Description
Grade 5. In 6 lessons spanning 26 class sessions, students explore concepts related to ecosystems: why living things need energy from the sun, nitrogen cycling, interdependent relationships, energy transfer, human impacts on ecosystems, and more. Building Blocks of Science® 3D lessons are structured in 30-minute class sessions, making it easy to fit science into your day. The Matter and Energy in Ecosystems 3-Use Unit Kit with Literacy Set includes a teacher’s guide (item #515342), 24 on-grade student readers (item #515303), 6 below-grade student readers (item #515303BGR), a license for the teacher and students to access online digital resources, and enough supplies and apparatus to teach the unit 3 times to a class of up to 30 students.
Along with hands-on learning, this Building Blocks of Science® 3D unit also provides digital resources to enhance the classroom experience. These components offer an additional method of delivering content, particularly for classrooms with consistent access to computers or tablets. Digital components include digital teacher’s guide, simulations, digital literacy reader, interactive whiteboard activities, interactive student investigation sheets, and assessment. All digital resources for Building Blocks of Science® 3D are accessible at CarolinaScienceOnline.com.
Unit Summary
Ecosystems on Earth contain diverse forms of life and have unique needs to sustain these life-forms. An ecosystem is composed habitats, each made up of biotic and abiotic factors. Students should have an understanding that living things require the same basic resources: food, water, shelter, and air. However, they may not be aware of the interactions that occur when biotic factors compete to obtain these resources. Biotic factors depend on abiotic factors, such as the Sun, water, and air, and on other biotic factors, including plants and animals, to grow, reproduce, and survive. Through a series of 6 lessons in Matter and Energy in Ecosystems, students examine the movement of matter and cycling of energy within an ecosystem. They make connections to competition, interdependence, and Earth’s spheres using models such as food webs, food pyramids, and ecocolumns. Students continuously build upon the idea that energy is constantly cycled on Earth.
Next Generation Science Standards*
The Building Blocks of Science® 3D unit Matter and Energy in Ecosystems (©2019) integrates process skills as defined by the Next Generation Science Standards.