Grade 5 Food Chains and Food Webs Worksheet

About This Resource

A three-part worksheet that gives Grade 5 students hands-on practice with food chains and food webs, using a coral reef, a rainforest, and a set of critical-thinking "what would happen if" questions. It's for Science teachers who want practice that goes beyond a single worksheet format — sequencing, sorting, diagramming, and short written reasoning are all included.

Overview

Students first put two scrambled food chains (coral reef and rainforest) into the correct order and label each organism as a producer or consumer. They then sort eight organisms into producers, consumers, and decomposers. In Part C, students draw their own food web by connecting rainforest organisms with arrows, which requires them to think about more than one path of energy at a time rather than a single chain. Part D closes with three short-answer questions asking students to reason about what would happen if one part of a food chain or web changed.

Resource Details

Subject: Science
Topic: Food Chains and Food Webs
Category: Life Science
File Type: PDF
File Size: 46.7 KB
Published: 07 Sep 2026
Downloads: 8

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Student Task

This worksheet works well as independent practice after the Vocabulary and Concepts PowerPoint and the rice-field food chain example have been introduced. Part C (the food web diagram) is the most demanding section — consider modelling it as a class first, using the class food web activity suggested in the Lesson Plan, before students attempt the rainforest version independently. Part D questions can be answered independently or discussed as a class before students write their answers.

Classroom Use

After completing Part C, have pairs of students compare their food webs. Since more than one correct web is possible, ask them to explain their arrows to each other and discuss any differences — this reinforces that a food web reflects real feeding relationships, not one single correct drawing.

Differentiation

SUPPORT: Provide the sun-to-consumer order as a partly filled example before students attempt Part A independently. For Part C, pre-draw one or two arrows as a model. Accept single-word or short-phrase answers for Part D.
ON-LEVEL: Students complete all four parts as designed, writing full sentences for Part D.
CHALLENGE: Ask students to add one more organism of their choosing to the rainforest food web in Part C and explain, in writing, where it fits and why.

Answer Key & Assessment

Mark Parts A and B for a quick right/wrong check. Use Part C and Part D as a fuller picture of understanding, since they call for reasoning rather than a single fixed answer — the answer key describes what a reasonable response includes.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to sequence the organisms in a food chain correctly, starting with the sun.
Students will be able to classify organisms as producers, consumers, or decomposers.
Students will be able to construct a simple food web showing more than one energy path.
Students will be able to explain what happens to other organisms when one part of a food chain or web changes.

Teacher Tips

For Part C, remind students that an arrow means "energy flows this way" or "gets eaten by" — drawing the arrow FROM the fig tree TO the insect, not the other way around, is a common point of confusion worth addressing before students start.