Food Chain Frenzy. PREPARATION Copy and prepare Food Chain Cards - one for each pupil (pages 73-76).

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1 Food Chain Frenzy Key Stage 2 < < Food Chain Frenzy SUMMARY OF ACTIVITY Pupils are introduced to simple food chains using Norfolk examples. Feeding relationships, predator-prey interactions, population changes and nutrient cycling are explored by playing an energetic outdoor game. Pupils link their learning back to their own context by creating food chains relating to the organisms in their school grounds. LEARNING OBJECTIVES 1. To use the terms producer, consumer, predator, prey and food chain correctly during activities. 2. To explain how organisms are linked together in a food chain. NATIONAL CURRICULUM LINKS Science2: 1c, 5a, 5b, 5d, 5e. English1: 3a, 3c, 3d. PREPARATION Copy and prepare Food Chain Cards - one for each pupil (pages 73-76). RESOURCES Ball of string. Two different colours of cloth strips (for rabbit tails and grass blades). Food Chain Cards (pages 73-76). Record sheet for Food Chain Frenzy game. HEALTH AND SAFETY 1. Refer to your site specific risk assessment. 2. Complete a risk assessment if you leave the school grounds. Refer to Norfolk guidance at (School Management, Educational Visits, EVJ Document). 3. Consider pupil specific risks for your group. 4. Consider activity specific risks such as tripping and collisions. Outdoor Learning With A Focus On Biodiversity In Your School Grounds Step Outside! 69

2 >> Food Chain Fr e n z y Key Stage 2 INTRODUCTION - CREATING FOOD CHAINS 1. Give each pupil a Food Chain Card (pages 73-76). 2. Ask pupils to organise themselves into habitat groups, using the information on their cards. 3. Ask pupils to organise themselves into a foodchain within their habitat group. For your reference, the adjacent table details what each of the foodchains should look like. 4. Facilitate a discussion about food chains, using terms such as producer, consumer, prey, predator, food chain and emphasising the role of the sun. HABITAT TOP PREDATOR CONSUMER CONSUMER PRODUCER HEDGEROW POND WOODLAND MARSH GRASSLAND MUDFLAT HEATHLAND SAND DUNE BROAD GARDEN ARABLE LAND fox heron badger marsh harrier owl oyster catcher stone curlew kestrel pike hedgehog bat song thrush great crested newt beetle vole shrew cockle bee natterjack toad roach frog moth worm tadpole worm slug water beetle millipede dead leaves pond weed dead wood reed dead grass tiny plants nectar from heather orchid white water lily dead leaves poppy MAIN ACTIVITY - FOOD CHAIN FRENZY 1. The purpose of this game is to consolidate ideas about food chains and to collect data about population numbers. Please note the following instructions may appear complex but do persevere because this activity is straightforward and very effective in communicating quite sophisticated ideas to a young audience. 2. Divide pupils into three equal sized groups; grass, rabbits and foxes. 3. Grass has to remain stationary. Grass is identified by wearing a blade tucked into their waistbands (made from strips of material or sports sashes). Grass can be eaten by rabbits who steal their blades. 4. The rabbits wear tails tucked into their waistbands (made from strips of material or sports sashes). During the game, rabbits should move around and try to eat as much grass as possible by chasing the grass and stealing their blades. Rabbits can be eaten by foxes who steal their tails. 5. Foxes are not given a sash to wear. Foxes must chase as many rabbits as possible and eat them by stealing their tails. 6. Begin and end the game by blowing a whistle. 7. After the first round, the role that pupils assume alters. Refer to the table below to decide how they alter. If you have been eaten you become If you have not been predated upon and have eaten a meal If you have not eaten any prey and have not been predated upon GRASS RABBIT FOX rabbit fox no change no change rabbit fox grass grass grass 8. The teacher records the new number of each type of organism on the record sheet. 9. Several short rounds of this game should be played and the new numbers of organisms recorded after each. 10. The population numbers for each organism can then be plotted on line graphs and compared. PLENARY - FOOD CHAIN DETECTIVES 1. As a class, compile a list of organisms present in your school grounds. 2. Make simple food chains based on your school grounds habitats. 70 Step Outside! Outdoor Learning With A Focus On Biodiversity In Your School Grounds

