Below are ideas for extending this topic beyond the Exploration & Activity you just completed.

• Lesson Assessment and Answer Key
• Resource: Set up a cold-water aquarium for your classroom
• Resource and Activity: Make a seaweed salad!
• Videos: Life in a drop of pond water, food webs in the Everglades, and the dirt on decomposers
• Readings: From “rock snot” to seabird poop
• Distance Learning Resource: Observe organisms that live in a pond

A fish tank can be a great source of learning and pleasure. If you have the opportunity to add one to your classroom, these videos will help guide you. They show how to prepare a simple, cold-water tank, suitable for keeping a community of goldfish. Instructions on maintaining the tank, as well as choosing and caring for both the fish and their environment, are included.

• How to prepare a cold-water fish tank (3:55)
• How to choose and care for goldfish (3:40)
• How to add new fish to your fish tank (3:10)
• How to clean and maintain your fish tank (3:33)

Fish eat algae…and people do, too. Give your students a chance to get to know edible algae.

• Did you know there were algae in your chocolate milk? This lesson, from the Smithsonian], lets students discover what common foods contain algae.
  
• For a more in-depth exploration of edible algae, check out this website, from the California Academy of Sciences, with everything from lesson plans to recipes for seaweed salads.
• For even more on different kinds of edible algae and how healthy they can be, check out this site.

• What’s in a drop of pond water? Watch this video (4:05) to see pond life under the microscope, and this one (2:31) for some pond-creature close-ups.
• Two videos show the amazing complexity of life in the Florida Everglades. “The Food Chain” (4:49) introduces the flow of energy within the environment; “The Food Web” (3:07) connects some of those chains—all with up-close views of life in the swamp.
• Decomposers are nature’s cleanup crews. Watch this video to see how they work. (3:18)

Readings from Newsela are free with registration. They can be adjusted for reading level. A writing prompt and quiz questions are available for each reading.

• Fish eat algae, but what happens when there’s too much of it? Read about one kind of problem algae that clogs river water with “rock snot.” (Grade 6)
• A look at the worldwide ecosystem and the many relationships it contains. (Grade 5)

What lives in a pond? Watch this video and discuss these questions.

• How many different animals can you see in the pond? Name the ones you know. Describe the ones you don’t.
• How many different plants do you see?
• Draw a picture of this pond and label any producers and consumers you include in the picture. You probably can’t see any decomposers, but can you label where they would be?