Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Mehrin and I'm really excited to be learning all about simple food chains with you.

Welcome to today's lesson, from the unit, More About Food Chains.

Your learning outcome is, I can use a simple food chain to show how animals and plants depend on each other for food.

Now, I know that learning can sometimes be a little bit challenging, but that's okay because it just means that we are going to work really hard together and we are going to learn lots of fabulous new things.

Let's begin.

So before we start our lesson, here are your five keywords for today.

Now, alongside these keywords are the definitions.

I am going to be referring to these throughout today's lesson.

However, if you want to and you find that it helps, you can pause the video and jot these down now.

Fabulous, well done.

So our lesson is split into two parts.

Let's begin with the first part.

Staying alive.

Now animals are living things.

Can you name the animal in each photograph? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Fabulous, well done.

So we've got a giraffe, starfish and an otter.

Now all animals have the same basic needs.

These are the things that they need to be able to stay alive and to be able to survive.

So here we have an elephant, a hummingbird, and an ant.

What do you think are the basic needs of animals? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fabulous.

Well done.

So the basic needs of animals are food, water, and air.

Animals also need space to live, including shelter, to keep safe from weather and other animals.

Now the basic needs of animals are what? Plants, air and water.

B, air, food and water.

Or C, hot weather, food and air.

I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fabulous.

Well done.

The answer is B, air, food, and water.

Now, what do you think would happen if animals did not have food? So Jacob says, "I don't think animals need food like humans, as there are no food shops or restaurants for animals." What do you think? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fabulous.

Well done.

So if any of an animal's basic needs are not met, the animal would not be able to survive.

Now different animals need different types of food to survive.

And Jacob says, "Where do animals get their food from?" What do you think? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So Sofia says, "I think animals need food from plants and other animals to survive." Now, Sofia isn't completely correct because there are animals that do not rely on plants to survive and they would eat meat to survive instead.

Now Jacob says, "I think all animals are hunters that eat meat from other animals." What do you think? So Sofia thinks that all animals need plants to eat and survive.

And Jacob says that he thinks all animals are hunters that eat meat.

So what do you think? Who do you think might be correct here? Or, what's your thoughts on this? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fabulous.

Well done.

So some animals, such as cows, are herbivores and cows eat plants to stay alive.

Their diet includes legumes, grass, hay, and clover.

Now some animals, such as lions, are carnivores and lions eat meat from other animals to survive, which is either hunted or scavenged.

Now can you think of any other animals that are carnivores? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fabulous.

Well done.

So you might have thought of things like tigers, for example, who are also carnivores.

Now, some animals, such as catfish, are omnivores.

Catfish eat food from plants and other animals to survive, and their diet includes aquatic plants, mollusks, insects, and larvae.

Now, true or false, all animals need to eat plants to survive.

Is that true or false? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

The answer is false.

Now let's see if you can justify your answer.

Is that because all animals need to eat meat to survive or B, some animals only eat plants, some animals eat other animals and some animals eat both plants and animals.

What do you think? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fabulous.

Well done.

It will be B.

Now, here is your first task.

It says, choose three animals that need different types of food to survive.

I want you to find one herbivore.

So remember, those animals only eat plants to survive.

One omnivore, so they eat both meat and plants to survive.

And one carnivore.

So only a meat eater.

And I want you to carry out your own research to find out what each animal eats in order to survive.

So I'd like you to pause the video here and have a go at doing this activity.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So, you may have chosen, so these are the ones that were chosen, but you may have chosen something different.

So a manatee, for example, is a herbivore.

And manatees feed on a variety of aquatic plants, such as sea grass, algae, and other submerged vegetation.

So that just means other vegetation that's under the sea or underwater.

An omnivore is, an example of that is a hedgehog, but you may have chosen something different.

So hedgehogs will eat almost anything they can get into their mouths.

So this includes slugs, earthworms, beetles, and other insects, as well as fruit and mushrooms. And a carnivore, example here is a wolf.

