Derek Neri
Deborah Kassel
PorterMiddle School
6th Grade Earth Science
Project: Food Chain Menu
Standards: 5a Energy entering ecosystems as sunlight is transferred by producers into chemical energy through photosynthesis, and then from organism to organism in food webs.
5b Over time, matter is transferred from one organism to others in the food web, and between organisms and the physical environment.
Background Info: Use chapter in your text that deals with the energy connection between producers and consumers that are herbivores, carnivores, omnivores and scavengers and decomposers. Students need to understand food chains forming food webs. They have to be clear about the energy pyramid. Sunlight is the energy source for the plants. Plants are the energy source for herbivores. Carnivores eat herbivores. Omnivores eat carnivores and plants. Scavengers eat the dead bodies. This order of events includes the specific life forms in a specific ecosystem.
To reinforce the food chain concept the class will play a card game called “Predator-The Forest Food Chain Game.” The game is made by Ampersand Press.
Port Towns end, Wash. 98368
I ordered it from Science and Boreal Laboratories order #68214-00. Phone: 1.800.828.7777
This game is based on the food chain in a temperate zone forest. Three to six children use a deck and the whole class plays at the same time. The instructions are clear. Give the game a time limit or it can go on forever.
Now the students are ready to produce the food chain menu. Students will choose one ecosystem and research the food chain connections in that ecosystem only. This ecosystem will be noted on the back of the menu. Example: Food chain of the intertidal zone of a tropical climate. All menu items should reflect accurate relationships within this ecosystem.
The menu will include the name of the restaurant, four appetizers, six entrees and four desserts. Use alliteration, rhyme and descriptive language. Example: Peppy Plankton Stew for our brine shrimp customers, or slippery, slimy oyster crepes for the sea star in you.
Criteria for the grade will be neatness, measurement, no more than four pictures, correct spelling, interesting menu items, accurate information about the ecosystem and the predator prey relationships.