Standards

Science

• 5-PS3-1. Students who demonstrate understanding can use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.

Language Arts

• RI.5.7. Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.

Learning Objectives

• Students will identify the roles of producers, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, scavengers, and decomposers.
• Students will model the ways matter and energy move through a cornfield ecosystem by creating food chains and food webs.

Materials

Box Materials

• The Dibben Family Farm Story
• Producers, Consumers, Decomposers Sheet
• Five Farm Ecosystems Graphics
• The Many Uses Of Corn Story
• Many Uses of Corn infographic
• Farm Ecosystems Word Find
• You’re Almost Done Certificate

Breakout Edu Tips

If this is your first time using a Breakout Edu box, you are in for a treat. Once you’ve done one breakout box your students will be ready for the next time.

• You can use breakout boxes as a whole class, in addition to small groups.
• You have the opportunity to give students hints. Every box comes with at least two hint cards. If you have a high performing group, you may want to challenge them with less hints, while a different hour may need more hints.
• Having a visual timer for students while they are working is really helpful. It allows them to budget their time and when they may want to use their hints.
• As the teacher, you have the discretion to hide things wherever in your room you deem best. Feel free to make adjustments. Just make sure the clues for the locks don’t change. Otherwise, students may not be able to get in.

Breakout Activity

Recommended Ages: 5th Grade
Ideal Group Size: Small groups depending on classroom needs
Suggested Time: 30

Story

Sara was very excited to get home to her family farm after school one day. She was happy to learn that her family’s farm was actually a diverse ecosystem made of living and nonliving parts. She learned that a cornfield is a great environment for earthworms. They help stabilize the soil for planting and allow for rain to flow to the plant roots. She even shared that her 4-H pig, Pinky, benefitted from the corn. However, when she got home, all of her work was crumpled and in disarray in her backpack. Help Sarah put her school work in order so that she can share what she learned at school.

Online Lock Combinations

The following codes will open the locks for the online version.

4-Digit Lock – 4 Numbers
9,6,9,5

3-Digit Lock – 3 Numbers
2,5,4

Directional Lock
Right, Up, Down, Up, Left

Color Lock – 5 Colors for the color Multilock
Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Red

Lock Combinations

The following codes will open the locks on the box.

4-Digit Lock – 4 Numbers
9,6,9,5

3-Digit Lock – 3 Numbers
2,5,4

Directional Lock
Right, Up, Down, Up, Left

Color Lock – 5 Colors for the color Multilock
Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Red

Key Lock – Where is the Key Hidden?
Teacher’s Choice

Setup Instructions

Steps

1. Print off the following resources: The Dibben Family Farm Story; Producers; Consumers, Decomposers Sheet; Five Farm Ecosystems Graphics; Farm Ecosystem Word Find; You’re Almost Done Cerfiticate; Many Uses of Corn Story; and Many Uses of Corn Infographic. The resources need to be printed in color and enough copies per the number of boxes you plan on using. Most can be laminated for future use.
2. Change the locks to the appropriate lock combinations found in the lesson plan. If you are unsure on how to change the locks, please watch the official breakout videos on youtube titled, “Setting Breakout EDU Locks.”
3. Grab the small breakout box. If you are planning on a breakout reward (a TWIZZLER is a fun corn based product to use) set it in the box before placing the key lock. The TEACHER keeps the key to give to the students after they unlock the BIG Breakout Box.
4. Place the now locked small breakout box and the resource titled, “You’re Almost Done” inside the larger breakout box. Once complete, place the multi-lock mechanism on the bigger breakout box.
5. Once you have placed the multi-lock mechanism on the larger breakout box you are ready to start placing the locks associated with the lesson. It is always a good idea to double check your locks before beginning the lesson.
6. Place the Five Farm Ecosystem Graphics that represent the direction lock around the room in easily accessible areas. Make sure to place them in an order that will not give away the answer.
7. Students should be handed the following resources:
   • The Dibben Family Farm Sheet
   • Producers, Consumers, Decomposers Sheet
   • Farm Ecosystems Word Find
   • The Many Uses of Corn Story
   • Many Uses of Corn Infographic
8. Begin. We have found it to be helpful for a visual representation of the breakout timer to be running in the background. This can be found on youtube by searching, Breakout EDU Timer.

Resources

This breakout box works well when used with the 4th grade lesson “Structurally Speaking” lesson and/or the 5th grade lesson “World Wide Web” which both come with free materials for Kansas teachers.

Reflection and Conclusion

This Breakout allows you to assess your students understanding of the lesson, “A Kernel’s Adventure.” It can be used as either a formative pre-assessment or post-assessment. Whether as a pre or post-assessment, you will be able to evaluate students’ understanding of plant life cycles based on their propositions of how to create a new corn plant. Do they know that farmers plant seeds and grow plants? Adjust instruction and prompts accordingly.

Questions

1. Where does the energy come from for organisms to live? If you wanted to plant corn plants, what part of the plant would you plant?
2. What is an ecosystem?
3. Could the whole exist without the parts?
4. How do humans impact food webs in a Kansas corn field?
5. Can a consumer, producer or decomposer ever switch roles?

Assessment

This lesson has an optional POST assessment by using the Producers Consumer Decomposer Worksheet found in the fifth grade lesson, “World Wide Web.”

Disclaimer

Any educator electing to perform demonstrations is expected to follow NSTA Minimum Safety Practices and Regulations for Demonstrations, Experiments, and Workshops, which are available at https://static. nsta.org/pdfs/MinimumSafetyPracticesAndRegulations.pdf, as well as all school policies and rules and all state and federal laws, regulations, codes and professional standards. Educators are under a duty of care to make laboratories and demonstrations in and out of the classroom as safe as possible. If in doubt, do not perform the demonstrations.