Food Chains and Habitats — Answers
Answer sheet with model answers and success criteria for the Year 5 ecosystems & food chains worksheet.
Success TutoringWorksheetsAnswer sheetYear 5 · Science · Ecosystems & Food ChainsFood Chains and Habitats — Answers
Part A: Who eats what?
Read the passage. Then circle the best answer.
A habitat is the place where a living thing lives. A good habitat gives it food, water, shelter and space to raise its young. A pond, a forest and a desert are all habitats.
A food chain shows what eats what. Most food chains start with a plant. Plants are producers — they make their own food using energy from sunlight.
Animals are consumers — they get energy by eating other living things. Herbivores eat plants, carnivores eat other animals and omnivores eat both.
Decomposers, such as fungi and bacteria, break down dead plants and animals. This puts goodness back into the soil for plants to use.
- Agrass
- Brabbit
- Cfox
- Dthe Sun
Answer: grass
Grass is a plant. It makes its own food using sunlight, so it is the producer.
- Aproducer
- Bdecomposer
- Cherbivore
- Dcarnivore
Answer: herbivore
A rabbit eats plants only, so it is a herbivore (a plant-eater).
- A'is bigger than'
- B'is eaten by'
- C'lives next to'
- D'is afraid of'
Answer: 'is eaten by'
The arrow points from the food to the animal that eats it. It shows the energy passing along.
- Aherbivore
- Bproducer
- Ccarnivore
- Domnivore
Answer: omnivore
Omnivores eat both plants and animals.
- Aa mushroom
- Ba hawk
- Ca leaf
- Da deer
Answer: a mushroom
Mushrooms are fungi. Fungi break down dead plants and animals.
Part B: Build the chain
- producer
- herbivore
- carnivore
- decomposer
- habitat
- the place where a living thing lives
- breaks down dead things
- eats only other animals
- makes its own food using sunlight
- eats only plants
Answer: producer → makes its own food using sunlight; herbivore → eats only plants; carnivore → eats only other animals; decomposer → breaks down dead things; habitat → the place where a living thing lives
Answer: small bird
The small bird eats the caterpillar and is eaten by the hawk.
Answer: plant → grasshopper → frog → snake
Part C: True or false?
Write True or False.
Answer: True
Plants are producers: they make food from sunlight, and animals depend on them.
Answer: False
A carnivore eats other animals. A herbivore eats plants.
Answer: True
These are the main things a habitat provides.
Answer: False
Decomposers break down dead things and return goodness to the soil, which helps plants grow.
Part D: Think like a scientist
Model answer: The number of grasshoppers might go up, because fewer frogs are eating them. The number of snakes might go down, because they have less food to eat.
Success criteria:
- Predicts grasshoppers increase, with a reason
- Predicts snakes decrease, with a reason
- Uses the idea that living things depend on each other for food
Model answer: With an adult, he could gently lift a log or stone, look at the animals and count each kind, then carefully put it back how it was. He could record the results in a table with the name of each animal and how many he saw. He should wash his hands afterwards.
Success criteria:
- Observes without harming the animals or their habitat
- Records results, e.g. a tally table
- Mentions a safety step, e.g. an adult helps, gloves or handwashing
Marking tips
- Give credit for correct method even when the final answer slips — the working shows where the thinking went right.
- For open-ended tasks, use the success criteria as a checklist rather than looking for one "right" answer.
- Celebrate what went well first, then pick one thing to work on next.
Great work. Here's what to try next: