Decomposers at Work

Explain how mushrooms, bacteria, and worms return nutrients to the soil.

Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.

What children learn in Level 20

What happens to a fallen log, or a leaf in autumn? Decomposers go to work.
Mushrooms, mold, bacteria, and earthworms break down dead plants and animals into tiny pieces.
That returns nutrients to the soil, and producers use those nutrients to grow. Energy from the sun keeps flowing, and nutrients get recycled.
Decomposers work fastest where it's warm and damp. Try it with a grown-up: put one leaf in damp soil and one on a dry shelf. Check them each week.

Georgia Standards of Excellence in Science:

S4L1.a — Develop a model to describe the roles of producers, consumers, and decomposers in a community. (Clarification statement: Students are not expected to identify the different types of consumers – herbivores, carnivores, omnivores and scavengers.)
S4L1.b — Develop simple models to illustrate the flow of energy through a food web/food chain beginning with sunlight and including producers, consumers, and decomposers.