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Food chains

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visibility 87update 6 months agobookmarkshare

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I will read, talk about, draw, and write food chains.
I will learn that in a food chain the plant is the producer and the animals are consumers.
I will use a diagram to show the steps in a food chain.
I will make a prediction about what might happen to a food chain.
I will use information sources to research and answer questions.

You’re going to be a science explorer!

Key Words

consumers
energy
food chain
producers

Tap to Learn the Meanings!

consumers: Living things that get energy by eating plants or other animals.
energy: The power living things need to grow, move, and survive.
food chain: A model that shows how energy moves from one living thing to another.
producers: Living things, like plants, that make their own food using sunlight.

Great job! You’re learning key words about how living things get energy.

Producers, consumers and food chains

Zara and Arun are in the sea, observing fish and what they eat. They can see that the seaweeds grow in the sunlight. Seaweeds make their own food using sunlight. Seaweed are producers because they use sunlight to make their own food.

Animals are consumers because they have to eat other living things to get their energy. Energy from food means you can grow and move. Every part of your body needs energy to make it work and grow.

In different environments around the world, different animals eat different things. Some animals eat only plants. Other animals eat animals. Some animals eat plants and animals.

We show all this on a diagram. We call it a food chain. A food chain shows us how different living things need other living things for food.

The arrows on a food chain show the direction of the energy flow.

FUN QUESTION

1. Name some animals that only eat plants.

Show answer

Animals that only eat plants are called herbivores. Examples include cows, goats, rabbits, elephants, and giraffes.

Think like a scientist

Animals need other living things

A food chain showing grass, grasshopper, bird, snake and hawk connected by arrows.

Look at this food chain. Observe how the arrows show the energy moving from living thing to living thing. Draw this food chain using words and arrows only.

Now answer these questions.

If there was no grass what would happen?
If the weather was very cold and the snakes all hid underground, what might happen to the hawks?

How am I doing?

Some humans eat goat meat. Draw a food chain beginning with a producer and include a goat and a human.

👀 show answer

1. If there was no grass, the grasshoppers would have nothing to eat. They would die, and then the birds, snakes and hawks would have no food either. The whole food chain would collapse.

2. If snakes hid underground and could not be found, the hawks would lose their food source. Their numbers might decrease because they would struggle to find enough food.

A possible food chain with a goat and a human:

grass → goat → human

QUICK REVIEW

Today we learned how to read, talk about, draw, and write food chains. We discovered that plants are producers and animals are consumers. We used diagrams to show the steps in a food chain and made predictions about what might happen if something changed. We also practiced using information sources to research and answer questions. Great work exploring how living things depend on each other!