Energy from the Sun sits at the center of this 2-page 5th grade concept map, built on NGSS 5-PS3-1. Branches follow prairie energy from producers to herbivores and carnivores, then ask how bodies use food energy. A Hamburger Trail branch traces a meal backward to the sun, and a blank final branch lets students trace their favorite meal or a new animal. The prompts are open, so answers come from class notes rather than an answer key.
5-PS3-1
“Use models to describe that energy in animals' food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.”
Putting the Fuel to Work, which asks for four ways bodies use energy, plus the Hamburger Trail and Your Branch, which trace food back to the sun.
Students name who catches the sun's rays first on a prairie and the process producers use to make their food.
Prompts ask which prairie animals eat the producers and how those animals are really getting energy from the sun.
Students name the hunters that eat the grazers and explain how the sun's energy finally reaches them.
Students list four ways bodies use energy, with a hint that points to staying warm, moving, and getting bigger.
A hamburger meal is traced backward, from the animal the meat came from to what that animal ate and where its food got energy.
An open branch for a favorite meal or a new animal, traced all the way back to the sun.
After food chains
Set it once you have taught photosynthesis and food chains. Students fill the branches from memory first, then add to them in a second color from their notes.
Group poster
Enlarge the map to poster size and give each group one branch. The Hamburger Trail suits a group, since students must connect beef to grass and grass to sunlight.
Assessment
No answer key comes with it, so read Your Branch for a full chain. A student who reaches the sun from their own meal has the idea.
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