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5th grade · Science · Unit 9 of 15

Habitats & Communities

Homes for living things and what limits them

What your child practices

Habitats as places that meet the needs of living things, communities of interacting species, why habitats have limits, how species depend on each other, and how human actions can help or harm.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 5.12(A); 5.12(B); 5.12(C) · how organisms interact with living and nonliving parts of a healthy ecosystem, and human effects

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A habitat gives living things food, water, shelter and space.
  2. A community is all the plants and animals living and interacting in one habitat.
  3. How many animals a habitat can support depends on its food, water, shelter and space.
  4. Living things depend on each other, so protecting a habitat protects them all.

Example: A pond dries up in a hot summer. Why might fewer frogs live there? Frogs need water to live and lay eggs. With less water, the habitat can support fewer frogs. Answer: there is less water

Habitats & Communities in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 9 of 15 in 5th grade Science, after The Rock Cycle and before Adaptations & Habitats.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    A rotting log can be a habitat for…

    🪵
    • beetles, fungi and salamanders
    • sharks
    • camels
    • whales

  2. Question 2

    The number of animals a habitat can support depends on…

    ⚖️
    • the amount of food, water, shelter and space
    • the number of people nearby
    • the color of the animals
    • the day of the week

  3. Question 3

    Which is a necessity of life for a rabbit?

    🐇
    • food, water, shelter and space
    • a computer
    • a TV
    • a toy

  4. Question 4

    Which action would best prevent a species from disappearing?

    🛡️
    • building over the habitat
    • cutting down more trees
    • protecting its habitat
    • polluting the water

  5. Question 5

    A beaver dam floods a meadow and creates a pond. How does this affect the community?

    🦫
    • no species are affected
    • some species lose habitat and others gain a new one
    • every species loses
    • every species gains

  6. Question 6

    A habitat is…

    🏞️
    • a place that gives living things food, water, shelter and space
    • a tool
    • a kind of food
    • a type of weather

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