Teacher pack: Food chains and food webs (Grade 5)
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Teacher guide
Phase C · Primary grade 5; Phase C · IPAS · Phase C · Primary grades 5–6 · IPAS · Phase D · Lower secondary grade 7; Phase D · IPA
An original supplementary PanduanHewan resource; not an official module or specialist teacher review.
Goals
- Students can explain arrows as energy transfer.
- Students can compare producers, consumers and decomposers.
- Students can build two rice-field routes with evidence for each link.
- Students can express predictions conditionally.
Materials
- Organism name or picture cards
- Paper and pencils
- A source table printed by the teacher
Suggested timing, adaptable by the teacher
11 minutes introduction · 38 minutes activity · 14 minutes discussion · 7 minutes reflection (70 minutes).
- Arrange cards for rice, rats, grasshoppers, frogs, snakes, eagles and decomposers using the evidence table.
- Draw two paper diagrams and explain each arrow.
- Replace one card and discuss what evidence would be needed before accepting the new link.
- Complete the worksheet and compare reasoning with the key.
Suggested formative rubric
Teachers may adapt this. Score each criterion 0 (not yet shown), 1 (partly) or 2 (clear); the 0–6 total is not an official passing standard.
- Concepts match the reading.
- Reasoning is supported by an example or evidence.
- Can revise an answer and identify uncertainty.
Food-chain worksheet with answer key
Name / class / date (complete on paper):
Reading
A food chain shows one route of energy transfer through feeding. Arrows point from the organism eaten to its consumer. Interconnected routes form a food web.
- Plants in these examples are producers through photosynthesis.
- Consumers obtain food from other organisms.
- Rice → rat means that the rat eats the rice.
- Consumer level depends on the feeding route being followed.
- Decomposers act on remains from multiple levels.
- A food-chain diagram is a model; each link needs evidence.
Activity 1
Use the lesson’s two rice-field routes. State the requested role, relationship or symbol meaning.
| Model item | Your answer |
|---|---|
| Rice | |
| Rat eating rice | |
| Snake eating the rice-eating rat | |
| Eagle after snake on route A | |
| Grasshopper eating rice | |
| Frog eating the grasshopper on route B | |
| Eagle after frog on route B | |
| Decomposing bacteria and fungi | |
| Seagrass → dugong | |
| Rat → barn owl |
Activity 2
- Explain arrow direction with one example.
- Write the two lesson rice-field routes.
- Why should decomposers not appear only after the eagle?
- How does an organism list differ from a food web?
- What limits a prediction about fewer rats?
Reflection
Which arrow most needs rechecking?
What evidence would you need to add a new relationship?
Answer key — for teachers
Separate this section from pupil copies. Page numbers depend on print settings.
Activity 1
- Rice: Producer
- Rat eating rice: Primary consumer
- Snake eating the rice-eating rat: Secondary consumer
- Eagle after snake on route A: Tertiary consumer
- Grasshopper eating rice: Primary consumer
- Frog eating the grasshopper on route B: Secondary consumer
- Eagle after frog on route B: Tertiary consumer
- Decomposing bacteria and fungi: Decomposers
- Seagrass → dugong: The dugong eats seagrass
- Rat → barn owl: The barn owl eats the rat
Activity 2
- Explain arrow direction with one example. — Rice → rat shows food energy moving from the rice eaten to the rat.
- Write the two lesson rice-field routes. — Rice → rat → snake → eagle; rice → grasshopper → frog → eagle. These are teaching models, not a survey of one field.
- Why should decomposers not appear only after the eagle? — Rice and every animal can also leave remains that decompose.
- How does an organism list differ from a food web? — A list names organisms; a web shows evidence-supported feeding links.
- What limits a prediction about fewer rats? — The model indicates possible effects on predators and food, but provides no quantities, alternative diets or certain outcomes.
Sources and updates
2026-10-02
- Kemendikbudristek — IPAS Kelas V (Edisi Revisi 2024), Bab 3
- Keputusan Kepala BSKAP No. 046/H/KR/2025, CP IPA Fase D
- Kemendikbudristek — IPA Kelas VII (Edisi Revisi 2023), Bab VI — hlm. 167
- Dinas Pertanian, Ketahanan Pangan dan Perikanan Kabupaten Buleleng — Waspada Hama Tikus! Musuh Utama Tanaman Padi yang Sering Diabaikan (2026)
- Dinas Pertanian, Ketahanan Pangan dan Perikanan Kabupaten Buleleng — Tikus dan Pengendaliannya (2022)
- BBPPTP Medan (Ditjen Perkebunan, Kementerian Pertanian) — Pengembangan Burung Hantu dalam Pengendalian Hama Tikus
- Kementerian Pertanian — Oxya spp., Hama Eksotik Tanaman Padi
- University of Michigan, Animal Diversity Web — Spilornis cheela
- University of Michigan, Animal Diversity Web — Dugong dugon
- University of Michigan, Animal Diversity Web — Bubulcus ibis
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