Grade 5 ecosystem science
Grade 5 Energy Flow Word Search
Food chains and food webs model the movement of energy among organisms. This printable reviews sunlight, producer, consumer, decomposer, transfer, energy, and trophic level before children create a model of their own.
Start with the printable
Use the words before and after the puzzle
Before solving, ask your child to circle unfamiliar words in the list. Afterward, choose three words to explain, draw, or use in a science sentence. Open the printable PDF below when you are ready.
What children can practice
- Classify organisms as producers, consumers, or decomposers.
- Use arrows to model the direction of energy transfer.
- Explain why a food web represents more relationships than one food chain.
For parents and homeschool
Turn two chains into a food web
Write a sun, two plants, and three animals on separate slips of paper.
- Step 1
Arrange the slips into one plausible food chain and draw arrows showing energy transfer.
- Step 2
Rearrange or add arrows to create a second chain with at least one shared organism.
- Step 3
Combine the chains and explain why the result is a web rather than a straight line.
Also useful for teachers
A quick classroom adaptation
After vocabulary review, groups can build food webs from organism cards. Remove one card and ask students to predict two effects while distinguishing a model-based prediction from a certainty.
Questions to talk about
- Why do arrows point from food to eater?
- What roles can decomposers play after an organism dies?
- How is a food web more informative than one food chain?