Virginia SOL 3.5

3.5 is a Standards of Learning science standard. These are the key ideas and practices under it.

• 3.5.a

  ecosystems are made of living and nonliving components of the environment

• 3.5.b

  relationships exist among organisms in an ecosystem.

01

What Students Need to Do

Students identify living and nonliving parts of pond, stream, forest, and grassland habitats. They explain how plants and animals depend on other organisms and their surroundings for food, water, shelter, and space.

02

What Mastery Looks Like

A student can sort ecosystem features as living or nonliving and support each choice. The student can describe specific connections, such as a frog eating an insect or using pond plants for shelter.

03

Common Misconceptions

Students may label water, sunlight, or rocks as living because organisms need them. They may also think organisms in the same habitat live independently or that predators are harmful to the ecosystem.

04

How to Assess It

Show a pond picture and ask students to name two living parts, two nonliving parts, and one relationship between organisms. Require evidence from the picture.

1. 01

   Build a shoebox habitat with plant, animal, water, soil, sunlight, and shelter cards, then connect parts with labeled yarn.

2. 02

   Ask students to explain what might happen in a pond if all the insects disappeared.

3. 03

   Play ecosystem connection bingo using organism, food, shelter, water, and sunlight cards from forest and pond habitats.

4. 04

   Inspect the schoolyard, record living and nonliving parts, and sketch one way an organism uses another organism or nearby material.

• LS.7

  The student will investigate and understand that adaptations support an organism’s survival in an ecosystem. Key ideas include

• 4.3

  The student will investigate and understand that organisms, including humans, interact with one another and with the nonliving components in the ecosystem. Key ...

• 3.8

  The student will investigate and understand that natural events and humans influence ecosystems. Key ideas include

• LS.5

  The student will investigate and understand that biotic and abiotic factors affect an ecosystem. Key ideas include