resources:
 American Forest Foundation. Project Learning Tree: PreK-8 Environmental Education
Activity Guide. 2012. (Refer to Cross-Reference Indices for Activities)
 Council for Environmental Education. Flying Wild: An Educators Guide to Celebrating
Birds. 2006.
 Council for Environmental Education. Project Wild: K - 12 Curriculum & Activity Guide.
2005.
 Fleisher, Paul. Grassland Food Webs. Lerner Publishing Company, 2008.
 McGinty, Alice B. Carnivores in the Food Chain. The Rosen Publishing Group, 2002.
 McGinty, Alice B. Herbivores in the Food Chain. The Rosen Publishing Group, 2002.
 McGinty, Alice B. Decomposers in the Food Chain. The Rosen Publishing Group, 2002.
 McGinty, Alice B. Omnivores in the Food Chain. The Rosen Publishing Group, 2002.
 McGinty, Alice B. Producers in the Food Chain. The Rosen Publishing Group, 2002.
 Milord, Susan. The Kids Nature Book: 365 indoor/outdoor activities and experiences.
Williamson Publishing, 1989.
5/22/13


Silverstein and Nunn. Food Chains. Twenty-First Century Books, 1998.
Taghom, Sally. Animal Lives: The Barn Owl. Kingfisher Books, 1999.
Websites Resources:
 Supplemental lesson plans on our website: www.wesselmannaturesociety.org
 Indiana DNR Educator Resources: http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/2340.htm





Food Chains: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/foodchain/
The Nature of Teaching: Food Webs (Purdue Extension):
http://www3.ag.purdue.edu/extension/nature/Documents/FNR418%20Unit%202%20Food%20Web10%20with%20links.pdf
Food Fight! 2 player online game: http://www.brainpop.com/games/foodfight/
WWF Food Chains and Food Webs:
http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/teacher_resources/webfieldtrips/food_chains/
Project Wild: http://www.projectwild.org/
Program Assessment:
Be sure to ask a pre- and post- program survey question to assess student learning.
(A ready-to-use form was provided with your confirmation and is also available on our website.)
Please report the results on your program evaluation form and return to us.
WHO’S FOR DINNER?
Q: Name a producer.
A: Plants
5/22/13