LEARNING EXPERIENCE
Food Web - The Cycle of Life
ENGAGE (5 min.)
 Review the expectations of working in the outdoor classroom.
 Record some quick weather observations in student journals.
 Ask students to write down what they consumed for either
breakfast this morning or dinner last night.
Grade
5th
Timeframe
45 minutes
Materials
EXPLORE (15 min.)
 Student journals/pencils
 Divide students into groups of 3.
 Stopwatch or timer
 Ask each student to create a 3-column chart in their journal with
 Ball of yarn/string
the headings of Producer, Consumer, and Decomposer.
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 Create a friendly competition to see which group can get the
longest list of living organisms under each category by naming things they can observe in their outdoor
classroom. They should either use the correct name of the insect/plant/animal, or do their best to
sketch and/or describe it.
 Set a timer for 10 – 15 minutes and allow students to wander the outdoor classroom filling in their
lists. Roam to help with identifying and clear up misconceptions about producers, consumers,
decomposers.
NOTE: This activity can also be done before students have a basic understanding of the terms producer,
consumer, and decomposer. Instead of creating a 3-column chart, ask students to simply make a list of all the
living organisms they can identify in their outdoor classroom. These lists can later be used to classify into
different categories.
EXPLAIN (10min.)
 After timer has gone off, bring students back to a central location and form a circle (either sitting or
standing).
 Find out which student “won” with the longest list, and then invite students to go around in the circle
naming one living organism from their list. Anyone who also named that organism can give a “thumbs
up”.
ELABORATE (15 min.)
 Now use the ball of yarn to start a “food web”.
 Name one “producer” from the students’ lists, such as “oak tree” and hang on to the end of the ball of
yarn.
 The first person to think of a living organism that connects to the one that was just named gets to
extend the ball of yarn and hang on to their own piece before another student identifies another
organism that connects to the one that was just named. The ball of yarn is then passed to that student
while the previous two pieces are still being held on to.
Copyright  2014 REAL School Gardens
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This continues until all students have named an organism that links into the “web” and a web of yarn
has been created inside the circle. (Ex: oak tree – squirrel eats acorn – earthworm decomposes squirrel
dropping—dandelion uses nutrients—caterpillar eats dandelion, etc.).
When complete, the first person to name the producer at the beginning of the web will represent the
flow of energy from the sun by passing a gentle tug through the web, with each successive student
feeling the pull and then passing it on. Engage students in a conversation about this model of energy
flowing through an environment or food web.
Ask class to think of different scenarios that would have an effect on the food web they created (i.e.
dandelions are killed by herbicide or the garden is turned into a parking lot). For every organism that
disappears from the food web, cut their part of the string and ask students to describe the effect it has
on the rest of the web.
EVALUATE
 Ask students to create a model in their journal of the food web that was created by the entire class,
using arrows to represent the string that was held by each person.
EXTENSION
 Make your own food web handout
OBJECTIVES
Science
5.9 B - describe how the flow of energy derived from the Sun, used by producers to create their own food,
is transferred through a food chain and food web to consumers and decomposers
5.9 C - predict the effects of changes in ecosystems caused by living organisms, including humans, such as
the overpopulation of grazers or the building of highways
Copyright  2014 REAL School Gardens