Producers make food from sunlight, and decomposers return nutrients to the soil. A short passage sets out these roles, plus consumers, at the start of this 3-page 5th grade ecosystems worksheet for NGSS 5-LS2-1. Students label three pictures with the right term and a short definition. They then read a food web diagram, name its producer and a predator of the frog, and predict what happens to the hawks if a disease wipes out the rabbits and frogs.
5-LS2-1
“Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.”
Roles in an Ecosystem, where decomposers return nutrients to the soil, and the Food Web Detectives questions, which follow matter from the producer up to the hawk.
Students read the three role definitions, then label each picture as Producer, Consumer, or Decomposer and add a brief definition.
Three questions on the food web diagram: find the producer, name a predator of the frog, and explain what a disease that wipes out the rabbits and frogs would do to the hawks.
Introducing roles
Read the opening passage together before anyone labels. The three one-line definitions give students the words they need for the rest of the unit.
Group discussion
Question 3 on the hawks has room for debate. Let groups argue about how the hawk population changes, and ask them to point to the arrows in the web as evidence.
Homework
The sheet is short enough for one night. Students who finish early can add one more organism to the food web and label its role.
Get started today
