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5th grade · Science · Unit 8 of 9

Matter Moves in Ecosystems

Producers, consumers and decomposers recycle matter.

What your child practices

Practices how matter moves among plants, animals, decomposers and the environment, with Pacific Northwest examples like salmon feeding forests after they spawn.

Maine Learning Results learning standard: 5-LS2-1 · the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers and the environment

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Producers (plants) make food. Consumers eat plants or other animals.
  2. Decomposers, like mushrooms, worms and bacteria, break down dead things.
  3. They return matter to the soil so plants can use it again.
  4. Without decomposers, dead things would pile up.

Example: Which is a decomposer: a hawk, a mushroom or a fern? A hawk is a consumer and a fern is a producer. A mushroom breaks down dead matter. Answer: a mushroom

Matter Moves in Ecosystems in Maine

In the Maine Learning Results, this is unit 8 of 9 in 5th grade Science, after Energy from the Sun and before Engineering Challenges.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Maine Department of Education

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Decomposers return nutrients to the…

    • clouds only
    • sun
    • soil
    • moon

  2. Question 2

    In a food chain, arrows show…

    • where animals sleep
    • the flow of matter and energy
    • which animal is biggest
    • the weather

  3. Question 3

    Which is the correct food chain?

    • Hawk → rabbit → grass
    • Rabbit → grass → hawk
    • Grass → hawk → rabbit
    • Grass → rabbit → hawk

  4. Question 4

    A consumer is an organism that…

    • eats other organisms
    • is a rock
    • only drinks water
    • makes its own food

  5. Question 5

    A fallen log in a forest is broken down by…

    • the moon
    • nothing
    • rain only
    • fungi, insects and bacteria

  6. Question 6

    Where does the matter in a mushroom come from?

    • Rocks
    • Photosynthesis
    • Sunlight only
    • Dead plants and animals it broke down

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