Lesson Plan

Teacher Candidate: Alexa Troain Date: 2/20/23

Group Size: 24 Allotted Time: 30 minutes Grade Level: 4

Subject or Topic: Science/ecosystems

Common Core/PA Standard(s)

Standard - 4.1.4.A
Explain how living things are dependent upon other living and nonliving things for survival.

Describe the roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers within a local ecosystem.

Standard - 4.1.4.C
Explain how most life on earth gets its energy from the sun.

Standard- B.4.2.1 Describe how energy flows through an ecosystem (e.g., food chains, food
webs, energy pyramids).

Learning Targets/Objectives
The students will gain knowledge of ecosystems by acting out the new vocabulary in this unit.
Formative Assessment Approaches Evidence observation or method of collection
1. Anecdotal notes as students acting out 1. observational
vocabulary words with assigned animal/plant 2.
2. …
….
Assessment Scale for any of the assessments above if needed

Summative if applicable
Subject Matter/Content to be taught in the lesson

Prerequisites
● Pennsylvania ecosystem animals
● Pennsylvania ecosystem plants
New Key Vocabulary
● Habitat- the place where an animal or plant finds the food, water, shelter and space in
a arrangement they need to survive
● Producer- a green plant that can make its own food through photosynthesis
● Consumer- an organism that eats another organism in order to get its food
● Food Chain- the transfer of energy from one organism to the next from sun to
producer to consumer, food chain is just part of the overall food web found in nature.
● Food Web- the interlocking pattern of food chains that actually occurs in nature
● Predator- an animal that catches, kills and eats other animals
● Prey- animals that are killed and eaten by predators
● Herbivore- animal that eats only plants
● Omnivore- an animal that eats plants and animals
● Carnivore- a meat-eater
● Decomposer- an organism that eats the organic material that results from the death and
decay of other lifeforms
● Photosynthesis- the process by which plants make their own food using carbon
dioxide, water and sunlight.
● Ecosystem- a community of interacting organisms and their environment
● Pennsylvania ecosystem- the specific ecosystem where we live including forests,
lakes, rivers and wetlands.

Content/Facts

Food webs show how plants and animals are connected in many ways to help them all survive,
while food chains follow just one path of energy as animals find food.

An example of a food chain is the sun provides food for the grass, the grass is eaten by the
grasshopper, the grasshopper is eaten by a frog, the frog is eaten by a snake and then the snake
is eaten by a hawk.

An example of a food web where everything is connected is trees produce acorns which act as
food for many mice and insects and because there are many mice, weasels and snakes have
food. The insects and the acorns also attract birds, skunks and opossums. With the skunks,
opossums, weasels and mice around, hawks, foxes and owls can find food. They are all
connected. Like a spider's web, if one part is removed, it can affect the whole web.

