Skill: course-build → write-mcqs → write-explanation @ efd8fba (v1) · v2 edits @ fb37d14 (2 Oct 2026, after the three reviews: Simon → Troy; PP-45 the clam retagged medium and moved to PP-39, so the hard tier is PP-40–54; PP-13/15/17/20/44 options reasons only; PP-48 is the one three-right multi-select; PP-2/3/7 re-scened; the type-9 exemplar's number corrected to PP-38) · v3 polish @ e23b67f (2 Oct 2026, after Reader C's full re-read: PP-18 re-scened from the boardwalk to mushrooms in a ring over dead roots, a different type-4 instance; PP-20's option B carries "and" too; two new ⟂ constraints, PP-38 and PP-54 against every web item)
Topic 35 — Producers, consumers and decomposers — the PP100's question types, with their exemplars (v1, 2 October 2026)
Bank: content/G4T35_pp100_bank.py, 54 items (50 four-option MCQ, 3 multi-select, 1 typed), ≥ 5 per atom, tiers rising with atom order (12 easy · 27 medium · 15 hard after v2). Every item names its type (type_). The three role words are recalled by MCQ (RECALL_BY_MCQ); the typed key is "food web".
The eleven types
| # | Type (one line) | Tier(s) | Atoms |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Four living things named; which of them is a <role>? | easy, hard (a near-miss set) | 020, 021, 022 |
| 2 | A case described by how it gets its food; which role is it? — the fixed set producer / consumer / decomposer / not a living thing, rotated per item | easy, medium, hard | 020–023 |
| 3 | Two or three cases; which are consumers / decomposers? (both / only / neither; a three-in-one ordered list) | easy, hard | 021, 022, 023 |
| 4 | A sign of a decomposer at work (mushrooms in a ring over dead roots; a dug-in heap that makes plants grow): what is the correct reason? (four single-statement reasons) | medium, hard | 022, 025 |
| 5 | The tiny bits: where they go, how a plant gets them, what it uses them for, what happens with no decomposers | medium, hard | 025 |
| 6 | A named child's wrong claim; what is the correct reason? (four single-statement reasons; the verdict in the stem) | medium, hard | 020, 021, 022, 023, 024, 025 |
| 7 | A drawn web; what does X eat? / which living thing eats X? (one arrow) | medium | 024 |
| 8 | A drawn web; which living things eat X? / what does X eat? — a set (multi-select) | hard | 024 |
| 9 | An arrow runs from A to B; which sentence is true? | medium | 024 |
| 10 | Typed: the name for many food chains joined together | hard | 024 |
| 11 | A drawn web; which living thing eats both A and B? (two arrows-in on one card) | hard | 024 |
One exemplar per type, in full
Type 1 (easy, LIF4-020, PP-2). Four living things live in a park in Texas. Which of them is a producer? — a cardinal / a dandelion / a lizard / a shark. Why: A producer is a living thing that makes its own food, using sunlight. The dandelion's leaves make its food, using sunlight; the cardinal, the lizard and the shark eat other living things. So the dandelion is the producer.
Type 2 (easy, LIF4-021, PP-6). A green sea turtle eats sea grass on the sea floor. Which role is the sea turtle? — a decomposer / not a living thing / a producer / a consumer. Why: A consumer is a living thing that gets its energy by eating other living things. The sea turtle eats sea grass, another living thing. So the sea turtle is a consumer.
Type 3 (easy, LIF4-021, PP-9). A bison eats prairie grass, and a coyote eats a prairie dog. Which is true? — Only the coyote is a consumer. / Only the bison is a consumer. / Both are producers. / Both are consumers. Why: … The bison eats a plant, and the coyote eats an animal; both eat other living things. So both are consumers.
Type 4 (medium, LIF4-022, PP-18; v3). Mushrooms grow in a ring in a park, right over the dead roots of a tree cut down years ago. Why do the mushrooms grow there? — The mushrooms make their own food, using sunlight, like the grass. / The mushrooms feed on the dead roots under the grass. / The mushrooms are the grass's flowers. / The mushrooms eat the living grass around them. Why: A decomposer feeds on dead things, breaking them into tiny bits. The dead roots are dead wood under the grass, and the mushrooms feed on them. So the mushrooms grow right over the dead roots. (v2's boardwalk was L03-10's fence post with the nouns changed, Reader C; this instance asks WHERE a decomposer grows, not why wood is soft.)
