Activities inspired by children’s literature
Meet the Decomposers
What good are slugs and pill bugs? They tie together a class’s desire for a class pet and a teacher’s wish to
expand opportunities to observe animal behavior. These interesting animals also provide students with the
opportunity to practice their skills of classification and comparison while developing scientific language.
This Month’s Trade Books
Compost Critters
By Bianca Lavies.
32 pp. Dutton. 1993.
ISBN: 0525447636
names) and the common mollusk, the slug. As we learn about
their struggles to survive, the
“ick” factor decreases and we
care for their success.
Synopsis
Curricular Connections
Compost Critters is a journey to
meet the inhabitants of author/
photographer Bianca Lavies’s
compost pile. While the level of
the text is advanced for the primary years, the photographs tell the story of the community of composting organisms working collectively to decay organic matter to humus, “a moist,
dark, nutritious material perfect for plants.” The
close-up views of mold and nematodes may inspire a
child to exclaim, “What’s THAT?” and the photographs of earthworms, pill bugs, and beetles will reveal details of familiar animals.
A Pill Bug’s Life and A Slug’s Life
(Nature Upclose)
By John Himmelman.
32 pp. each. Children’s Press.
1999/1998.
ISBN: 051621165X;
ISBN: 0516263560
Synopsis
Both of these books describe the natural lives of
these fascinating small animals. The
detailed drawings and simple text
take us into the everyday activities
of the terrestrial crustaceans also
known as rolypolies (among other
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Science and Children
Keyword: Decomposers
at www.scilinks.org
Enter code: SC070401
Taking advantage of children’s fascination with pill
bugs, slugs, and other tiny creatures can help you
address many elements of the National Science Education Standards. Animal observation activities motivate children to ask questions, classify, and describe location and behavior. Throughout this
exploration, students will also learn about animals’
basic needs and the process of decomposition while
using the work of authors who clearly enjoy writing
about scientific topics.
Compost Critters describes an ecological community in which pill bugs and slugs are members. Both
A Pill Bug’s Life and A Slug’s Life reveal the details
of these two species’ lives through the description of
their daily activities. The drama of this miniature
world is often overlooked, but where would we be
without decomposers? Neck-deep in dead plant and
animal matter!
Once children’s curiosity is kindled, they will
want to search for slugs and rolypolies around the
school. The illustrations and photographs in the
books allow children to get close to animals without
having to touch them. After the children become
familiar with the way the animals look, they may feel
comfortable touching live rolypolies and slugs with
just one finger, and finally may even hold them in
their hand when the small animals are brought into
the classroom for a longer and more detailed examination and observation period.
–Inspired Investigations
Trade Book–
This month’s selections present a fascinating world in
photographic close-ups and detailed drawings—that
of the decomposers. When you collect and bring
these animals into the classroom, children can really
get to know their differences and similarities. Limiting the population to just two animals narrows the
focus and allows children to learn a lot about each
instead of a little about many. They also live in the
same environment, won’t eat each other, are relatively slow moving, and if they escape from the container, will die from lack of moisture rather than set up
housekeeping in your closet.
–2: Classroom Visitors
For Grades preK–
After reading Compost Critters and examining the
magnified photographs, take children on a “small
animal search” around the school grounds or neighborhood. Reading A Pill Bug’s Life and A Slug’s Life
will reassure all searchers that these small animals are
harmless to people, even though they may eat our
garden seedlings. Begin the search by having students
brainstorm a list of possible places to look for slugs
and rolypolies, which are typically found in damp
places, such as under leaf piles, rocks, dead branches,
or logs. Then go outside and find some!
When your students discover some slugs or
rolypolies, record where they were found and suggest they create a classroom terrarium to observe
them inside. Ask, “If we want to observe the ani-
mals in the classroom, what would we need to
prepare for them so they would be comfortable?” Some answers might be grass, a place
to hide, dirt, a stick, and leaves. You may
have to point out the dampness of their habitat if the children do not notice it.
