Living Things and Habitats

Overview

Students investigate how plants, bugs, air, water and earth interact within a habitat. They use observations to classify living and non-living parts, build a simple food chain and predict what may happen when one part of the habitat changes.

Learning intentions

• WALT identify living and non-living parts of a habitat.
• WALT explain the roles of plants, bugs and other animals in a simple food chain.
• WALT describe why air, water and earth are important for living things.
• WALT make a prediction based on observations and explain our thinking.

Success criteria

• I can sort examples into living and non-living parts of a habitat.
• I can identify a plant as a producer and an animal or bug as a consumer.
• I can use arrows to show feeding relationships in a food chain.
• I can predict one effect of removing water, plants or bugs from a habitat.

Curriculum links

• Science — posing questions about observed patterns and relationships and making predictions from observations.
• Science — explaining the roles and interactions of producers, consumers and decomposers within a habitat and representing feeding relationships as food chains.
• Science — constructing and using visual models to organise information, show relationships and identify patterns.
• Science — comparing ideas, considering whether an investigation is fair and drawing conclusions that reflect evidence.

Lesson structure (30 minutes)

1. 0–4 min · Hook and wonder. Display a photograph of a garden habitat using the opening habitat image and ask, “What would happen here if there were no plants?” Students silently notice plants, bugs, air, water and earth, then share one observation with a partner.

2. 4–9 min · Teach key ideas. Use the habitat teaching slides to introduce habitat, producer, consumer and decomposer, explaining that plants make their own food, animals and bugs obtain food from plants or other animals, and decomposers help break down dead material. Students add gestures or quick sketches to match each key word.

3. 9–15 min · Sort and justify. Give groups of four the classification sorting mat and cards. Students sort the pictured examples into animals, plants and materials, then identify which items are living and which are non-living. Groups choose two cards and explain how each depends on air, water or earth; the teacher checks and corrects misconceptions.

4. 15–22 min · Build a food chain. Show the food-chain modelling slide and model a chain such as grass → grasshopper → frog → snake, clarifying that arrows show the direction of food energy. Pairs complete the habitat investigation worksheet by drawing and labelling a food chain including a plant and a bug, then answer questions about the role of air, water and earth.

5. 22–27 min · Predict a change. Reveal the scenario on the habitat-change discussion slide: “A long dry season causes many plants to die.” Students complete the prediction section of the worksheet: what may happen to bugs, frogs or birds, and why? Invite two pairs to compare answers and identify evidence or assumptions in their predictions.

6. 27–30 min · Review and exit check. Return to the final review slide and ask students to complete the final three questions on the worksheet: one producer, one consumer and one prediction about removing bugs from a habitat. Students hand in the worksheet as they leave.

Resources

• habitat and food-chain slide deck
• habitat investigation worksheet
• the classification sorting mat and cards
• Board and markers
• Pencils, coloured pencils and clipboards if working outdoors
• One photograph or projected image of a local garden, park or bush habitat

Assessment

• Listen to group explanations during sorting, checking whether students distinguish living things from materials and can link living things to air, water or earth.
• Check food chains for a plant producer, correctly identified consumers and arrows showing feeding relationships.
• Use the worksheet’s prediction and conclusion responses as an exit assessment. Look for a clear cause-and-effect explanation rather than a simple guess.

Differentiation

• Support learners with a word bank and picture cues: habitat, plant, bug, producer, consumer, decomposer, air, water and earth. Provide sentence starters such as “The ___ depends on ___ because…” and “If ___ disappeared, then ___ might…”.
• Pair students strategically and allow oral responses before writing. Read worksheet instructions aloud, use a clear sans-serif font, generous spacing and short lines, and provide a dyslexia-friendly version with reduced visual clutter.
• For EAL learners, preview vocabulary with gestures, labelled images and home-language discussion where possible. Accept labelled drawings, pointing and oral explanations as evidence of understanding.
• Extension: students create a second food chain from a different habitat and compare it with their first chain. They then pose a further question, such as “What might happen if there were far fewer bugs after heavy rain?”