Topic: B. Ecology: Standard: Students will understand how living things depend on one another and
on non-living aspects of the environment.

Common Assessment(s):

Benchmark Performance Indicators	Essential Elements (Specific grade level learning objectives)			Performance Activities (Relating to Assessments)	Assessments	Vocabulary
1. Describe a food web and the relationships within a given ecosystem.	.			Students will play games which demonstrate the dynamics of a food web.	Students will create, label and explain murals of food chains in ecosystems.	Ecology birth death edible plant energy transfer food chains food webs grouping growth and development habitat life cycle living thing nonedible plant
2. Explain the difference between producers (e.g., green plants), consumers (e.g., those that eat green plants), and decomposers (e.g., bacteria that break down the "consumers" when they die), and identify examples of each.	.			Students will learn the difference between a producer, consumer, and decomposer. Students will observe producers, (terrarium plants), consumers (students at snack), and decomposers (mold). (McGraw-Hill, p. 54-59)	Students will describe the changes that occur in a piece of bread because of a decomposer (mold). Students will illustrate the relationship between producers, consumers, and decomposers.
3. Compare and contrast physical and living components of different biomes&emdash;i.e., regions characterized by their climate and plant life (e.g., tundra, rain forest, ocean, desert).	.			Students will list the characteristics which would include physical and living components and climates of a variety of ecosystems. (McGraw-Hill, p. 52-53)	Students will create dioramas of different ecosystems and explain what they learned about the ecosystem represented in their diorama.
4. Investigate the connection between major living and non-living components of a local ecosystem.	.			Students will observe and collect data about the living and non-living components of the river. (McGraw-Hill, p. 48-51)	Students will describe how the components of a system are interdependent. Students will write about a day in the life of an ecosystem, explaining interactions.