Grade 5 Science Dates of Module: 8/15-10/5/16

Module 1- Ecosystems # of Instructional Days: 36

Literacy Standards Taught Throughout the Module
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.1
Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and
technical texts.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.2
Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; provide an
accurate summary of the text distinct from prior knowledge or
opinions.
Skills Required from Students
Note: These CCSS literacy standards do not technically begin
until sixth grade, but fifth graders can and should be doing
this regularly on a foundational level.
SWBAT…
 Identify important supporting details in a text that accompany
the main idea or argument of the text
 Support an argument or central idea from a text by articulating
a supporting idea from a scientific text.
SWBAT…
 Annotate the main idea of a scientific text
 Determine relevant details that support the main idea
 Construct a paragraph summarizing the points these

Standards:

LS.1 Organisms perform a variety of roles in an ecosystem.

LS. 1a Populations of organisms can be categorized by how they acquire energy.
LS. 1b Food webs can be used to identify the relationship among producers, consumers, and decomposers in an ecosystem
LS. 2 All of the processes that take place within organisms require energy.
LS. 2a For ecosystems, the major source of energy is sunlight.
LS. 2b Energy entering ecosystems as sunlight is transferred and transformed by producers into energy that organisms use
through the process of photosynthesis. That energy then passes from organism to organism as illustrated in food webs.
LS. 2c In most ecosystems, energy derived from the sun is transferred and transformed into energy that organisms use by the
process of photosynthesis in plants and other photosynthesis organisms.
SIA.1 Identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations.
SIA.3 Use appropriate mathematics, tools and techniques to gather data and information.

Students must be able to KNOW

(the knowledge needed to inform the practice)
 Grade 5 Science Dates of Module: 8/15-10/5/16
Module 1- Ecosystems # of Instructional Days: 36

1. An ecosystem is the interaction of living and nonliving things in an environment.

2. A biotic factor is a living part of an ecosystem; an abiotic factor is a non-living part of an ecosystem.
3. A population is a group of organisms of the same species living in an ecosystem.
4. A community is a group of organisms of different species living in an ecosystem.
5. All plants and some microorganisms are called producers because they produce, or make, their own food through a process called photosynthesis
6. Plants get their energy from the sun, then create their own food through the process of photosynthesis.
7. During photosynthesis, a plant takes in carbon dioxide, water and sunlight, and creates oxygen and glucose (sugar/food)
8. All animals are called consumers because they need to consume, or eat, food in order to acquire energy.
9. A primary consumer gets its energy from eating producers (plants); these animals are also known as first-level consumers or herbivores and examples
include rabbits and deer.
10. A secondary consumer gets its energy from eating primary consumers (animals); these animals are also known as second-level consumers or
carnivores and examples include sharks and lions.
11. An organism that eats both plants and animals is called an omnivore, and are also secondary consumers; examples include bears and humans.
12. A decomposer is an organism that breaks down dead plant and animal matter and returns nutrients to the soil; examples include some worms, most
bacteria and fungi.
13. An organism’s niche is the role it plays in an ecosystem, including its diet, its relationship with other organisms in that ecosystem, and how it affects
its ecosystem.
14. A food web shows the relationship between organisms and how they acquire energy.
15. Relationships between organisms in an ecosystem include predator-prey, consumer-producer, competitors, or symbiotic relationships.
16. A biome is a geographic area known for the species that live there; biomes can be made up of several ecosystems.
17. Tools used in ecology include microscopes and hand lenses. Microscopes are used for objects that are too small to see with your eyes; hand lenses are
used to see small objects that you can see with your eyes, but need magnify, or organisms that move, and therefore cannot be placed on a
microscope slide.

Students must be able to DO

(the skills needed to master the standard)
1. Classify an organism by how it acquires energy given its diet
2. Classify an organism by how it acquires energy given its position in a food web/chain
3. Classify a relationship between two organisms as predator-prey, consumer-producer, competitors or symbiotic relationship using a food web.
4. Analyze relationships between two organisms based on their relative positions in a food web.
5. Determine what would happen to organisms within an ecosystem if one species increased or decreased in population
6.
7. Formulate a scientific question
8. Make observations about organisms in order to make inferences about where it lives*
9. Explain how an organism’s environment affects the organism’s characteristics. *

