ingridscience

Find a good collection site at the pond. Around the base of plants, rather than open water, tends to be more fruitful.
Fill a large tray with pond water for each student group.
Using a fine net, students scoop from the pond or stream near to plants then invert the net into the large tray.

Alternatively, the teacher collects pond water samples and brings them into the classroom in white tubs (so that the contents can be seen easily).

Students transfer organisms they find in the large tray to smaller trays with a pipette, then use the magnifiers to look at them closely.
Students are assisted in identifying the pond invertebrates they find.

Try these web pages for identification keys:
For Daphnia and similar species, cyclops and shrimp: Page 46 of https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/Brine-Shrim… Daphnia photo: https://www.britannica.com/animal/water-flea
For most species you will find: https://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/pond/ Make sure you click on "arthropods" as you'll find a lot of these, and then "other insect stages" for larger specimens.

Organisms students with me have found:
At Central Park pond, we identified Cyclops, freshwater shrimp, worms and Daphnia. In our back yard pond we identified Daphnia, leeches, caddisfly larvae, cyclops, worms, and sometimes stentor. At Jericho we identified Daphnia, water beetles, water boatmen, worms and shrimp. At Trout Lake we found Daphnia, worms, mosquito larvae, water mites, mayfly nymphs or something similar. Water plants and seeds also caught may be identified.

Gather as a group and add each organism found to a white board, then with discussion, link who eats who to form a food web.
Simply put, pond organisms eat anything smaller than them. Add microscopic bacteria and algae, eaten by the tiny pond organisms.
Add other animals and plants seen around the pond.
Optional: play bird sounds for local birds noticed.

Out in the schoolyard/park/beach, give each pair or group of students a square of pipe cleaners. Ask them to place the square on the ground in any place they wish.
Tell students that scientists taking surveys will have a larger quadrat of 1m by 1m and will take all day to take their survey. They do not choose where to place their quadrats, but at regular distances along a transect line (a straight line through the ecosystem being studied).

Students draw a square in their notebooks/on a worksheet, and map out what they see in their square. They draw the shapes of rocks/plants/seaweed, and the location of all the other living things they can find. Help students identify species of seaweed, animals or plants using field guides.
Alternatively, for mapping skills, give the students an aerial map of the area. They draw where their square is, as well as mapping the things they find in their square. (See last photo.)
At the side of their square drawing, students can use a Key to write out the species names, with a letter abbreviation, which can be used to label the map e.g. R=rockweed, P=plantain.

Students should try to find every living thing in the square, and may need teaching to slow down and look ever more closely. There is always one more thing to find, and given time students will notice things that they did not see to start.

Gather as a group and combine data to write all the living things that they have found on a board.
Then ask students who eats who in this habitat. Link the living things with arrows, to build up food chains and eventually a food web. Add in bacteria, plankton and other living things too small to see, in order to feed the lowest levels of the food web. Also add in the sun, which provides energy to the producers, such as plants, seaweed and other algae.
From the few living things each student found, they can see how they are part of a much greater food web and ecosystem.