Each fall, the trees lose their leaves, but do you ever wonder why leaves don’t pile up year after year? Somehow these leaves disappear, ensuring there aren’t mounds of leaves sitting on the forest floor. In nature organisms called decomposers eat this material and break it down into compost. This provides our environment with beneficial nutrients for the soil and restarts the life cycles of living organisms.
Today I am tasking your students to go on a Decomposer Scavenger Hunt! Before you go, check out this “The Dirt on Decomposers” video or integrate it into the lesson below.
This resource is from the lesson “Compost Bin Identification” by Oregon State University’s Healthy Youth Program, and provides a ID sheet for decomposers you may find in a compost pile. So, get outside and go on a scavenger hunt!
Don’t have a compost pile?…. no problem. You can find decomposers in any green space. Here are some places for you to check in your school, green space, or home:
- Pick up a log or rock
- Shovel a small hole in the soil
- Peel back the bark on a dead log
Don’t forget to take photos of what you find on your decomposer scavenger hunt and share them with us by tagging us on social media #HamiltonCountyRecycling.
Download Compost Exploration Decomposer ID sheet here!
Ohio Science State Content Standards
- 3.LS.3: Plants and animals have life cycles that are part of their adaptations for survival in their natural environments.
- 4.LS.1: Changes in an organism’s environment are sometimes beneficial to its survival and sometimes harmful.
- 5.LS.1 Organisms perform a variety of roles in an ecosystem.
- Nature of Science 3-5: Science is a way of Knowing
- Science is a way of knowing about the world around us based on evidence from experimentation and observations
The Green Classroom 