NEPTUNE Canada

Ocean Food Chains (Grade 2)

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Learning Objective(s)

Students must begin to understand the idea of food chains within the ocean.

Introduction

Everything in the ocean (except specialized deepsea hot vent ecosystems) stems from phytoplankton. They are tiny plants which use sunlight to make their own food through photosynthesis. (Use photos to visually demonstrate what these microscopic plants look like). Describe how large animals prey on smaller animals and the smallest animals utilise the light from the sun.

Materials

• Species cards
• Ball of yarn
• Scissors

Activity

1. Have students brainstorm to create a list of large marine animals, small marine animals and those that are medium sized. Give examples – large animal is a shark, a medium sized animal is a tuna fish and a small animal is a phytoplankton. Have marine life books spread around the groups for inspiration.
2. Gather a collection of pictures of the following marine animal  (phytoplankton, zooplankton, anchovy, mackerel, octopus, shark, seal, humpback whale, killer whale and the sun)
3. Cut out the species cards which specify what the marine animal is and what is eats to survive. If there are more than 9 children in the class, have multiple whales, sharks, mackerel etc (Only 1 sun though)

Cards

• Have children sit down and tell them only to stand up when their food stands up and shouts out.
• Ask “the sun” to hold the ball of yarn and shout out “I AM THE SUN”
  
• Anyone who uses the sun to photosynthesise must stand up shout out “I AM PHYTOPLANKTON AND THE SUN IS MY FOOD”
• Ask the “phytoplankton” to take the ball of yarn from “the sun” (Make sure the sun still holds on to the end of the wool)
• Anyone who eats phytoplankton then must stand up and say “I AM ZOOPLANKTON AND PHYTOPLANKTON IS MY FOOD”
• Ask the “zooplankton” to take the ball of yarn from the “phytoplankton” and pass it between other zooplankton because they eat one another.
• Continue in this fashion until everyone is connected.
• If one animal eats more than one food type then ensure the ball of yarn is passed back and forth to create a web connecting all the animals as prey and predators.
• Point out how all the organisms rely on each other. Explain that without one organism the rest of the food chain would suffer.
• Take the scissors and cut out an organism.
• Ask the students which are acting out the animals that rely on that organism to pretend to die.

Extension

• What would happen if an organism goes extinct?
• How does man affect this food chain?
• Introduce students to the songs made by Northern Resident Orcas, Southern Resident Orcas, Humpback Whales, and Pacific White Sided Dolphins.

Assessment

Do students understand that all organisms rely on each other for survival?

Related Website

http://www.mos.org/oceans/life/game.html

Tags

marine life, food chains, phytoplankton, zooplankton, fish, marine mammals