Name Morgan Racke

Class ELED 3221

Date August 29, 2018

Indirect Instruction Lesson Plan Template

Plants and Animals in the Ecosystem

_____________________________________________________________________________

Central Focus/Big Idea: Ecosystems

I would build by first talking about plants and animals and how they can be referred to as
producers and consumers. I would also talk about decomposers and their importance. Next, I
would discuss how all three of these can be used to create food chains and all play critical roles
in our ecosystems.

Subject of this lesson: Importance of plants and animals in the ecosystem

Grade Level: 5th grade

NC Essential Standard(s): 5.L.2 Understand the interdependence of plants and animals with
their ecosystem.

21st Century Skills:

Critical thinking and problem solving- I chose this skill because for the final project students will
be assessed on they need to come up with a food chain and use critical thinking schools to
explain what would happen if the ecosystem was missing something.
Collaboration- I chose this skill because the students will be building off of each other’s ideas
and working together to sort the producers, consumers, and decomposers.

Academic Language Demand

Explain- I chose this because when creating the food chain, the students need to explain if
one were to be eliminated from the food chain what would happen.

Analyze Argue Categorize Compare/contrast Describe Explain

Interpret Predict Question Retell Summarize

 Scientific Vocabulary:
Producer
Consumer
Decomposer
Food chain
Interdependence
Instructional Objective: The students will be able to demonstrate understanding of the
interdependence of plants and animals in the ecosystem by creating a food chain and
demonstrating knowledge of what would happen if one was missing scoring an 8/9 or higher on
the project.

Prior Knowledge (student): Students should know what an ecosystem is and that plants and
animals all help make up an ecosystem.

Content Knowledge (teacher): Producers are plants. Animals are consumers. Decomposers such
as mushrooms break down dead and decaying things in the environment. Producers, consumers,
and decomposers all rely on each other in an environment.

Accommodations for special needs (individual and/or small group): For students who struggle
to focus, I will limit the time they have to do the activity and make sure I am asking questions
that are keeping them engaged.

Materials and Technology requirements:

9 sorting cards for each pair precut
Corresponding worksheet
Glue
Doc-cam

Total Estimated Time: 30-45 minutes

Source of lesson: Inspired by: https://learn.ncartmuseum.org/lesson-plans/food-chain-

interdependence/

Safety considerations: Sorting cards are precut so students do not need to work with scissors.
 Content and Strategies (Procedure)

Engage: “In front of me I have an apple. Can someone tell me where this apple came from?”
If students respond “the store”, prompt them by asking, “Where did the store get the apple?
Where did it originally come from?”
Your goal is for students to respond that it came from a tree.
“If I decide to eat the apple, what might be a reason I decide too?”
If students respond “because you are hungry”, prompt them further by asking “what will this
apple do for me?” Your goal is to guide students to thinking about energy and how the apple
would provide energy for you.
“So instead of eating my apple, I forgot about it. It has been sitting in the back of my pantry for a
long time. What do you think happened to my apple?”
Expect answers talking about it rotting or getting moldy.
Through these questions, I hope to guide students into thinking about the importance and role of
decomposers even if they do not have the word for it yet. I also want to be able to refer back to
the apple example later on when we are reviewing what producers, consumers, and decomposers
are.

Explore: Hand out the students 9 sorting cards that have either a producer, consumer, or
decomposer on it. (Sheet provided below)
“I would like for you to get into pairs and sort these cards. Be prepared to explain why you put
each in each category.”

While walking around ask:

“How did you chose to organize yours?”
“Why did you include ___ in that category?”
“Can you think of another way you could categorize this?”

Use this time to observe how students are categorizing the cards to get a sense on their
understanding of any previous knowledge on the concept. While the students are working, pass
out the worksheet they will be using for the next part of the activity. Place it to the side of the
students’ desks and emphasize that it is for later and not to do anything with it yet.

