• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Read a food web: who eats whom?). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Here is an ocean food web. (An arrow points from the food to the animal that eats it.) phytoplankton → zooplankton kelp (seaweed) → sea urchin zooplankton → herring sea urchin → sea otter herring → seal seal → orca herring → orca Which of these does the sea urchin eat? (seal / sea otter / zooplankton / kelp (seaweed)) → kelp (seaweed)Prompt: Find the arrows that point TO this animal.
2. Here is a woodland food web. (An arrow points from the food to the animal that eats it.) oak tree → caterpillar grass → rabbit oak tree → mouse grass → mouse caterpillar → blue tit rabbit → fox mouse → fox mouse → owl blue tit → owl Which of these is a producer? (oak tree / rabbit / fox / blue tit) → oak treePrompt: Producers make their own food from sunlight.
3. Here is a woodland food web. (An arrow points from the food to the animal that eats it.) oak tree → caterpillar grass → rabbit oak tree → mouse grass → mouse caterpillar → blue tit rabbit → fox mouse → fox mouse → owl blue tit → owl A disease kills most of the blue tit. Which animal loses one of its foods? (caterpillar / rabbit / mouse / owl) → owlPrompt: Which animals have an arrow coming from it?

• Show a food web and ask what would happen if one animal disappeared.
• Share the objective: Predict what happens when a food web changes. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Sea otters eat sea urchins, and sea urchins eat kelp. Hunters remove most otters. What happens to the kelp forest?
• Step 1: With fewer predators, urchin numbers rise and they overgraze the kelp.
• Step 2: So the answer is: Urchins increase and eat much of the kelp.
• Answer: Urchins increase and eat much of the kelp.
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. In a meadow, rabbits are eaten by foxes. A disease kills many rabbits. What will probably happen to the foxes? (They will struggle to find food and their numbers may fall. / They will start eating grass. / Their numbers will rise quickly. / They will grow bigger.) → They will struggle to find food and their numbers may fall.Prompt: What happens to predators when prey is scarce?
2. True or false? If producers die, every animal in the web is affected. (True / False) → TruePrompt: Follow the arrows to see who depends on whom.

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. Why is a food web with many links more stable than a single food chain? (Webs have fewer animals. / Chains are always longer. / If one food runs short, animals can eat something else. / Webs need no producers.) → If one food runs short, animals can eat something else.Prompt: Compare a fox that eats rabbits only with one that eats rabbits and mice.
2. What is a likely knock-on effect: a pesticide kills most of the insects in a field? (rabbit numbers rise and more grass is eaten / reef fish lose food and shelter / birds that eat small fish have less food / insect-eating birds have less food) → insect-eating birds have less foodPrompt: Who eats what was lost or added?

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-5.