Ecosystem Engineers: Exploring Interdependence through Stories and STEAM.
A multi-day STEAM unit for grades 3–5 exploring interdependence in ecosystems through models, living food webs, Rube Goldberg chain reactions, energy ripple effects, and real-world problem solving.
This STEAM curriculum resource is crafted for elementary educators and homeschoolers where I combine nearly 15 years of experience as an outdoor educator, science classroom teacher, environmental educator, and Montessori guide.
Curriculum by KidLit Grove is designed to be practical and accessible, whether you’re teaching in a classroom or at home. No specialized equipment is required.
There’s a lot to explore, so let’s get started!
Featured Title: Creep, Leap, Crunch: A Food Chain Story
Written by Jody Jensen Shaffer, Illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal
Creep, Leap, Crunch: A Food Chain Story is a great introduction to the concept of the food chain, told through rhyming, cumulative text that invites readers to engage, predict, and participate. Set in a deciduous forest, the story begins with the sun, and continues through the interconnected lives of plants, insects, and animals, culminating in the appearance of the apex predator: the black bear.
Shaffer makes ecological relationships both accessible and entertaining. But do all the forest critters end up as someone’s lunch? You'll have to read to find out!
Christopher Silas Neal’s warm, textured illustrations bring the forest to life. His artwork captures both the quiet beauty and the dramatic moments of the food chain in action, drawing readers into the woodland world and inviting close observation.
You can find Creep, Leap, Crunch: A Food Chain Story, along with other thoughtfully selected titles, in my Bookshop.org storefront. Purchasing through this link helps support the author, illustrator, and independent bookstores. I also earn a tiny commission that would support the continued creation of this newsletter and curriculum. Thank you for being part of this learning community!
Inside this edition, you’ll find:
Interdisciplinary STEAM Unit Overview
Chain Reaction: Life in Balance — Interdependence in Food Chains.
Coming Up Next
A peek at what’s coming up over the next few months.
Custom Support
How to reach out if you need product support, or simply need a brainstorm session.
Printable Lesson Plan and Slide Decks
Paid subscribers receive the full lesson guide and slide decks to make planning even easier.
Prefer to purchase as needed? You can also find this and other lessons on my Teachers Pay Teachers store—no subscription required.
Interdisciplinary STEAM Unit
In this multi-day STEAM unit inspired by themes and concepts within Creep, Leap, Crunch by Jody Jensen Shaffer and Christopher Silas Neal, students explore ecosystems, food webs, and the interdependence of living things. Through read-aloud discussions, hands-on models, and creative challenges, they investigate how energy flows through ecosystems and how changes to one species can affect the whole system. The unit culminates in ecosystem dioramas and real-world problem-solving activities that promote environmental awareness and critical thinking.
With 29 pages of material, here’s what you can expect to find:
Lesson Outcome:
Students will…
explore food chain levels and energy flow using characters from the book.
construct a dynamic food web.
model energy transfer with visual math pyramids and graph ripple effects.
design Rube Goldberg-style chain reactions to simulate ecological ripple effects.
build dioramas to show how living and nonliving things work together.
conclude the unit by proposing, sketching, and presenting real-world solutions to disrupted ecosystems.
Grade Level:
Grades 3-5
Subject/Focus:
Life Science/Food Chains and Ecosystems
Time Required:
2-3 weeks (split into 10 class sessions, 45-60 minutes each)
Unit Timeline:
DAY 1 — Ecosystem & Food Chains Foundations: introduce ecosystems using Creep, Leap, Crunch. Explore roles, relationships, and interdependence within ecosystems.
DAY 2 — Food Webs: model predator-prey relationships and construct a living food web to show species connections.
DAY 3 — Energy Transfer Ripple Math: learn how energy moves through a food chain using the 10% rule and bar graphing ripple effects.
DAYS 4-5 — Rube Goldberg Chain Reaction Machines: design and build chain-reaction machines to model how one change in an ecosystem can cause disruption (this was a favorite!).
DAYS 6-9 — Build an Ecosystem Diorama: Research, plan, and construct a 3D model showing an ecosystem's energy flow and roles of organisms.
DAY 10 — Ecosystem Problems & Possibilities: Explore real-world environmental issues and brainstorm solutions as “ecosystem engineers.”
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
3-LS2-1: Explain how some animals form groups to help them survive.
3-LS4-3: Provide evidence to show some living things survive in particular habitats better than others.
4-LS1-1: Explain how internal and external structures support survival.
5-PS3-1: Use models to describe energy flow within ecosystems as it originates from the sun.
5-LS2-1: Develop a model to describe the movement of matter and energy in food webs.
STEAM Connections at a Glance
SCIENCE
Core focus is on ecosystems, food chains/webs, energy transfer, and interdependence.
Investigates roles and relationships in ecosystems (producers, consumers, predators, prey).
Models ecological balance, chain reactions, and ripple effects due to species loss or environmental changes.
TECHNOLOGY
Use of slides and videos (e.g., Rube Goldberg machine clips) to support digital literacy.
Encourages students to think about how technology and science aid in solving environmental problems.
ENGINEERING
Rube Goldberg chain reaction project reflects the engineering design process: planning, testing, adjusting, and improving a system.
Students act as ecosystem engineers in the final challenge, brainstorming solutions to real-world ecological issues.
ART
Students exercise creativity through:
Writing imaginative animal perspective narratives.
Designing ecosystem dioramas.
Creating visual energy flow charts and bar graphs.
Constructing creative chain reaction machines.
Emphasis on visual and kinesthetic learning to deepen understanding of science concepts.
MATH
Math is integrated through the 10% rule of energy transfer in food pyramids and calculations.
Students graph energy changes and engage in proportional reasoning during pyramid and ripple activities.
Coming Up Next
Our educator newsletters featuring STEAM curriculum are published on the 1st of every month! Here’s a sneak peak at what’s around the corner:
August 1: Get ready to amplify your lessons on animal communication and sound with themes and concepts from Buffy Silverman’s lyrical nighttime celebration, Starlight Symphony.
September 1: Students will soar into the concept of aerodynamics and culture featured in Kai Po Che: Mini’s Perfect Kite by Suhasini Gupta and Devika Oza with a full curriculum package, including a Project-Based Learning unit, book-themed STEAM challenge, mentor text study, book club guide, and some exciting GIVEAWAYS! Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss your chance to enter!
October 1: Inspired by Stuck! The Story of the La Brea Tar Pits by Joyce Uglow and Valerya Milovanova, we’ll explore fossils and engineering as students design creative rescue tools to help Ice Age animals escape a simulated tar pit. We may even explore building mini museum exhibits that blend science, art, and imagination in one sticky, hands-on adventure. Stay tuned!
If you’ve been enjoying these lessons, you can always find more resources over on my Teachers Pay Teachers store here. KidLit Grove’s lesson plans are available there for individual purchase anytime.
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Your support not only gives you more ready-to-use resources—it also helps this resource continue to be possible. Thank you so much for being part of the KidLit Grove community!
Copyright Disclaimer
This curriculum resource is an original work created by Lindsay Moretti from KidLit Grove, inspired by the themes and educational concepts found in Creep, Leap, Crunch: A Food Chain Story by Jody Jensen Shaffer and illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal.
No text or images from the book are reproduced in this resource. This guide is not affiliated with, authorized, or endorsed by the author, illustrator, or publisher. All rights to the original book remain with their respective copyright holders.
Some visuals were sourced from Canva and used in accordance with their free content license. Images are embedded as part of the design and not for individual reuse.
Educators are encouraged to obtain a copy of the original book for classroom use.
© KidLitGrove, 2025. All rights reserved.
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