Page 33 - LIFE_&_LIVING_BK4_4thPages.indd

Activity 3 Trying out new ideas: Building a
food web

Time: 55 minutes
Objectives

By the end of the lesson learner should be able to:
• List animals that live in an ecosystem in their area
• Understand how plants create their energy Resources
• Understand how organisms depend on each other and the • The biotic cards
environment to survive. produced for
• Identify producers, consumers and decomposers Activity 1
• Identify animals as herbivores, omnivores and carnivores • Newsprint
• Build a simple food web • Prestik
• Learner task sheet
Teacher guidelines

Introduction
1. As a way of revision and checking learners’ understanding of
the work covered in the previous grades, begin this lesson by
engaging learners in a brainstorming session about the local
ecosystem.

2. Learners should list the animals and plants that live there.

3. Discuss how plants create energy and introduce the term
photosynthesis.
Discuss the diets of the animals and revisit the terms habitat,
herbivore, carnivore, omnivore and predator.

4. Record learners’ responses on the board and consider these
prompts to keep the discussion lively.
• What is a habitat?
• What plants and animals live in our local habitats?
• How do plants and animals make food? (Plants make food
using a process called photosynthesis. Photosynthesis uses
the sun, carbon dioxide from the air and water containing
dissolved materials from the soil to make energy. Animals
rely on plants or other animals for their food.)
• What is a herbivore?
• What is a carnivore?
• What is an omnivore?
• What is a predator?

5. Pose the following questions to explore food chains.
• What is a food chain?
• Write the following food chain on the board:

Grass Cricket Lizard Eagle

Life and living | Ecosystems and food webs 33

LIFE_&_LIVING_BK4_4thPages.indd 33 2016/04/08 6:46 PM