• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Producers, consumers, predators and prey). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. seeds → mouse → owl What is the mouse in this food chain? (primary consumer / secondary consumer / tertiary consumer / producer) → primary consumerPrompt: Start at the plant and count the arrows.
2. grass → zebra → lion Which animal is the predator of the zebra? (lion / grass / zebra) → lionPrompt: A predator hunts and eats other animals; its prey is the animal it eats.
3. Food chains: which statement is true? (A food chain can start with a lion. / Herbivores are predators. / Producers eat consumers. / Plants are producers because they make their own food.) → Plants are producers because they make their own food.Prompt: Producers make food; consumers eat.

• Show a food web and ask what would happen if one animal disappeared.
• Share the objective: Read a food web: who eats whom?. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Here is a pond food web. (An arrow points from the food to the animal that eats it.) algae → mayfly larva algae → tadpole pondweed → pond snail algae → pond snail mayfly larva → dragonfly larva tadpole → dragonfly larva mayfly larva → stickleback (small fish) dragonfly larva → stickleback (small fish) stickleback (small fish) → heron tadpole → heron Which of these does the heron eat?
• Step 1: tadpole → heron
• Step 2: So the answer is: tadpole
• Answer: tadpole
• 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. Here is a pond food web. (An arrow points from the food to the animal that eats it.) algae → mayfly larva algae → tadpole pondweed → pond snail algae → pond snail mayfly larva → dragonfly larva tadpole → dragonfly larva mayfly larva → stickleback (small fish) dragonfly larva → stickleback (small fish) stickleback (small fish) → heron tadpole → heron Which of these does the heron eat? (pond snail / tadpole / dragonfly larva / algae) → tadpolePrompt: 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 How many different animals in this web eat the caterpillar? → 1Prompt: Count the arrows that start at this living thing.

• 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 8 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. 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 is a producer? (herring / seal / orca / phytoplankton) → phytoplanktonPrompt: Producers make their own food from sunlight.
2. 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 A disease kills most of the phytoplankton. Which animal loses one of its foods? (orca / zooplankton / seal / sea urchin) → zooplanktonPrompt: Which animals have an arrow coming from it?

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