We all get energy from the sun. We couldn't live without the sun. The beginning of the food
chain and food webs is grass or some kind of plant. In order for plants to grow they have to
make their own food and this process is called photosynthesis. The process of photosynthesis
includes using carbon dioxide, water and sunlight to make their own food. They make their
own food which allows the rest of the cycle to get their energy from the food they eat. Since
plants make their own food they are producers. After producers make their food, consumers
eat another organism to keep their source of energy.
Introduction/Activating/Launch Strategies
● The teacher will start by connecting the pretest to the lesson.
 ○ the teacher will ask if the students remember what was on the pretest
○ the teacher will ask the students to ask questions
● To get them interested in this lesson the teacher will assign a plant or animal to each
student and ask them to remember it for later.
○ The teacher show assign students with:
■ sun
■ grass
■ grasshopper
■ snake
■ eagle
■ fungi
■ mushroom
■ bear
■ deer
■ lion
■ earthworm
■ sow bug
■ mouse
■ fox
■ owl
■ rabbit
■ carrot
■ hawk
■ vulture
■ tree
■ dandelion
■ squirrel
■ corn
■ caterpillar
■ bird
■ mushroom
■ fish
■ flies
■ frog
■ flower
■ bacteria
●
Development/Teaching Approaches
● The teacher will refer to the anchor charts projected on board when teaching the lesson.
Using the anchor charts will help students understand better if they are a visual learner.
● The teacher will teach an in depth lesson on all the vocabulary words/content in this
unit.
● The teacher will give the vocabulary words and their definitions and then connect them
all together.
● The teacher will connect them together by saying,
○ “Food webs show how plants and animals are connected in many ways to help
 them all survive, while food chains follow just one path of energy as animals
find food.
○ An example of a food chain is the sun provides food for the grass, the grass is
eaten by the grasshopper, the grasshopper is eaten by a frog, the frog is eaten by
a snake and then the snake is eaten by a hawk.
○ An example of a food web where everything is connected is trees produce
acorns which act as food for many mice and insects and because there are many
mice, weasels and snakes have food. The insects and the acorns also attract
birds, skunks and opossums. With the skunks, opossums, weasels and mice
around, hawks, foxes and owls can find food. They are all connected. Like a
spider's web, if one part is removed, it can affect the whole web.
○ We all get energy from the sun. We couldn't live without the sun. The
beginning of the food chain and food webs is grass or some kind of plant. In
order for plants to grow they have to make their own food and this process is
called photosynthesis. The process of photosynthesis includes using carbon
dioxide, water and sunlight to make their own food. They make their own food
which allows the rest of the cycle to get their energy from the food they eat.
Since plants make their own food they are producers. After producers make
their food, consumers eat another organism to keep their source of energy.
● After explaining the vocabulary words, the teacher will explain directions of the
activity they will be doing.
● The students will use their animal/plant to act out one of the vocabulary words.
○ producers
○ consumers
○ herbivores
○ omnivores
○ decomposers
○ photosynthesis
○ food chain
○ food web
○ predator
○ prey
○ carnivore
○ ecosystem
● The teacher will say one of the vocabulary words and then ask students to act it out.
● For example, if the teacher says producers, all the students who have plants would
come together. If the teacher says food chain, the students will create a food chain
based off of the animals/plants they have.
● The teacher will help them with the first vocabulary word. The teacher will say
consumers and the teacher will tell which animals will come to the front. If the students
understand the activity, the students will begin doing the activity on their own.
● The students will participate in this activity for the rest of the class. (10/15 minutes)
○ the teacher will repeat words if needed

Closure/Summarizing Strategies
 ● The teacher will finish the lesson by wrapping up everything they learned.
● The teacher will do this by repeating how the vocabulary words are all connected.
○ Repetition will help students with memorization of the words.
● The teacher will also repeat vocabulary words that they didn’t understand during the
activity (if needed).
● The teacher will briefly introduce what they are going to be doing/learning about the
next day.
● The teacher will say, “Remember this information for tomorrow. Tomorrow we are
going to learn even more about food chains by completing a guided notes worksheet
with the textbook.”

Accommodations/Differentiation
● Anchor chart projected on the screen for visual learners.
● Redirecting when needed.
Materials and Resources:

Posters

Text Set:
1. What is a Habitat? By Lisa M Bolt Simons
2. What Eats What in a Forest Food Chain? By Lisa J Amstutz
3. Who eats what? By Patricia Lauber
 4. What if There Were No Gray Wolves? By Suzanne Slade
5. Understanding Photosynthesis by Liam O Donnell
6. Ecosystems- Geography Projects By Pam Robson
7. Because of an Acorn By Lola M Shaefer
8. What if There Were No Bees? by Suzanne Slade
9. Is it a Food Web or a Food Chain by Emily Sohn
10. Food Chains by ALvin Silverstein

Reflective Response:
Report of Student Learning Target/Objectives Proficiency Levels

I was assessing the students while they were completing the activity. I wrote down words they
didn’t understand so I could explain further. At first, they didn't seem to understand my
instructions, so I had to give them more examples than I anticipated. After the examples, many
students started to catch on and then they would help other students. About half of the students
weren’t understanding the activity at first. By the end of the activity almost all of the students
started to understand.

Remediation Plan (if applicable)

Personal Reflection Questions

1. How would you improve this lesson?

If I were to do this again, I would have them research their plant/animal/other so that they
would know what they were and what they ate. Some of them didn’t know what the
animal ate that I gave them, so they were unable to complete the activity. I would also
improve this lesson by giving more examples of each vocabulary word. By giving more
examples I believe they would have been able to complete/participate in the activity more
successfully.
 2. How engaged were students?
The students were engaged right from the beginning since I was teaching. When I started
my unit, it was only my third time teaching these students. They also were engaged
because right when I started, I gave them the animal/plant/other. I told them to remember
that throughout the lesson, so they were intrigued to learn the material and what they
were doing with the word I gave them. When participating in the activity they were up
and moving.

Additional reflection/thoughts

The students seemed confused at first when I gave them the instructions of the activity. I don’t
think my instructions were clear. I had to explain it to them in a different way and then I did a
few examples with them and then after that they seemed to understand and were able to complete
the activity. They understood and were more successful with the term’s carnivore, omnivore and
herbivore. They struggled with food chains.