Recognizing the relationship ocean animals have with one another
Recognizing the changes that occur when an ecosystems is disrupted
Think about the events that can cause a break in the food web
Materials:
Animal medallion cards for entire class
Yarn
Diagram of food web
Procedures:
Arrange students in a circle. Ask students if they have ever
taken a walk on the beach. Ask them what types of animals did they see?
When students mention an animal name pass them the medallion with the
same picture. Helpful clues may be given. Continue until all students have
medallions.
Ask students if their animal is eaten by or eats the other
animals in the circle. Let students look at each others medallions and
then decide.
The yarn will be used to connect student in a food web structure.
Again, students will be asked to answer the question: Is your animal
being eaten or eating the other animals? Try to connect the yarn to as
many different animals as possible. Make sure students hold on tight to
the yarn and when the web is complete have all the students take one
big step BACK. What is it? A web, a food web!
Stand behind one of the students and ask the rest of the class
what would happen if this animal was taken out of the food web. Either
create an event that could occur which the animal is removed, or let
the students give you examples, eg. overfishing, pollution, etc. Ask
a student to tug on their string, who feels it?
Ask students which animal might have the most or least effect
on the food web? Why?
