Helpers in the Dirt: teacher key

Bugs That Clean Up, grade 3 edition, written for 3rd grade. Without dung beetles and other helpers, cow dung can smother the grass. Meet the beetles, ants, worms, flies and termites that clean up leaves, wood and scraps.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What can a pile of cow dung do to the grass under it?
   • Make it grow faster
   • Smother it (answer)
   • Turn it blue
2. What are earthworm droppings called?
   • Casts (answer)
   • Larvae
   • Colonies
3. What do leafcutter ants eat?
   • The leaves
   • Soil
   • A fungus (answer)
4. How are millipedes and centipedes different?
   • Both hunt small bugs
   • Millipedes are slow and eat rotting plants (answer)
   • Centipedes eat rotting plants
5. A fallen tree lies in a forest. How might termites help the forest?
   • They break it down and return nutrients to the soil (answer)
   • They keep it from ever rotting
   • They make it taller

Words

• casts: worm droppings
• larvae: young flies
• fungus: mold-like growth
• nutrients: plant food
• smother: cover and block