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Science Launch G5 / Week 08 / Monday
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Week 08 · Food Webs

Monday

Where does a fallen log go?
// Matter moves among plants, animals and decomposers
⏱ about 15 min

Monday: Where does a fallen log go?

Deep in a forest, Rocket hops onto a mossy fallen log. It crumbles a little under his sneaker.

"Whoa, it is soft," he says. "Logs are supposed to be hard."

Raven kneels and peels back a strip of bark. White threads spread through the wood, and a beetle scurries away.

"What do you notice living in here?" she asks.

Nova shines her flashlight beam on a cluster of small mushrooms. "This log is being recycled," she says. "Would you like to meet the recyclers?"

Nature's recyclers

When plants and animals die, they do not just pile up forever.

Some living things, such as fungi and bacteria, break down dead plants and animals. They are called decomposers.

Worms, roly-polies and termites are decomposers too.

Decomposers break dead material into carbon dioxide, water and nutrients. Some of those materials go back into the soil.

Living thingIs it a decomposer?
Fungi, such as mushrooms?
Bacteria?
Earthworm?
Oak tree?
WHY THIS EXERCISEFungi, bacteria and worms break down dead material. An oak tree makes its own food as a producer.
THE SOFT LOG
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
Why was the old log soft and crumbly?
Where do some of the materials from a dead log end up?
Connect it
In Week 2 you learned matter is never destroyed.
Decomposers do not destroy the log. They turn it into other materials.

What decomposers make

Decomposers break dead material into three things: carbon dioxide, water and nutrients.

Carbon dioxide goes into the air. Water and nutrients can go into the soil.

Plants can then use those materials to grow.

DECOMPOSER CHECK
  • Read the question.
  • Tap your answer.
Which of these is a decomposer?
What do decomposers break dead material into?
Nova shone her light on a cluster of what?
Living things that break down dead plants and animals are ____.
Mushrooms are a kind of ____.
A LOG RETURNS TO THE SOIL
  • ?A tree falls in the forest.
  • ?The log gets soft and crumbly.
  • ?Materials go back into the soil.
  • ?Fungi and beetles move into the wood.
  • ?New plants use them to grow.
WHY THIS EXERCISEDecomposers turn a fallen log into materials for new life.
Draw a fallen log. Add three decomposers on or near it. Label each one.

Great observing. Tomorrow we will connect producers, consumers and decomposers into a web.