The material for the skit is located in the barn.  Please be sure to sign out the skit.   

There are props for and roles for a class of 28 students. One student is the gardener who wears the apron and waters and stirs all of the ingredients together to make compost.  Some of the students are brown or green leaves while others are bacteria, fungus, and other organisms that make up the compost pile.   

Supplies in bag:

1 apron, watering can, pitchfork for the gardener
5 brown leaves bibs
5 green leaves bibs

4 fungus/mushroom bibs (a first level consumer)

3 bacteria bibs (a first level consumer)

3 worms  (bibs a first level consumer)

2 centipede bibs (a third level consumer)

2 ant bibs (a third level consumer)

3 ground beetle bibs (a third level consumer)

Directions:

1. Have the students form a line to wait their turn to enter the compost pile.  Select the gardener who will wear the apron.  Wait to hang each bib on the neck of a student until the item is introduced into the compost pile.  Discuss the item before selecting the next stage of students and passing out the bib to those students.

2. The gardener adds brown leaves and green leaves to start the compost pile. Start at the beginning of the line and distribute the brown and green leaves bibs until completely used.  These students start the compost pile

3. The gardener adds oxygen by stirring the brown and green matter with the pitchfork.

4. The gardener adds water to the bin for the browns and greens to absorb the water.

5. The moisture in the pile is perfect for growing fungus.  Fungus decomposes the wet brown and green matter.  Distribute the fungus bibs.  Each student fungus matches up to a green or brown leaf student.  (If you will discuss food chains at the end, the students should stay next to each other to start their chain.)

6. Conditions are perfect for bacteria to enter the pile.  Bacteria heats up the pile and decomposes brown and green matter and fungus.  Distribute the bacteria bibs.  Each student bacteria matches up to a green or brown leaf student or a fungus student.  (If you will discuss food chains at the end, the students should stay next to each other to start their chain.)

7. Worms locate the compost pile.  Worms eat and decompose the brown and green leaves, bacteria, and mushrooms.  Distribute the worms bibs.  Each student worm matches up with a brown or green leaves student, a bacteria student, or a fungus student.  (If you will discuss food chains at the end, the students should stay next to each other to start their chain.)

8. Insects and other organisms find the compost pile.  Some commonly organisms are ants, beetles, and centipedes.  Distribute the ant bibs.  Ants eat fungus and other insects, including other ants.  Student ants match up with fungus or another insect. 

9. Ground beetles eat other insects or worms.  Distribute the ground beetle bibs.   Student ground beetles match up with other student insects or worms. 

10. Centipedes eat insects and worms.  Distribute the centipede bibs.  Student centipedes match up with other student insects or worms.  (If you will discuss food chains at the end, the students should stay next to each other to start their chain.)

Take a look at the links left and what is left at the end of the link.  What could happen to the centipede?  Could any of the worms or the beetle be eaten by something outside the compost bin?  Explain that the food chain doesn't end after the ant, beetle, and centipede.  Besides getting eaten by an animal outside the bin, they can also die and then become food for the bacteria and fungi.  So a compost pile is an example of how nature works in cycles and reuses everything. 

Food chain discussion:

• How do food chains start?  The compost pile started with plants, but for the plants to grow, they needed the sun.  The sun starts the food chain, and the plants come next.

• Animals who eat plants are called herbivores. They are considered consumers in the food chain. 

• Animals who eat other animals are called carnivores. They also considered consumers and are a link farther along on the food chain since they need the herbivores for their food. 

• Animals and people who eat both animals and plants are called omnivores, and they are also part of the consumer piece of the ecosystem. 

• Decomposers are consumers which feed off dead plants and animals and reduce their remains to minerals and gases again. Examples are fungi, like mushrooms, bacteria, and worms.