In this original lesson, students will learn about ecosystems through video and photographs of a Mangrove on the TIDES website.  They will discuss the animals in this habitat and how they interact with each other after reading and discussing The Sea, the Storm and the Mangrove Tangle. The students will focus on food chains, producers and consumers before choosing between several stimulating activities. 

Created by Jenny Willmer, October 2006

Michigan Benchmark 5: Ecosystems
SCI.III.5.E.1 food chain
SCI.III.5.E.2 interdependence
SCI.III.5.E.3 habitat needs

Goal # 2 The student will know that organisms have basic needs and use food for energy.
Objective:

1. Know that a place where animals lives is called its habitat.

Goal # 4 The student will know simple food chains.
Objectives:

2. State that a food chain is a system in which an animal eats a plant or animal and then is eaten by another animal.
3. Draw diagrams of food chains.
4. Compare animals and tell whether they are predator or prey in any given food chain.
5. Name several predator-prey relationships.

Goal # 6 The students will know the relationship between producers, consumers and decomposers.

Objectives:

1. Describe a food chain.
2. Draw a food chain.

Map skills, vocabulary development, writing with dialogue

Tell the children you are going to introduce them to a habitat with which they may be unfamiliar. Write the word mangrove on a chart. Show the children the TIDES mangrove video clip. Generate discussion and chart responses. After gathering background information from the children, introduce the book. As you read the book out loud, ask children to think about the animals in this habitat and how they interact with each other.

As a class, list animals in the story (pelican tree crab, oyster, anemones, fiddler crab, tree snail, lizard, ants, mosquitoes, humming bird, seahorse, shrimp, snappers, grunts, fish, dolphins, manatees, heron frigate bird). At this time, show TIDES pictures of animals from mangrove in Mexico and compare them with the story.

Review the words producer, consumer and decomposer with the class. Producer--sunlight is the primary source of energy for all members of any food chain. Producers-green plants- make energy from the sunlight. Consumers: eat plants or animals or both to get their food and energy. Decomposers: break down dead and decaying plants and animals for food and energy. Look for some of these relationships in the story. Together, map some of the food chains found in the book.

After discussion of the book, give the children the worksheet to complete, independently or in pairs.

Allow the children to choose from one of the following activities:

1. Write a story with a mangrove as the setting.
2. Pretend to be an animal from a mangrove. Tell about your life, using dialogue.
3. Design a three dimensional model of a mangrove habitat.
4. Write a letter for the preservation of mangroves.

Begin an ecology word bank with the class. Add to the word wall and vocabulary words: producer, consumer, decomposer, predator, prey, habitat, ecosystem, food chain, mangrove.

Using the ecology vocabulary words, children can create ecological dictionaries, individually or a class set.

Create a crossword puzzle with these words, or use the crossword puzzle form provided. http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com/CrissCrossSetupForm.html

Using a world map, have children locate the mangrove areas from the story (Florida) and the mangroves in Mexico. Compare to child's own location.

Create a class terrarium/aquarium. Observe the class created ecosystem.

The Sea, the Storm and the Mangrove Tangle, by Lynne Cherry (insert ISBN # 0-374-36482-6) The Sea, the Storm and the Mangrove Tangle worksheet Mangrove video Photographs of a mangrove ecosystem in Yucatan, Mexico Venn Diagram Mangrove Ecosystem Projects Tips from the Teacher! Vea esta lección en Español aquí.