Type 5 (medium, LIF4-025, PP-23). Tiny bits from dead leaves are in the soil around a peach tree. How does the peach tree get them? — Its flowers catch them. / Its leaves soak them up from the air around the tree. / It eats them through its bark. / Its roots take them in with the water.
Type 6 (hard, LIF4-025, PP-43; hb: tells the bits from energy). Sloane says decomposers put energy back into the soil for plants to use. Sloane is wrong. What is the correct reason? — Decomposers put tiny bits of dead things into the soil, not energy. / Decomposers put water from the dead things into the soil, not energy. / Decomposers put energy into the air, not the soil. / Decomposers put seeds into the soil, not energy.
Type 7 (medium, LIF4-024, PP-35, figure web_pp_prairie). Here is a prairie food web. What does the sparrow eat? — the prairie dog / the coyote / the beetle / the prairie grass. Why: To find what a living thing eats, follow the arrows that point into it. The one arrow into the sparrow comes from the beetle. So the sparrow eats beetles.
Type 8 (hard, LIF4-024, PP-48, figure web_pp_desert; hb: a set of three). Here is the desert food web. What does the roadrunner eat? Select every one. — the lizard / the kangaroo rat / the ant / the desert grass. (v2: the one multi-select with three right answers; the desert web gained the arrow ant → roadrunner.)
Type 9 (medium, LIF4-024, PP-38). In a food web drawing, an arrow runs from the snail to the duck. Which is true? — The snail eats the duck. / The duck eats the snail. / The snail and the duck eat each other. / The arrow shows that the duck is bigger.
Type 10 (hard, LIF4-024, PP-54, typed). Many food chains are joined together into one drawing of what eats what in a place. Type the name of the drawing. — accept: food web, a food web, the food web, food webs, foodweb, a foodweb, food wed, food wep, fod web, food webb; wrong_fb "food chain": A food chain is one line of living things. Many food chains joined together make a food web.
Type 11 (hard, LIF4-024, PP-51, figure web_pp_river; hb: two arrows-in on one card). Here is the river food web. Which living thing eats both the crayfish and the small fish? — the raccoon / the otter / the water weeds / the bass.
Design-move inventory (move · scene kind · nearest earlier item)
| Items | Move | Scene kind | Nearest lesson-side instance |
|---|---|---|---|
| PP-1, 4, 5 | sort a described plant as a producer / say what it eats (nothing) | a crop or garden plant | L01 q2 (corn), q1 (bean) — different plants, same move, fluency-tier |
| PP-2, 3, 7, 8, 11 | pick the one <role> from four named living things | a park (cardinal, dandelion, lizard, toad), a lake (beaver, snapping turtle, water lily, sunfish), a ranch (jackrabbit, wheat, cotton, cedar), a coast, a yard — v2: every animal and plant lives where its stem says | L01 q10, L02 q9, L03 q9 — three-option versions; the bank's stems name the place |
| PP-6, 14, 16 | sort a described eater (sea grass, flower juice, fish) | sea, flowers, river | L02 q3 (hawk), q5 (caterpillar) |
| PP-9, 19, 47 | both / only / neither on two or three cases | prairie animals; a lizard and tiny living things; an elk, a bear and mold | L02 q8's boundary (plant-eaters are consumers) as a sort |
| PP-10, 12, 21, 32 | sort a described decomposer (fuzz on a strawberry, shelf fungus, a banana peel, a dead jellyfish) | fridge, dead trunk, garden, beach | L03 q2 (bread), q7 (dead fish on a bank) |
| PP-13, 15, 17, 20 | a wrong claim, correct reason (palm must eat; sheep makes wool; people buy food; mold is a plant) | — | L01 q9, L02 q8, L03 q5 as yes / no claims |
| PP-18, 42 | why do mushrooms grow there (a decomposer grows where its dead food is) / why do the plants grow bigger | a ring of mushrooms over dead roots in a park; a pepper bed by a dead hedge | L03 q10 (why is the fence post crumbly: a different move since v3), L04 q8 (bin) |
