NGSS5th GradeScience

5-LS2-1Develop a model to describe the movement

Life Science · 5-LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics

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What this standard means: Develop a model that shows how matter moves among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment in a forest ecosystem. You are going to read and use a model of ONE forest. The same forest is used the whole way through: trees, a rabbit, a mouse, a wolf, an owl, and the decomposers living in the soil.

A model uses arrows to show where matter goes. In this lesson every arrow means "matter moves this way." It always points from where the matter is now to where it goes next:

- from the air, the water, and the soil into the trees - from the food to whoever eats it (trees to rabbit, rabbit to wolf) - from anything that dies or leaves waste into the decomposers - from the decomposers back out to the soil and air

Careful: the arrow does not point from the eater to its food. It follows the matter. A wolf eats a rabbit, so the arrow points rabbit to wolf.

Matter and energy are not the same thing. Matter goes around the same circle again and again. Energy comes in from the sun, travels the same direction as the arrows, and does not come back around.

You have got it when you can put your finger on any living thing in the model and say where its matter came from and where its matter goes next.

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What you get, and who it’s for

Everything below is measured from the actual lesson and the actual file. Nothing here is an estimate.

Time to run
About 35 minutes. 15 min lesson, then 20 min of practice.
In the download
12 printable pages: the full lesson, the worked examples, the visual models, and 13 practice questions with space to work. A teacher answer key is included at the end, so the student pages come first and it is still ready to hand out. The lesson’s worked examples do show their solutions, because that is how they teach.
Question set
The download carries all 13 questions. The page shows 3 of them as a sample.
Question format
Every question is multiple choice. Students show their work on the page.
Dates
Published August 5, 2026. Not revised since.

The sample intervention

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5-LS2-1

Forest Energy and Matter Practice Set

Develop a model that shows how matter moves among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment in a forest ecosystem.

You are going to read and use a model of ONE forest. The same forest is used the whole way through: trees, a rabbit, a mouse, a wolf, an owl, and the decomposers living in the soil. A model uses arrows to show where matter goes. In this lesson every arrow means "matter moves this way." It always points from where the matter is now to where it goes next: - from the air, the water, and the soil into the trees - from the food to whoever eats it (trees to rabbit, rabbit to wolf) - from anything that dies or leaves waste into the decomposers - from the decomposers back out to the soil and air Careful: the arrow does not point from the eater to its food. It follows the matter. A wolf eats a rabbit, so the arrow points rabbit to wolf. Matter and energy are not the same thing. Matter goes around the same circle again and again. Energy comes in from the sun, travels the same direction as the arrows, and does not come back around. You have got it when you can put your finger on any living thing in the model and say where its matter came from and where its matter goes next.

Everything in a forest is made of matter. Matter is the stuff that takes up space and has weight. Our forest has trees, a rabbit, a mouse, a wolf, an owl, and decomposers living down in the soil. The trees are producers, which means they make their own food. Sunlight gives them the energy to do it. But the matter they build with comes from carbon dioxide in the air and from water they pull up through their roots. That matter becomes wood, bark, leaves, roots, and seeds. Here is the part that surprises people: a huge tree is not made mostly of soil. Most of a tree came out of the air.
Worked exampleWhere does a tree's matter come from? Look at one new leaf on one of our trees and ask what it is made of. Carbon dioxide from the air, and water from the ground. Sunlight is the energy that puts those together, but sunlight is not matter, so no part of the leaf is made of sunlight. Arrow: air, water, and soil --> trees
Animals cannot make their own food, so they are consumers. They get their matter by eating. In our forest, the rabbit and the mouse eat parts of the trees: leaves, bark, seeds, and berries. The wolf eats the rabbit. The owl eats the mouse. Every time something is eaten, matter moves into the eater and becomes part of its muscles, bones, fur, and feathers for a while. Not all of it stays. Some leaves the animal as waste. Some leaves as a gas every time the animal breathes out. That matter is not gone. It has just moved somewhere else.
Worked exampleFollow one bite. A rabbit eats a tree leaf, and matter from that leaf becomes rabbit muscle. Later a wolf eats the rabbit, and that same matter becomes wolf muscle. Arrows: trees --> rabbit --> wolf Notice which way the arrows point. They point away from the one being eaten, not toward it.
How matter moves through this forest
  • producer
  • consumer
  • decomposer

Every arrow means "matter moves this way." Put your finger on any organism and follow the arrow out of it to see where its matter goes next. Notice that every a

The matter cycle: it always comes back

Matter never runs out and never gets used up. It just keeps going around this loop. Energy is different: it comes in from the sun, travels the same way, and does not come back around. Follow the numbers around and see if you can find where the loop starts.

Follow the matter, organism by organism
Where its matter comes fromWhere its matter goes next
TreesAir, water and soilThe rabbit and mouse that eat them
RabbitThe tree leaves it eatsThe wolf, and decomposers when it dies
WolfThe rabbit it eatsDecomposers when it dies
OwlThe mouse it eatsDecomposers when it dies
DecomposersDead plants, animals and wasteBack to the soil and air, then the trees

Every living thing takes matter in from somewhere and passes it along to something else. Nobody in the forest creates matter, and nobody destroys it.

Practice questions

  1. 1

    In this forest, which living thing makes its own food using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide?

    • The rabbit
    • The trees
    • The wolf
    • The owl
  2. 2

    In this forest, which path best shows matter moving from the environment into a plant?

    • Soil and air → trees
    • Wolf → trees
    • Trees → soil and air
    • Owl → rabbit
  3. 3

    Which pair shows a consumer and what it eats in this forest?

    • Rabbit and plants
    • Decomposers and sunlight
    • Soil and air
    • Trees and sunlight

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