Nature’s Recycler’s Web Links

The Adventures of Herman

This interactive site helps students learn more about earthworms. ( http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/worms/index.html )

EcoKids: Chain Reaction

This website includes a game about food chains. In addition to reinforcing vocabulary, children are challenged to put a food chain together, and speculate what would happen to if one organism in the food chain was removed.( http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/frogs/chain_reaction/index.cfm )

Microbe Zoo

This site features the following attractions: DirtLand, Animal Pavilion, Snack Bar, Space Adventure, and Water World. Each provides examples of microbes (bacteria and fungi) that thrive in the particular environment described. ( http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/dlc-me/zoo/ )

Nature’s Recyclers Coloring Book

Follow this web link to a PDF file for “Nature’s Recyclers Coloring Book,” which you can print and distribute in class. ( http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/ce/eek/cool/natrec.htm )

Natureworks: Decomposers

Drawn from an episode of Natureworks ( New Hampshire public television), this web page begins: “When plants and animals die, they become food for decomposers like bacteria, fungi, and earthworms.” It then describes each of the three types of organisms. ( http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/nwep11b.htm )

Soils Zoo

This site offers clear photographs of some of the different organisms that live in the soil. It features predators, tunnellers (including earthworms and dung beetles), grazers (including springtails and nematodes), and microbes (including fungi and bacteria). ( http://www.adelaide.edu.au/agcareers/Content/TeacherResources/WhatareSoils/zoo.htm )

Welcome to the Mushroom Club

This kid-friendly site offers games, recipes, experiment ideas and information about mushrooms and other types of fungi. ( http://herbarium.usu.edu/fungi/FunFacts/Mushroom_Club.htm )

Endangered Ecosystems: Build a Food Web

Students investigate some of the animals in the Mexican ecosystem. In the process, they figure out who are the predators and who are their prey and build their own food web. At the end of this activity, they can print a Food Web Certificate of Achievement! (http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/explorer/ecosystems/be_an_explorer/map/form_wildcats.htm)

Animal Games for Kids – Kids Corner

A great child-friendly website that offers a variety of animal games to reinforce what children have learned in the classroom.  Game topics include: animal classification, producers and consumers, food chain, animal diet, endangered animals, and animal characteristics. (http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/gamesforkids.htm)

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Reference for Teachers

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Decomposition

This site explains the process and importance of decomposition and contains images of a rabbit decomposing over several months. ( http://www.countrysideinfo.co.uk/decompos.htm )

Forest Floor Terrarium

This site explains how to set up a forest floor terrarium in the classroom. ( http://www.cas.muohio.edu/scienceforohio/Terrarium/index.html )

Australian Invertebrates that Inhabit Rotting Logs

This site details why organisms found in rotting logs are vital to the function of forests. ( http://www.biolsci.monash.edu.au/research/merg/saproxylic.html )

There’s Life in Dead Trees

These sites provide detailed information about rotting logs. ( http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/nr/wildlife/animalinn/whattodo.htm )

Oetzi the Iceman

This site contains information and links to other sites about the world’s oldest and best-preserved mummy. Believed to be 5,300 years old, the Iceman was discovered in 1991 in the Italian Alps. ( http://www.crystalinks.com/oetzi.html )

Rotten Luck: The Role of Downed Wood in Ecosystems

Download a short, well illustrated brochure that describes the important roles played by fallen trees. ( http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/Docs/Bro/Bro24.htm )

Waste in the Natural World

This site provides exceptional activities and resources detailing how nothing is wasted in nature. Scroll halfway down the page and click on the icon “Waste in the Natural World” to download the publication. ( http://www.tpr.alberta.ca/parks/kananaskis/ed_materials.asp )

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Earthworms and Other Invertebrates
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Crayfish in the Classroom

This web site describes how to catch, keep, feed, and care for keep crayfish in the classroom. ( http://www.naturenorth.com/fall/crayfish/Fcraycl.html )

Teaching with Worms

This interactive site helps children learn more about earthworms, including their role as one of nature’s recyclers. ( http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/worm/ )

Wiggly Worms

This website provides links to a variety of worm activities, including how children can make their own “Worm Hotel.” ( http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/explore/worms.htm )

Worm Bin Creatures

These sites contain excellent pictures and information about organism that can be found in a worm bin. ( http://mypeoplepc.com/members/arbra/bbb/id16.html )

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Fungi and Bacteria

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Classroom Clipart: Fungi

This site contains clipart of various types of mushrooms that can be used as visuals in the classroom. ( http://classroomclipart.com/cgi-bin/kids/imageFolio.cgi?direct=Plants/Fungi&img=0 )

North American Mycological Association

This website offers an array of downloadable activities and publications. ( http://www.namyco.org/education/k-12.html )

Tom Volk’s Fungi

This site provides an incredible amount of information about fungi. ( http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/ )

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Composting
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The New York City Compost Project

This site contains extensive information about composting. ( http://www.nyccompost.org/program/index.html )

The Decomposition Process

This web site offers a comprehensive overview of composting, including distinctions between aerobic and anaerobic decomposition, requirements for efficient decomposition, and organisms in composting. ( http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/compost/chapter1.html )

Vermicomposting

This site explains how to compost with earthworms. ( http://journeytoforever.org/compost_worm.html )