3 Food Chain Frenzy Key Stage 2 < < FOLLOW-UP IDEAS Join the school grounds food chains together to form a food web. Give each pupil an organism name. Sit in a circle, roll a ball of string between organisms who eat each other. When a top predator is reached the ball is rolled back to a plant. Once everyone is holding the string different scenarios can be enacted; kill off a predator or a producer by asking these pupils to sit down if a pupil feels a tug on the string they too sit down. Plot all of the results from the main activity table onto line graphs. Interpret the patterns shown in the line graphs. Create a wall display about food chains in the school grounds. Create illustrations for each organism and link these together with string. See decomposition before your eyes by setting up a wormery (page 128) or investigating composting (page 127). Produce information sheets about food chains in the school grounds for the rest of the school community. Add an extra dimension to the Food Chain Frenzy game by making dead organisms sit out a round whilst they decompose, turn to soil and help plants to grow. Outdoor Learning With A Focus On Biodiversity In Your School Grounds Step Outside! 71

4 >> Food Chain Fr e n z y Key Stage 2 FOLLOW-UP IDEAS Identify gaps in your school grounds food chains and investigate ways of providing food to fill these gaps. Develop the theme of food to consider provision of food for ourselves and investigate the possibility of establishing a growing area in your school grounds (page ). Place a sticker with the name of an organism on the back of each pupil. Pupils should ask classmates questions about themselves in order to determine what organism they are. Their classmates can only answer yes or no to questions. Play a predator- p r ey game. Get pupils into groups of three to represent a m ot h e r, father and baby sparrow. As k each family to find themselves a nest base. Parent sparrows must leave the nest and collect one food item at a time (twigs representing worms or beads representing berries) for their b a by. Once the baby has three food items it can fledge and start to collect its own food. The object is to collect as many food items as possible. Whilst sparrows are away from the nest they can be caught by pupils wearing bibs who represent sparrowhawks. Caught sparrows must go to sparrow heave n and are out of the game. Consider what would happen to orphaned sparrow babies who have not ye t fledged. Try altering the number of sparrowhawks and see how it affects the sparrow population. Develop the theme of organisms being associated with a specific habitat by offering pupils a research opportunity. Using the habitats suggested in the introduction, ask the pupils to research other organisms that live in the individual habitats. More able pupils could extend the suggested food chains to create food webs. D evelop the theme of food to consider p r ovision of food for ourselves and where our food comes from. Consider a typical lunch time meal and consider where each component has come from (food miles). Refer to w w w. ox f a m. o r g. u k / c o o l p l a n e t a n d click on resources and then on food, trade and globalisation for activities about food miles. Move on to consider fair trade with developing countries (refer to w w w. f a i r t r a d e. o r g. u k for information). 72 Step Outside! Outdoor Learning With A Focus On Biodiversity In Your School Grounds

5 Food Chain Cards Key Stage 2 < < SONG THRUSH HERON MARSH HARRIER OWL OYSTERCATCHER STONE CURLEW KESTREL MOTH BEETLE MILLIPEDE Outdoor Learning With A Focus On Biodiversity In Your School Grounds Step Outside! 73

6 >> Food Chain Cards Key Stage 2 WATER BEETLE COCKLE TINY PLANTS PIKE ROACH REED NECTAR FROM HEATHER ORCHID WHITE WATER LILY POPPY 74 Step Outside! Outdoor Learning With A Focus On Biodiversity In Your School Grounds

7 Food Chain Cards Key Stage 2 < < POND WEED BADGER FOX HEDGEHOG BAT VOLE SHREW GREAT CRESTED NEWT NATTERJACK TOAD FROG Outdoor Learning With A Focus On Biodiversity In Your School Grounds Step Outside! 75

8 >> Food Chain Cards Key Stage 2 TADPOLE DEAD WOOD DEAD LEAVES DEAD GRASS SLUG WORM BEE WORM DEAD LEAVES 76 Step Outside! Outdoor Learning With A Focus On Biodiversity In Your School Grounds