Create a complete unit, not one disconnected lesson

• Name the living and non-living parts of a local ecosystem
• Sort organisms by what they eat

Builds on students' existing knowledge that living things have basic needs.

Ecosystem, Producer, Consumer

• 0–8 min — Observation warm-upStudents list every living thing they can see through the window or in a habitat photograph.
• 8–25 min — Sorting taskIn pairs, students sort organism cards into plants, plant-eaters and meat-eaters, then justify one placement to another pair.
• 25–40 min — Introduce vocabularyTeacher names the three groups as producers and consumers, and students relabel their sorted piles.
• 40–45 min — Exit checkEach student writes one producer and one consumer from their own local area.

Exit slip naming one producer and one consumer, checked for the distinction rather than spelling.

Organism cards, Habitat photograph, Science notebooks

• Picture-supported cards for students still building reading fluency
• Extension: students add a decomposer and explain why it fits neither group

Find and sketch one producer and one consumer at home or on the way to school.

• Construct a food chain showing the direction of energy flow
• Explain what the arrows in a food chain mean

Uses the producer and consumer groups students sorted in Lesson 1.

Food chain, Energy

• 0–7 min — RetrievalQuick pair quiz on producer versus consumer from the previous lesson.
• 7–20 min — Modelled constructionTeacher builds one food chain on the board, thinking aloud about which way the arrows point and why.
• 20–38 min — Independent constructionStudents build three food chains from their organism cards and glue them into notebooks.
• 38–45 min — Common error discussionClass examines a deliberately reversed chain and explains what is wrong with it.

Teacher circulates and checks arrow direction in each student's first chain.

Organism cards, Glue, Science notebooks

• Pre-cut card sets for students with fine-motor difficulty
• Extension: build a chain with five links and justify the order

Write a food chain for an animal you saw today.

• Combine several food chains into one food web
• Identify an organism that appears in more than one chain

Extends the single chains built in Lesson 2 into a connected web.

Food web, Interdependence

• 0–10 min — String webStanding in a circle holding organism cards, students pass string to whatever they eat, building a physical web.
• 10–30 min — Paper webGroups transfer the string web onto chart paper, drawing and labelling arrows.
• 30–45 min — NoticingGroups identify organisms with the most connections and discuss why those might matter most.

Each group's chart paper web is checked for at least two organisms appearing in multiple chains.

String or wool, Chart paper, Markers

• Assign clearly-connected organisms to students who need a more structured entry point
• Extension: add a decomposer and show where it connects

None — the web task is completed in class.

• Describe how energy is transferred between trophic levels
• Explain why energy is lost at each step

Adds the energy dimension to the webs students built in Lesson 3.

Trophic level, Energy loss

• 0–8 min — RetrievalStudents recall their group's web and name its producers.
• 8–22 min — Counter demonstrationUsing counters as energy units, the class models how much energy reaches each level.
• 22–38 min — ExplainingStudents write a short explanation of why fewer top predators than plants exist in a habitat.
• 38–45 min — Share and refineTwo students read explanations; the class improves one together.

Written explanation checked for the idea that energy is lost, not simply passed along.

Counters or beans, Science notebooks

• Sentence starters for the written explanation
• Extension: estimate what fraction of energy reaches the third level

Explain to someone at home why a habitat has more plants than predators.

• Predict the effect of removing one organism from a food web
• Justify a prediction using the connections in the web

Applies the web and energy ideas from Lessons 3 and 4 to a change scenario.

Disruption, Consequence

• 0–10 min — Remove a cardIn the string web, one organism drops its strings; students observe what goes slack.
• 10–30 min — Scenario workGroups take a different removal scenario and map the knock-on effects on their chart paper web.
• 30–45 min — PresentationsEach group presents its scenario in two minutes; the class challenges one prediction.

Group presentation judged on whether the prediction is traced through the web rather than guessed.

String web, Group web charts, Scenario cards

• Simpler single-step scenarios for groups needing support
• Extension: a scenario where the removed organism has both predators and prey

Prepare one sentence explaining your group's scenario for the final task.

• Produce a written explanation predicting the effect of a change in a food web
• Support the prediction with evidence from the web

Draws together vocabulary, web construction, energy flow and prediction from the whole unit.

Producer, Consumer, Food web, Trophic level

• 0–5 min — Task briefingTeacher shares the task and success criteria.
• 5–35 min — Independent writingStudents write an explanation for an unseen habitat and change scenario.
• 35–45 min — Self-assessmentStudents check their own work against the success criteria and mark one thing to improve.

The written task is the summative assessment; self-assessment gives immediate feedback.

Task sheet, Success criteria, Unseen habitat diagram

• Word bank and structure frame available to any student who wants one
• Extension: a second scenario with two simultaneous changes

None.