Organism and Energy Cards

Cut apart the cards. Use them to classify producers, consumers, and decomposers. When building a food web, arrows show energy moving from the food source to the organism that eats it.

Relationship and Ecosystem-Change Cards

Place a relationship card between two organism cards. Then use an ecosystem-change card to predict what may happen to the food web.

Teacher Guide: Lesson 2 of 10

Learning Intentions

Students classify organisms by observable traits and ecological roles, model energy flow, explain interdependence, and suggest a responsible action that supports local biodiversity.

Success Criteria

I can classify an organism as a producer, consumer, or decomposer and explain my evidence.

I can build a food web with arrows showing energy moving from a food source to the organism that eats it.

I can explain what may happen if one organism is removed or affected.

I can recommend one stewardship action and support it with an observation or reason.

Setup and Rules

Print on sturdy paper if possible and cut apart the 24 cards. Place students in groups of three or four. Provide string or yarn, pencils, and a local habitat photograph. Students may use a schoolyard, farm or pasture edge, wetland, or forest as their setting.

Rules: Handle cards respectfully. Discuss evidence before making a connection. Use arrows from food to eater. More than one relationship may be possible. Do not collect living organisms; use photographs, remembered observations, or classroom specimens.

Suggested Group Activity

1. Sort the organism cards into producers, consumers, decomposers, and energy source.

2. Build a food web with at least five organisms, including a producer and decomposer.

3. Add relationship cards and explain two connections.

4. Draw an ecosystem-change card. Identify which organisms may be affected first, what could happen next, and one practical stewardship action.

Discussion Prompts

What evidence supports your classification? Could this organism have more than one relationship? Where does the energy in this web begin? What might happen if one organism disappeared? What evidence would we need to test our prediction? How can people protect local biodiversity?

Plausible Food-Web Links and Examples

Sun → algae; sun → cattail; sun → grass; algae → fish; algae → duck; grass → insect; grass → mouse; cattail → insect; insect → frog; insect → fish; frog → snake; frog → heron; fish → heron; mouse → snake; snake → heron; dead plants and animals → fungi.

Accept other scientifically sensible links when students explain their reasoning. Remind students that arrows show energy flow, not simply “who points at whom.”

Differentiation Supports

EAL learners: Provide labeled pictures, gestures, a word bank, oral rehearsal, partner discussion, and sentence frames: “The ___ is a ___ because ___.” and “If ___ changed, ___ might ___.” Allow home-language discussion before sharing in English.

Younger or developing learners: Use fewer cards at first. Build one organism, one connection, and one explanation at a time. Accept drawing, speaking, dictating, or writing. Offer sensory alternatives and accessible observation locations.

Extension Challenge

Advanced learners model the removal of one species, compare two possible invasive-species effects, or compare biodiversity in two habitats by counting the number and variety of organisms. Require evidence and a chain of at least three predicted effects.

Respectful Local and Indigenous Connections

Use local First Nations and Métis knowledge only with respectful community guidance and permission. Invite land-based learning, local observations, and community expertise without treating one person or source as representing all communities.