OC Field Investigation Activity: Create a Food Web

In this activity, students will find evidence of a food web that exists within the school’s outdoor classroom and create a model to show the transfer of matter and energy within the environment between producers, consumers, and decomposers.  
  • Lesson Plan:  Interactive STEPS below or PDF
  • OC Field Investigation Activity Sheets for Students:  
    • Version #1: (include any plants and animals)  Word Doc can be edited | PDF ready "as is"  
    • Version #2: (include decomposer)  Word Doc can be edited | PDF ready "as is" 
  • Answer Sheet for Teachers: (version 2)  Word Doc can be edited | PDF ready "as is"  
  • Materials Needed:  Activity Sheets, Clipboards, Pencils, and Colored pencils (optional: magnifying glasses, specimen jars or ziploc bags, and Field identification guides such as National Audubon Society’s Field Guide to the Southeastern States)   
  • Duration:  Introduction - 30 min.  |  Outdoor Exploration - 30 min.  |  Review & Assess - 20 min.
  • Alabama Course of Study Standards Taught:  PDF

STEP 1: Engage through Discussion
The background information, interactive powerpoint, and example questions below can be used to help introduce the topic, engage the students, and build a foundation to discuss the topic:
  • Background Info:  Word Doc | PDF
  • Interactive PowerPoint:  PDF | PPT - Be sure to click "Enable Editing" when you open it, and click "Slide Show" & "From Beginning" to use interactive capability.
  • Example Questions & Answers: Word Doc | PDF 

STEP 2: Explore with LiteratureWhat are Food Chains & Food Webs? book cover
These books can be used to further explore the topic with your students:
  • What are Food Chains & Food Webs (The Science of Living Things) by Bobbie Kalman ISBN: 978-0865058880 Secrets of the Garden: Food Chains & the Food Web in our Backyard
  • Secrets of the Garden: Food Chains and the Food Web in Our Backyard by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld ISBN: 978-0385753647

STEP 3:  Explain using Technology
These videos can be used to further explain the topic to your students:
STEP 4: Investigate through Journaling
The Outdoor Classroom Field Investigation Activity Observation Sheet(s) allow students to apply what they have learned as they investigate and record their real-world observations in their field journals.  Before you go outside, don't forget to review the activity instructions and your Outdoor Classroom Rules with your students:
  • Outdoor Classroom Activity Tip - As the students explore the outdoor classroom, they can look for a variety of living organisms (plants and animals), and then research and discuss how each of them fit into different food chains and overlap into a larger food web. Optional: Use an iPad, smart phone or camera to take photos of organisms that the students find in the outdoor classroom.
  • Activity Instructions for Create a Food Web Activity Sheet(s) - Create a Food Web that includes the plant and animal on the sheet and a plant and/or animal that the student finds in your outdoor classroom.  Draw a picture of each plant and animal in your Food Web in each circle, identify the plant or animal species inside each circle, and then draw arrows from the plant or animal that is eaten to the animal(s) that might eat it to show the flow of energy from the sun to the apex predator.  Then use the diagram of your food web to answer the questions on the second page of the activity.
  • Activity Sheets for Students:  
    • Version #1: (include any plants and animals)  Word Doc can be edited | PDF ready "as is"  
    • Version #2: (include decomposer)  Word Doc can be edited | PDF ready "as is" 
  • Answer Sheets for Teachers: (version 2)  Word Doc can be edited | PDF ready "as is"  
  • Example Outdoor Classroom Rules - (PDF) The outdoor classroom is not a playground, so do not run and do not climb on anything. Remember that the outdoor classroom provides habitat (a home) for local wildlife, and you should not damage the local wildlife habitat. Therefore, do not pick up wildlife, plants, flowers or rocks. Also, do not feed wildlife.

Wildlife Identification Resources: STEP 5: Review with an Assessment
Review and assess the students’ observations and answers on the activity sheets.  Use the “Create a Food Web Assessment” You can also use the following assessment activity assess your students’ level of understanding about this topic:
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