In my third grade class the first curricular idea in science is talking about animals, Omnivores, Herbivore, and Carnivores.  We also talk about food chains and food webs.  When I am discussing with my students about food chains, the biggest goal I want them to learn is the arrows show the path of energy.  When we eat something we get energy.  I also want them to know that every food chains start with a producer and ends with decomposers.   To get this across, I had my students this year to create their own food chain.  They drew and color the plants and animals and then I connected them with string.  I then hung them from the ceiling (which did not make our custodian happy).  Today a member of my PLN tweeted a link that his school’s Third Grade class were doing to help with Food Chains.

The game “Chain Reaction” goes into good detail about food chains and the introduction of what some key words are.  It also tests you on putting a food chain in order (there are two options).  It will also show you what happens when you take an animal out of the equation (this is a question that my students have a hard time to visualize.  With this game, it will make it easier).

The game is from EcoKids- Which provides good resources for teachers in their Teacher’s Lounge

The Teacher’s Lounge offers a wide array of free environmental education resources, including:

• A fleet of new lesson plans tailored to the Ontario Elementary Science and Technology curriculum, incorporating the 2008 Environmental Education Scope and Sequence of Expectations resource guide (more new lesson plans will be added throughout the year)
• Corresponding printable handouts and assessment materials for each lesson
• Activity sheets and topical handouts
• A searchable interface of our resources categorized under a point-and-click version of the Elementary Science and Tech Curriculum Overview chart
• A national contest called “The Great EcoKids Challenge” modified especially for teachers wishing to use class time for an environmental project with curriculum-linked ideas and assessment tools
• Literacy Corner—a resource list of environmental books with corresponding teaching tools
• English as a Second Language lessons and resources
• A “Free Stuff” section where you can order free items such as our EcoCalendar, stickers, tattoos, bookmarks and posters
• Profile pages for other EcoKids schools that list their activities and accomplishments

And much more!

There are many more games that go over many other activities and sections for a Science Curriculum. Check it out!