Free to download / Kindergarten through Grade 5
What Eats Light?
A seed germination and algae culturing project, with brine shrimp as grazers. Three sealed bags, seven days, one food chain.
Bag 1 holds sprouting seeds, Bag 2 holds algae, Bag 3 holds the same algae plus brine shrimp. The young plants and the algae both make their own food out of light, which is photosynthesis. The shrimp eat the algae. The students eat the corn, lentils and beans, which puts the class inside the food chain rather than outside looking at it. Bags 2 and 3 start identical, but by Day 7 Bag 3 has lost its green, because the shrimp are grazing the algae as fast as it grows. Put the bags in bright indirect light rather than direct sun, and keep them off a hot windowsill.
Kindergarten through Grade 2
Download the K-2 lesson
One document, not a stack of them. Teacher material, answer keys and student pages are all inside it, in that order. Students observe and sort rather than measure. Everything is read aloud, and students answer by drawing, pointing or telling. Standards K-LS1-1 and 2-LS2-1, Texas 1.12.A, Florida SC.1.L.17.1.
ARS-K2-BBE-001 What Eats Light?
Background written for a generalist teacher, day by day procedure, pacing, troubleshooting and what the bags should look like at the end.
In the file: The teacher pages come first, then the answer keys, then the student pages behind the orange PRINT FROM HERE divider. Print from the divider to the end.
Grades 3 through 5
Download the 3-5 lesson
One document, with the teacher material, the answer keys and the student pages inside it. Students measure and explain. Secchi Stick readings on both algae bags across the week, plotted as two lines on one graph, and the lines separating is the result. Standards 5-PS3-1 and 5-LS2-1, Texas 3.9.B and 5.9.C, Florida SC.4.L.17.2 and SC.4.L.17.3.
ARS-35-BBE-001 What Eats Light?
The same seven day setup, measured rather than observed. Full 5E structure, Secchi Stick method, and the two line graph that carries the result.
In the file: The teacher pages come first, then the answer keys, then the student pages behind the orange PRINT FROM HERE divider. Print from the divider to the end.
There is one Administrator Guide for the whole of elementary rather than one per lesson, so a principal or a curriculum director reads a single document. The folder holds every elementary lesson, kindergarten through grade 5. Free whether or not you buy a kit.
Standards met, by subject
One lab, five things you have to teach anyway
Teachers plan by concept, not by kit. These are the five subjects this one setup covers, each with the standard it satisfies. Open any of them to see the full state by state breakdown and what else we have on it. Texas and Florida place several of these a year or two earlier than NGSS does, so check the grade against your own framework rather than the NGSS code.
Needs of Living Things
Air, water, food, space. Students watch two very different living things, young plants and algae, survive on the same short list. Texas 1.12.A, Florida SC.1.L.17.1.
Sunlight and Water for Growth
A fair test with one variable. Bag 1 and Bag 2 get the same water and the same light, and students investigate whether that is what growth actually needs. Texas 1.12.A, Florida SC.2.L.17.2.
Photosynthesis
Producers make food from light, air and water rather than eating it. The algae does it visibly, in days, and the sprouting seeds do it alongside. Florida SC.3.L.17.2, two years earlier than NGSS.
Food Chains and Movement of Matter
Matter moving between producer, consumer and environment. Bag 3 losing its green while Bag 2 keeps it is the evidence, and students collected it. Texas 3.9.B, Florida SC.4.L.17.2.
Energy from the Sun
Every bit of energy in those shrimp arrived as sunlight through the window. The algae caught it, the shrimp ate it, and the Secchi graph tracks it. Texas 3.9.B, Florida SC.4.L.17.3.