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Apple Orchard Matter Journal

Analyze an orchard field journal and decomposition data, then model matter moving among apple trees, animals, decomposers, soil, and air.

Grade 5ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned to5-LS2-1

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What’s included

Single worksheet
Auto-graded online
1 NGSS standard
Printable answer key
14 questions
Classroom-ready

Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 5
Subject: Science
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer, Drawing

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students model matter moving among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
Students use field observations and mass data as evidence for matter movement.
Students distinguish matter transfers from energy entering a plant.

How to use

Read the field journal together, then have students use the table as evidence before drawing or explaining their matter models.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

5-LS2-1

Model how matter moves among plants, animals, decomposers and the environment.

Preview

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Name Date

Apple Orchard Matter Journal

Use field notes and test data to model how matter moves through an orchard.

Read the Orchard Journal

Read the field journal and use the table to answer the questions.A mass decrease does not show that matter vanished; it shows that the measured apple pieces changed or moved.

Pages from Lena's Harvest Journal

Lena kept a field journal during apple harvest at a small orchard. On September 4, she observed an apple tree with green leaves and ripe apples. A robin carried a piece of a fallen apple to a nearby branch. Lena also noticed fallen apple pieces resting on the soil. On September 6, she saw small earthworms under one fallen apple. On September 8, thin fungal threads covered some of the older apple pieces.

To investigate what happened to fallen apple material, Lena placed 40 grams of chopped apple pieces in each of two mesh trays. Tray A rested on moist orchard soil. Tray B rested on a dry wooden board above the soil. Both trays were kept in the same shaded part of the orchard. They had the same starting mass, tray size, mesh cover, and observation schedule. Lena weighed the remaining apple pieces on days 1, 3, 5, and 7.

Lena recorded that the pieces in Tray A became soft and crumbly, while the pieces in Tray B stayed firmer. She saw fungal threads on pieces in Tray A by day 5. The investigation did not track every place that the missing apple material went. Some matter could have become part of decomposers, soil, water, or air.

Lena's apple-piece measurements
Tray | Starting mass | Day 1 | Day 3 | Day 5 | Day 7
Tray A: moist soil | 40 g | 40 g | 32 g | 21 g | 12 g
Tray B: dry board | 40 g | 40 g | 37 g | 33 g | 29 g

Which pathway best represents matter moving after the robin eats the fallen apple piece?