5th grade · Science · Unit 6 of 10
Ecosystems & Food Chains
Energy from the sun to you
What your child practices
How energy from the sun moves through food chains (producers, consumers and decomposers), how living things in an ecosystem depend on each other, and how First Peoples' knowledge of local ecosystems is passed down.
Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 5L.3.1.1.3; 5L.4.1.2.1 · how matter moves among plants, animals, decomposers and the environment
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- Energy in a food chain starts with the sun.
- Producers, like plants and seeds, make their own food.
- Each arrow points to the eater: sun → grass → rabbit → fox.
- Bees carry pollen from flower to flower so new seeds can form.
Example: Put in order, starting with the sun: owl, seeds, mouse. Seeds get energy from the sun. A mouse eats seeds, and an owl eats the mouse. Answer: sun → seeds → mouse → owl
Ecosystems & Food Chains in Minnesota
In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 6 of 10 in 5th grade Science, after Measuring Matter and before Energy from the Sun.
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.
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Put the food chain in order. Start where the energy comes from.
- 🌿grass
- 🦊fox
- 🐇rabbit
- ☀️sun
sun → grass → rabbit → fox
Hint: Energy starts with the sun. Plants use sunlight to make food. Then each animal eats the one before it.
Question 2
Which living thing is a decomposer?
- 🍄mushroom
- 🦌deer
- 🌻sunflower
🍄 mushroom
Hint: Decomposers, like mushrooms and worms, break down dead plants and animals.
Question 3
An animal that eats both plants and animals is called an…
🦝- omnivore
- herbivore
- carnivore
omnivore
Hint: “Omni” means all. Omnivores, like raccoons and people, eat plants and animals.
Question 4
A bear eats berries and salmon. What kind of eater is it?
🐻- carnivore
- omnivore
- herbivore
omnivore
Hint: Berries are plants and salmon are animals. An animal that eats both is an omnivore.
Question 5
What is an ecosystem?
🏞️- one kind of animal
- a type of rock
- living and non-living things working together in one place
living and non-living things working together in one place
Hint: An ecosystem includes the plants, animals, water, soil, air and sunlight in a place, and how they affect each other.
Question 6
How do bees help flowers?
🐝- they eat all the leaves
- they carry pollen, so new seeds can form
- they keep the flowers warm at night
they carry pollen, so new seeds can form
Hint: Bees move pollen from flower to flower while they collect nectar. This helps plants make seeds.