Explanation: The goal is for students to eventually be able to separate the cards into three
categories- producers, consumers, and decomposers.
“Can someone raise their hand and share with me how they sorted their cards?”
As the student shares, separate the sorting cards based on what they are saying and project them
on the doc-cam. If no doc-cam is available in the classroom, you can write the names of the
various plants, animals, and fungi on a white board in different groups.
After, ask “did anyone else sort theirs differently?”

Alternate: Ask “Raise your hand if you sorted them into two categories. Three categories? Four
categories? More than four?”
Once students reach a consensus on the three sections and are able to categorize them into plants,
animals and other, you can give them the words that match them- producers, consumers, and
decomposers.

*See sheet below for the notes to display on the doc cam that students can follow along with.
The notes can be written on the white board if no technology is available.
“Please flip the sheets I gave you earlier over to the back so we can take some notes. This will
help you with the activity we are going to do later. So we were able to get three categories-
plants, animals, and fungi/ mold/ bacteria but what we actually did is categorize them by how
they get their energy. So when we are looking at our plants, they make their own food through a
process called photosynthesis. Since they produce their own food, we call them producers. The
next is animals. Animals cannot make their own food. Instead, they eat plants and/ or animals for
energy. Since they have to consume to get energy, we call them consumers. Last we have our
mold, fungi, and bacteria. These all get energy by breaking down remains of dead plants or
animals. Another word for breaking down is decomposing, so we call these decomposers.”

“Why are producers important to the environment or an ecosystem?”

“Why are consumers important to the environment or an ecosystem?”
“Why are decomposers important to the environment or an ecosystem?”

“Our decomposers are SO important because they break everything down and connect the cycle
putting nutrients back in the soil.”

“Let’s go back to our apple example. What is the apple?”

Producer

“If I eat the apple, what am I?”

Consumer

“If I forget about it and don’t eat it and it starts getting all moldy, what is on it?”
Decomposers

Elaborate: Display the teacher example worksheet shown below on the doc cam. If not
available, draw an example on the board to show students while explaining.
“From our conversation, we have discussed how producers, consumers, and decomposers are all
important in an ecosystem. Now, I would like you to create a food chain with at least one
producer, consumer, and decomposer. Please take the worksheet I handed out to you and flip it
over to the front. Put your name up at the top. Using the sorting cards in the correct order, pick a
producer, consumer, and decomposer, glue it in the box and label which it is. After, I want you to
think about what would happen if one of these was missing from the food chain or ecosystem?
Pick producers, consumers, or decomposers and off to the side, write what would happen if one
of those were missing.”

Evaluate: Formative: I will check to see how students categorized the cards they were given as
an informal assessment.
Summative: I will assess based on the students including a producer, consumer, and decomposer
all labeled. I will also assess based on their explanation of what would happen if a producer,
consumer, or decomposer was missing from the ecosystem.

Rubric
0 points 1 point 2 points 3 points 4 points*
Labeled No label or Only one is Only two are All three are Four or more
correctly labeled labeled labeled as labeled pictures are
incorrectly. correct as producer, correct as labeled
producer, consumer, producer, correctly.
consumer, and consumer,
and decomposer. and
decomposer. decomposer.
Pictures No pictures/ One picture/ Two pictures/ Includes Includes four
incorrect only one only two three correct or more
pictures. correct correct pictures. correct
picture. pictures. pictures.
Explanation No Explanation Partially Correct Explanation
explanation. is there but correct explanation. goes beyond
not correct. explanation. and
demonstrates
critical
thinking.

*Achieving four points in a category will be used to grade those who demonstrate above mastery
on this standard.

To be completed after the lesson is taught as appropriate

Assessment Results of all objectives/skills:

Reflection on lesson:

CT signature/confirmation: _________________________________ Date: ________________

Mushroom- fungi Bacteria Mold

Grass Berries
Leaves

Caterpillar Cow Bird

___________________

___________________

___________________