Populations and Limiting Factors

Help your sixth graders see how resources control the size of a population! In this one-page worksheet, students read about a rabbit population, use a word bank to review key terms, and then read a small data table to find a limiting factor.

The passage follows a population of rabbits in a meadow. Students learn that the rabbits need grass to eat, which is a biotic factor, and also need abiotic factors like water, soil for burrows, and temperatures they can survive. The passage explains that the things an organism needs are called resources, that a population grows when resources are plentiful, and that it shrinks when a resource runs short. It then defines a limiting factor as a resource that keeps a population from growing. A Key Words note gives short meanings for population, resource, and limiting factor. In the first activity, students fill in four sentences with words from the word bank. In the second activity, students read a three-year table of rainfall and rabbit counts, find the year with the fewest rabbits, and choose the most likely limiting factor. The sheet is written to Texas TEKS 6.12A and also fits NGSS MS-LS2-1.

What's inside:

• A short passage with a Key Words note
• A 4-item word bank fill-in
• A small data table with 2 questions
• A visual answer key with every answer marked in red

How teachers use it:

• As a wrap-up after lessons on biotic and abiotic factors
• For bell work, data practice, or an exit ticket
• As homework or sub plans, with no prep needed

It takes about 5 to 10 minutes and prints clearly in black and white. This worksheet is part of our Reading in Science series for grade 6.