This 3-page 5th grade science worksheet covers the energy pyramid in a food web unit. Page 1 shows a four-level pyramid and a word bank of eight organisms, two for each level. Page 2 starts grass at 10,000 units of energy and asks students to fill in how much reaches the grasshopper, the frog and the hawk, then answer two written questions. The final page is the answer key. It ties to NGSS 5-PS3-1 and 5-LS2-1.
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.”
The grass-to-hawk table follows food energy up from the producer, and question 4 asks where the energy that does not move up goes.
5-LS2-1
“Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.”
Sorting eight organisms onto the four pyramid levels on page 1 models how a food web is layered.
A small pyramid with levels numbered 1 to 4 and labeled producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers and tertiary consumers. Beside it, a word bank holds grass, clover, grasshopper, rabbit, frog, spider, hawk and owl. Students write two organisms for each level in a table.
A table starts with grass at 10,000 energy units. Students fill in the energy for the grasshopper, the frog and the hawk. Two questions follow, one on why there are fewer hawks than grasshoppers and one on where the rest of the energy goes. Each has three ruled lines.
Both tables completed, with hawk and owl at the top and grass and clover at the bottom, then 1,000, 100 and 10 units up the chain. The written answers say energy is lost at each level, used for moving, growing and breathing, and lost as heat.
Start with grass
Fill in the grass and grasshopper rows together on the board, then let students place the other six organisms in pairs. Frog and spider tend to cause the most debate.
Drop a zero
The numbers are 10,000, 1,000, 100 and 10, so each step is one zero fewer. Ask students to say why that works before they write the answers.
Exit ticket
Use question 3 as a short exit ticket. A good answer says energy is lost at each level, so very little is left at the top to feed many hawks.
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