*These skills are not part of this standard, but will provide a basis for making observations and inferences, which is a foundational skill for scientific inquiry

Breaking It Down Further

Daily Objectives Aligned Assessment Items by Skill

SWBAT… 1. Classify an organism by how it acquires energy given its diet

 Grade 5 Science Dates of Module: 8/15-10/5/16
Module 1- Ecosystems # of Instructional Days: 36

1. Make observations about organisms in order

to make inferences about where it lives
(Observation/Inference)
2. Explain how an organism’s environment
affects its characteristics (Obs. Intro to 5E)
3. Define ecosystem and provide at least three
examples of ecosystems and their
characteristics. (Intro. Ecosystems)
4. Differentiate between biotic and abiotic
factors, and identify at least three examples
of each given a diagram of an ecosystem.
(Biotic/Abiotic)
5. Differentiate between a community and a
population and identify examples of each in
a diagram. (Population/Community)
6. Explore various biomes around the world.
2. Classify an organism by how it acquires energy given its position in a food web/chain
(Biomes- Explore)
7. Explain how changes in environment can
affect organisms. (Biomes- Explain)
8. Identify the role (niche) of an organism
within its habitat given characteristics of that
organism (habitat/niche)
9. Explain how both natural and human
changes to an environment affect
populations of organisms.
10. Explore how producers are different from
other organisms (producers)
11. Describe the process by which producers
acquire energy. (photosynthesis)
12. Identify Consumers within a food chain and
determine the differences between primary
and secondary consumers. (conasumers)
13. Explain the niche of a decomposer within an
ecosystem (decomposers)
14. Explain where energy comes from in an
ecosystem and what happens to energy as it
is transferred from one organism to another.
(Energy transfer)
15. Illustrate how energy is transferred from one
organism to another using a food chain.
(Food Chain)
16. Identify predator-prey relationships within a
3. Classify a relationship between two organisms as predator-prey, consumer-producer,
food chain and differentiate them from
competitors or symbiotic relationship using a food web.
consumer-producer and competitor
relationships (predator-prey)
17. Explore symbiotic relationships then classify
relationships as the three different types
based on evidence gathered. (symbiotic
 Grade 5 Science Dates of Module: 8/15-10/5/16
Module 1- Ecosystems # of Instructional Days: 36

relationships)
18. Explore relationships within a food web
(food web-explore)
19. Classify an animal as herbivore, omnivore or
carnivore based on its position in a food web
(food webs- explain)
20. Classify relationships within a food web
based on positioning (food webs- explain)
21. Explain what would happen to a population
of organisms given a scenario of change
within the ecosystem (Food Webs
Cause/Effect)
22. Classify all organisms based on positioning
in a food web. (Classify Organisms)
23. Classify all relationships based on positioning 4. Analyze relationships between two organisms based on their relative positions in a food web.
in a food web. (Classify Relationships)
24. Write a scientific question about an
ecosystem and food web. (Scientific
Questions)
25. Determine the appropriate tool to use given
a scientific question in the field of ecology
(Life Science Tools)
26. Describe the scientific method as it relates
to life science and observation-based
studies. (Scientific Method)

Investigation/Project-Based Learning/Research

 SWBAT describe the steps of the Scientific

Method as it relates to ecology and
observation-based investigations (Scientific
Method)
 SWBAT write a procedure for a virtual 5. Determine what would happen to organisms within an ecosystem if one species increased or
ecology lab (Virtual Lab- Procedure) decreased in population
 SWBAT collect data from a virtual ecology
lab (Virtual lab-data collection)
 Grade 5 Science Dates of Module: 8/15-10/5/16
Module 1- Ecosystems # of Instructional Days: 36

 SWBAT Analyze data from a virtual ecology

lab (Virtual lab- data analysis)
 SWBAT draw conclusions about the
outcomes within an ecosystem given the
data collected and analyses made (Virtual
lab- Conclusions)
 Grade 5 Science Dates of Module: 8/15-10/5/16
Module 1- Ecosystems # of Instructional Days: 36
 Grade 5 Science Dates of Module: 8/15-10/5/16
Module 1- Ecosystems # of Instructional Days: 36

Standard:

Students must be able to KNOW

(the knowledge needed to inform the practice)

Students must be able to DO

(the skills needed to master the standard)

Breaking It Down Further

Daily Objectives Aligned Assessment Items by Skill