| PP-22–26, 40 | where the bits go / how the plant gets them / what for / who keeps the layer thin / no decomposers over years | marsh reeds; a peach tree; flower stalks; cottonwood leaves; a wood | L04 q1, q3, q8, q9 |
| PP-27–31 | sort from a drawn card or a described case; the plastic flower | armadillo, kelp, a vase, a feeder, a farm pond | L05 q1, q4, q7 (cards) |
| PP-44–47 (v2 numbers); PP-39 | ordered three-in-one list; a mole claim; an orchid; an elk-bear-mold sort; the clam (now medium, PP-39: it eats tiny floating plants — Grade 3 Topic 41's phrase) | kelp forest; soil; a tree branch; a wood; sand | L05 q9's claim as the nearest |
| PP-33–38, 48–53 | read a web one way; a set (PP-48 three right); two arrows-in; a claim by counting | desert, prairie, river webs | L06 q3–q8 on the pond and forest webs |
| PP-38 | arrow meaning | snail → duck | L06 q1 (clover → deer), q9 (no figure in v2) |
| PP-54 | typed term | — | L06 q11 |
⟂ draw constraints (an item that prints another's answer; near-duplicate pairs)
- PP-38 (what the arrow means) ⟂ every web item: PP-33–37 and PP-48–53 (v3, Reader C). Every web drawing carries the legend "The arrow points from the food to the one that eats it", which is PP-38's answer. PP-38 has no figure of its own. A test that holds PP-38 either holds no web item or serves PP-38 before the first web item; the legend stays on the webs, because it is the convention datum the read items rest on.
- PP-54 (type the name "food web") ⟂ every web item: PP-33–37 and PP-48–53 (v3, Reader C). Every web stem opens "Here is a … food web", which prints the typed answer. Same rule as PP-38: no web item in the same test, or PP-54 served first. (The same give-away in the lesson quiz and the practice set is fixed by order: L06-03 and PR-09 sit before the first web stem on their page, and those pages are served in fixed order.)
- PP-33 (the roadrunner eats the lizard) ⟂ PP-48 (what the roadrunner eats: lizard, kangaroo rat).
- PP-37 (the otter eats the bass) ⟂ PP-53 (Seth's otter claim: "only one arrow points into the otter, from the bass").
- PP-50 (which eat the crayfish: raccoon, bass) ⟂ PP-51 (eats both the crayfish and the small fish: the bass).
- PP-52 (eats both the desert grass and the ant: the kangaroo rat) ⟂ PP-34 (the owl eats the kangaroo rat) is NOT a give-away (different cards); PP-52 ⟂ PP-48 only through the kangaroo rat's name — draw one per test to be safe.
- PP-7 and PP-8 share the move (v2: no shared option words — PP-7's plants are now a wheat plant, a cotton plant and a cedar tree); still draw one per test.
- PP-28 (kelp card) ⟂ PP-44 (the ordered list names kelp as the producer).
- PP-33 (the roadrunner eats the lizard) and PP-52 (the kangaroo rat eats the ant and the grass) ⟂ PP-48 (the roadrunner's three foods include the lizard and the ant): draw one of PP-33 / PP-48 per test.
Bar list (real things never used as sort cases because their role is arguable at this grade)
earthworm, vulture, snail (as a sort case; it appears only as the food in an arrow item), millipede, dung beetle, Venus flytrap, lichen, any animal eating something already dead ("scavenger" is not taught).
Keys
MCQ keys A 10 · B 16 · C 11 · D 13 across 50 four-option items (unchanged by v3: PP-18's key stays at index 1, PP-20's at index 0); two multi-selects key {A, B} and PP-48 keys {A, B, C} (the bundle shuffles them); the typed item's accept list is above. Key-tell checker (v2 and v3): KEY TELLS: 0 of 138 MCQs flagged. No key is the longest option by the checker's margin; PP-2 (by one letter), PP-29 (the fixed set's long fourth word) and PP-52 (the longest card name in its web) are noted in the build record.