The Food Chain

Subject/s: Science

Teacher/s: Ghelfi Francesca

School: Direzione Didattica di Zola Predosa

(Project: Indicazioni Nazionali IC Monte San Pietro 2014)

Sub-topic Carnivorous, herbivorous, omnivorous

Content objectives

- identifying the elements of a food chain

- identifying types of producers and consumers

- sequencing

Linguistic objectives -improving communicative skills

-developing listening and reading skills

-acquiring CALP lexis

-describing a food chain

Language (functions and

lexis)

Chunks: “It’s eaten by”, “she/he/it eats; Is it a…? “What is it?”,

“It has got a long tail,...” It’s……; it gets energy from the sun…

Lexis related to plants, animals, food, producers and consumers

Pre-knowledge

Students already know about animals, plants, the food web

and the ecological pyramid.

Stages

Steps

Materials

PRE-TASK Tuning in Activating prior-knowledge

- Predictions: students are given a set of cards with pictures of producers and consumers. The teacher asks them to find connections between the pictures, make chains and explain them to the class. - Discussion: What is eaten by? What is a Food chain? What is a food web? How are humans apart of the food chain? How do the humans damage food chains and food webs? The teacher summarizes the main ideas of the discussion through a mind map on the IWB.

Text on food chains

TASK 1. Finding out Discovery learning 2. Sorting out Organizing information

The students work in groups of three; each of them draws an animal on a card (producer or composer). Then they put the cards in five bags, each containing a different category: producers, consumers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, tertiary consumers, decomposers. Students play to draw a card from each bag and create food chains; they check the correctness by using fact-files prepared by the teacher. - Paper plate food chain. Students glue the pictures on paper plates and add captions to the pictures. They join the paper plates with a coloured ribbon to make chains Example: The sun produces energy. the oak tree uses the sun energy to produce its own food. The squirrel eats the acorns. The fox eats the squirrel. - Drama. Students, in groups of five, create a

Paper, colours, glue Paper plates and ribbons

food chain and perform it with the body to the class explaining the stages. - Poster. Students create example of energy pyramids.

poster

POST TASK Language reflection/awareness Self-assessment

- Matching words with definitions.

Primary Consumers

Decomposers

Secondary Consumers

Abiotic Substances

Producers

Non - living substances necessary for life

They eat vegetables

They eat other animals

They decompose vegetable and animal remains

they use sunlight to make food

● Read a text: “Producers and consumers” ● Complete half sentences

a) A plant is a………………………… b) Producers ………………………… c) Consumers ………………………. d) Decomposers…………………….. d) A carnivorous eats………………. e) An omnivorous eats……………… ……………………………………..