Producers in a food chain
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can identify and name producers in different food chains.
Key learning points
- Plants are living things that cannot move around to hunt for food. They must make their own food to survive.
- Plants use water, sunlight, and carbon dioxide to make a sugar that it can use as food.
- A food chain begins with a plant; this is the producer in the food chain.
- Plants are called producers because they make, or produce, their own food.
Keywords
Plant - A plant is a living thing with leaves that it uses to make its own food. Grass and trees are plants.
Absorb - To absorb is to be able to soak up or take in.
Photosynthesis - Photosynthesis is the way in which plants make food.
Food chain - A food chain shows how living things depend on each other for food.
Producer - A producer in a food chain makes its own food.
Common misconception
Pupils may think that a plant is at the start of the food chain because it is the smallest organism or because it cannot eat an animal.
This lesson makes reference to the fact that the plant is the producer in a food chain because it makes, or produces, its own food.
Teacher tip
This lesson includes the word photosynthesis for pupils to begin to use if they are able to, however, focus on why plants are the producers in a food chain. This lesson contains a disgnostic question on slide 28 - see additional materials for further guidance.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which of these are basic needs of animals?
Q2.What information can be presented in a food chain?
Q3.How are herbivores and carnivores different from one another?
Q4.What do the arrows in a food chain represent?
Q5.Herbivores depend on to stay alive or survive.
Q6.Which statement is true about plants?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which statement about plants is true?
Q2.Plants make their own food, so they are called the in a food chain.
Q3.Which of the following are producers in a food chain?
Q4.What do plants do during the process called photosynthesis?
Q5.Where would you put a plant in a food chain?
Q6.Which of these do plants need to make food?
To help you plan your 4 science lesson on: Producers in a food chain, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 4 science lesson on: Producers in a food chain, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 science lessons from the More about food chains unit, dive into the full primary science curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.