In this lesson, students will learn about the complexity of ecosystems, including the classification of different ecosystems, the elements that compose them, and the food webs that form in an ecosystem. They will also learn the basics of photosynthesis and its importance for life on our planet. On this basis, they will reflect on the importance of protecting ecosystems and conduct research to provide solutions to environmental problems in their community. Students will have many opportunities to practice formal and informal writing, to compare and contrast the elements of different types of texts, and to strengthen their writing skills by writing a variety of texts according to the needs of the lesson. The students, moreover, will integrate the use of technology as part of their learning and communication process. Finally, the content and activities of the lesson will provide the appropriate context for students to practice a variety of skills and strategies that will support their capacity for critical thinking, analysis, organizing ideas and information, self-correcting and monitoring their learning.

In this short video, students will learn how female loggerhead sea turtles make their way to beaches all along the Atlantic Ocean to lay their eggs.

In this short video, students learn about seashells and the creatures that use them on the coast of North Carolina.

Students investigate familiar and unfamiliar ecosystems using Internet resources, explore how various organisms satsify their needs within their environments, and study the kinds of relationships that exist between organisms within an environment.

Students investigate the living creatures in a drop of pond water under magnification.

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 5th Grade Science. 

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 5th Grade Science.

In this activity, students are given roles in a skit designed to illustrate how a salt marsh works and how the organisms in it interact with each other.

In this video, students learn that there are two main types of aquatic ecosystems: freshwater and saltwater. The main difference between these two ecosystems is saltiness. Oceans, rivers, swamps, bogs and streams are all aquatic ecosystems.

In this video, students learn that the Earth is divided into major kinds of large ecosystems, or biomes. The major difference between biomes in the climate. Several common biomes are explored that include grasslands and forests.

In this video, students get a fun explanation of what estuaries are and why they are important.

Students explore a local water ecosystem and discover organisms living in various habitats. Many of these organisms provide food and cover for fish. Each student collects aquatic invertebrates using dip nets and sorts through muck scooped from the lake or creek bottom.

In this lesson, students will describe characteristics of wetlands. They will also identify plants and animals found in wetlands and identify reasons wetlands are important to our environment.

In this lesson, students will learn about the interdependence of plants and animals with their ecosystem, pollution in our oceans, as well as simulating an “ocean” cleanup by cleaning up recess area of trash. They will also learn about the top 10 plastic waste producing countries. Students will interpret that data to create a bar or line graph and answer questions based on the information. Students will also be learning about and building their own AI on code.org.

This discussion guide is to be used in conjunction with the 4-part Wetlands Ecology video series (http://intotheoutdoors.org/topics/wetlands-wisdom/#available-videos).

In this lesson, students complete a series of activities to better understand the interdependence of organisms within a wetland ecosystem and how energy flows through an ecosystem.

In this lesson, students explore the different depth zones of the ocean, comparing their unique charactieristics and the organisms that live in each one. Students will then use art supplies to illustrate each zone.

In this lesson, students will study how living models can help them to understand and relate to the real environment. As a class, students will create a model of an aquatic habitat and be responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the tank.