Next, collect the items and prepare to
create a container habitat in the classroom.
Any container will work as
long as it has clear sides for
viewing, is leakproof, and
has a lid that lets air but not
small fingers or animals pass through. A
thoroughly washed snack-food container,
such as an empty clear-plastic jar with air
holes added, can be recycled into a container habitat. Fill the container with about
5 cm of soil from outside, a stick, a few
small rocks or pieces of bark, and some
dead leaves, and dampen the soil.
Next, return to the sites where you previously observed the animals and collect
about four slugs and 30 rolypolies (per
gallon) to populate the habitat. Be
aware if there are potentially harmful animals in your area, such as
stinging insects, scorpions, poisonous spiders, or
snakes, and know how
to avoid them. Check
with your local library to find out
what animals to avoid in your
region (see NSTA Connection
for additional resources).
Maintain the container habitat
for at least two weeks, the minimum time needed for the children to
make satisfactory observations of
these slow movers. Keep the habitat
moist but not soaked (two squirts of
water from a spray bottle is an appropriate amount). Feed the animals
small pieces of carefully washed lettuce, kale, or collards, and carrots
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR
Summer 2004 15
and fruit. Rolypolies also eat
categorized by its characterisdead leaves, especially maple
tics, such as damp, dry, light, or
leaves. Add new food on a Mondark, and by other attributes
day and see how much is left by
noticed by the children. This inthe following Friday. Remove the
formation can be graphed back
food if it gets moldy. (For more
in the classroom to compare
resources on slug and rolypoly
how many locations of each
habitat and food requirements,
type housed rolypolies or slugs.
see the NSTA Connection.)
Intermediate students can
Provide ample opportunities
supplement their observations
for children to observe the aniwith investigations by researchmals. Keep hand lens magnifiers
ing the habitat and food requirenext to the container for viewing
ments for rolypolies and slugs.
details and examining animals’
Based on their observations and
characteristics. Set aside a speciquestions, students can design
fied time each day for recording
investigations. Research assignobservations through drawing
ments could include such quesor writing to maximize
tions as, “Do the animals prefer a
children’s attention on the anidamp or dry environment?” “Do
mals. Provide each child with a PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR
the animals prefer a light or dark
rolypoly or slug in a clear-plastic pill bottle with
environment?” “Which leaf will the rolypolies and
childproof lid so they can observe the animals indislugs eat first, an oak leaf or a maple leaf?” and “Are the
vidually before returning the animal to the large
animals solitary or social animals?”
container habitat. These up-close observations may
By setting up different experiments and testing
lead to questions that students can research.
different variables, students can answer the questions
Container habitats can be kept in the classroom
generated by their observations. Students can also
anywhere from two weeks to two months. At the end
prepare short research papers on a particular topic,
of the study, release the animals back into their natusuch as eyes or food sources.
ral environment because wastes build up in a closed
These two inhabitants of the compost pile (and
system with no rain to cleanse it. Refer to the NSTA
many backyards) make the perfect classroom animals
Position Statement, Guidelines for Responsible Use of
because they are free, easy to find and care for, and
Animals in the Classroom (see NSTA Connection).
they inspire students to ask questions about the characteristics of organisms and answer them through
–6: Small Animal Research observation and investigation.
For Grades 3–
The above activities are just the beginning for students in
grades three to six. Older students can expand on the
Peggy Ashbrook ([email protected])
decomposer exploration by creating a list of where they
is an author and preschool science teacher in Alexpredict they will find rolypolies and slugs, either in
andria, Virginia.
general, such as “under a rock,” or in particular places,
such as “under a rock in the rock pile by the school wall.”
NSTA Connection
Go on the small animal search with the list and a
For a list of additional trade books, journal articles, and
pencil to record if the animals were found in the actual
Internet resources on this topic, click on the online version
locations and to record additional locations that come
of this article at www.nsta.org/elementaryschool.
to mind once the search begins. Each location can be
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Science and Children