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Science · Grade 5

Ecosystem Matter Cycles

In a healthy ecosystem, matter is used again and again. Learners build food webs with producers, consumers and decomposers, then model how the materials of life cycle: plants take in carbon dioxide, water and minerals; animals eat plants and each other; and decomposers return matter to the soil and air. A predator-prey simulation shows how changing one population ripples through the others, and what such a simple model cannot tell us.

  • 3 lessons
  • About 105 minutes
  • Ecosystems and matter check: 9 questions
  • Ways to answer: choose an answer, match pairs, type a number, put in order, sort into groups and true or false
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What learners will discover

  • Build and read food web models that include producers, consumers and decomposers.
  • Develop a model to describe how matter moves among plants, animals, decomposers and the environment (air, water and soil).
  • Use simulation data to predict how a change in one population affects others, and state what the simulation cannot establish.

Lessons

  1. Food webs and decomposers 4 steps2 practiceabout 32 min
  2. Matter goes around and around 6 steps4 practiceabout 36 min
  3. When populations change 8 steps3 practiceabout 37 min
  4. Ecosystems and matter check 9 questions at the end

Keep exploring

Games to practice with

  • Marble MountainLay straights, curves, drops and splitters to roll marbles down the mountain.
  • Bridge LabBuild a bridge from beams, brace it with triangles, and stay on budget.
  • Circuit Workshop 3DWire up batteries, bulbs and switches on a 3D workbench.

More 5th grade science

Guide for grown-ups