- Welcome/Overview
- Content Notes
- Lesson and Activities
- Lesson 1-Living Systems-Where do we fit?
- Lesson 2- Explore Your "Wild" World!>
- Lesson 3- Building Food Chains and Food Webs>
- Lesson 4- Owls- A Mighty Predator
- Lesson 5- About Ecosystems>
- Lesson 6- We Are Explorers! (day1 of 2 lessons)>
- Lesson 7- We Are Explorers (day 2 of 2 lessons)
- Lesson 8-A Closer Look at Communities
- Lesson 9- What's in the Water?
- Lesson 10- Our Environment/Our World>
- Websites for Kids
- Books Used Throughout Lessons 1-10
- Assessment Page
Lessons Overview and Outline

Overview of Lessons described eloquently by Barbara Shaw McKinney.
(Taken from her book Pass the Energy Please!,Published in 1999 by Dawn Publications.)
Food manufacturing starts with a seed,
and energy waits in a plant to be freed.
Like an engine that powers the rest of the train,
a plant's the first link in an energy chain.
Each Creature that feeds on a plant is a link,
an absorbing energy, quick as a wink.
If that feeder, itself, becomes someone's next meal,
it lengthens the chain, like a new link of steel.
And so there's a pattern of energy passed:
a food chain has formed, first hitched to last.
Each living thing is a link in a chain
with a purpose that Nature can always explain.
By Barbara Shaw McKinney
(Taken from her book Pass the Energy Please!,Published in 1999 by Dawn Publications.)
Food manufacturing starts with a seed,
and energy waits in a plant to be freed.
Like an engine that powers the rest of the train,
a plant's the first link in an energy chain.
Each Creature that feeds on a plant is a link,
an absorbing energy, quick as a wink.
If that feeder, itself, becomes someone's next meal,
it lengthens the chain, like a new link of steel.
And so there's a pattern of energy passed:
a food chain has formed, first hitched to last.
Each living thing is a link in a chain
with a purpose that Nature can always explain.
By Barbara Shaw McKinney
Outline of Lessons
I. Welcome/Overview-
II. Content-
a. Standards 3.5 & 3.6
b. Living Systems Vocabulary List
III. Lesson Overview and Outline
a. Lesson 1- Living Systems- Where do we fit?
b. Lesson 2- Explore Your "Wild" World
i. Treasure Hunt List
c. Lesson 3- Building Food Chains & Food webs
i. Terrestrial/Aquatic Foldables
d. Lesson 4- Owls - A Mighty Predator
e. Lesson 5- About Ecosystems
i. Teacher's Trip to Alaska
ii. Ecosystems Foldables
f. Lesson 6- We Are Explorers (day 1 of 2 day lesson)
i. Explorer's Field Guide Questions
g. Lesson 7- We Are Explorers (day 2 of 2 day lesson)
h. Lesson 8- A Closer Look at Communities
i. Lesson 9- What's In the Water?
j. Lesson 10- Our Environment/Our World
i. Sample of Apple Graphs
IV. Books
V. Websites
II. Content-
a. Standards 3.5 & 3.6
b. Living Systems Vocabulary List
III. Lesson Overview and Outline
a. Lesson 1- Living Systems- Where do we fit?
b. Lesson 2- Explore Your "Wild" World
i. Treasure Hunt List
c. Lesson 3- Building Food Chains & Food webs
i. Terrestrial/Aquatic Foldables
d. Lesson 4- Owls - A Mighty Predator
e. Lesson 5- About Ecosystems
i. Teacher's Trip to Alaska
ii. Ecosystems Foldables
f. Lesson 6- We Are Explorers (day 1 of 2 day lesson)
i. Explorer's Field Guide Questions
g. Lesson 7- We Are Explorers (day 2 of 2 day lesson)
h. Lesson 8- A Closer Look at Communities
i. Lesson 9- What's In the Water?
j. Lesson 10- Our Environment/Our World
i. Sample of Apple Graphs
IV. Books
V. Websites