Our first unit in 6th grade science this year is based on investigating the question, “What can cause populations to change?” Within that question we are focusing on four main components that drive population change: food, reproduction, environment, and other organisms. So far, we have been investigating the purpose of food and the impact it has on a population of organisms in an ecosystem. Over the past few weeks we have been testing how we know something is a food by testing it for carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. This week, we moved on to investigating and examining food chains and food webs where we discussed producers, consumers, predator, prey, and direct and indirect interactions. This past Wednesday we created a class food web to visually see how multiple organisms interact and depend on one another to live. We also discussed how the impact of losing one species from our food chain effects other species. The kids did a great job at listening to each other and helping each other out as we created our giant food web. It was so cool to see all the different food chains we created within our web once we were done.

I have been so impressed with the 6th graders and their thoughtful questions and comments based on what we are studying. I am so excited to continue to watch them grow and learn as the year goes on. In the next few weeks we will have the opportunity to dissect two different types of fish. Be prepared to see some icky pictures!!