So wolves often hunt large hoofed animals such as deer, elk, moose, and caribou.

They also eat smaller animals like hares, rabbits and rodents.

And if these animals did not have food, they would not be able to survive and would eventually die out.

So this is for all animals.

They must have food in order to survive and in order to be able to live, otherwise they will die out.

Now we are on to the second part of our learning today, which is food chains.

Now Laura and Lucas are talking about how living things depend on each other for food.

And Laura says, "I've noticed that some animals depend on plants for food." And Lucas says, "I've noticed that some animals depend on other animals for food." So Laura has written a list of living things that provide food for other living things.

So she's put grass, an owlet moth, a bat and a snake.

And Lucas says, "That is a great idea.

Scientists show information like this using something called a food chain." Now here is an example of a food chain.

So a food chain is used in order to show the order in which living things depend on each other, for food.

So we've got grass, a grasshopper, a frog, and a snake.

Now what do you think this food chain is actually showing us? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fabulous.

Well done.

So this is showing us that the grasshopper eats the grass, the frog eats the grasshopper, and the snake eats the frog.

So let's do a quick check-in of your learning before we continue.

What is the food chain used for? Is it A, to show the order in which food can be found for different animals? B, to show the order in which food depends on living things.

Or C, to show the order in which living things depend on each other for food.

I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fabulous.

Well done.

The answer is C.

Now a food chain can be drawn as a simple scientific diagram.

Now the arrows in the diagram are like direction signs.

Each arrow means, is food for.

So for example, the grass is food for the grasshopper.

The grasshopper is food for the frog, and the frog is food for the snake.

Now, Laura says, "The food chain shows that the grass is food for the grasshopper.

The grasshopper is food for the frog, and the frog is food for the snake." And Lucas says, "Yes.

It shows which animal depends on which plant or animal for food." Now let's do a quick check-in of your learning.

The direction of the arrows on a food chain tell us A, which living thing is food for which other living thing? B, which living thing eats which living thing.

Or C, which living thing does not need food to survive? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So the answer is A.

The direction of the arrows on a food chain, tell us which living thing is food for which other living thing.

Now, Sofia says, "Can you spot the mistake I've made when drawing my food chain?" Have a really good look at this one.

If you need to, you can pause the video.

Otherwise I will give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fab.

Well done.

So Sofia has drawn the arrows in the wrong direction.

In Sofia's food chain, it's saying that the fox is food for the rabbit and the rabbit is food for the grass.

However, we know that that's actually the opposite way around.

The grass is food for the rabbit because the rabbit eats the grass and the rabbit is food for the fox because the fox eats the rabbit.

So the arrows should be pointing in the other direction.

Now, here is task B.

It says, complete these food chains to show how animals and plants depend on each other for food.

So you may have to do a little bit of research here, in order to complete this task.

So I'd like you to pause the video here and have a go at finishing this task.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So your food chains may have been different to these, so please don't worry if yours was slightly different.

But here we have got the seaweed, which is food for the small fish.

And the small fish is food for the shark.

So you need to make sure that your arrows are pointing in the right direction.

And the way that you can check that, is to say "is food for", every time you say something.

So, if your arrows are pointing in the other direction, then it would say that the shark is food for the small fish.

But we know that that's not correct.

So you can check the arrow direction by saying, that sentence, is food for.

Now the dandelion is food for, so it's pointing towards what it is food for, is food for the snail and the snail is food for the hedgehog.

Now again, you may have chosen different animals to, or different plants to complete your food chain.

So please don't worry if it's not the same as these.

Now we are on to the summary of our learning today.

So the basic needs of animals for survival are water, food, and air.

Animals need food from plants and other animals to survive.

A food chain is used to show the order in which living things depend on each other, for food.

A food chain can be drawn as a simple scientific diagram.

The arrows represent "is food for", which is really helpful way of you checking to see whether or not your arrows are in the right direction.

Now you have worked really hard learning all about simple food chains and having a go at constructing some of your own.

I'm really proud of you.

You've worked so well this lesson.