Lesson: Fantastic Fungi

Ask for student opinions and activate prior knowledge about fungi.

• Have students weigh in on the poll question (Do you eat foods containing mushrooms?) at the bottom of the scrollable article online. Tally students’ responses and submit them. 
• Let students brainstorm and then share what they know about mushrooms. Explain that mushrooms are types of fungi, a group that includes yeasts and molds. Allow students to share places where they have encountered fungi.

Watch a video and read an article all about fungi.

• Play the video “The Fungus Among Us.” Ask: What important information about fungi did you learn from the video? 
• Preview the article and the “Words to Know” on page 13. Read the article aloud. After each section, ask students to summarize what is unusual or amazing about that species of fungus. After reading the last section, ask: What do these different species have in common? (They are all fungi; they cannot make their own food; they are decomposers; etc.) 

Make inferences and draw conclusions about core ideas from the article.

• Play the online slideshow “A Mushroom’s Life.” Ask students how this cycle is like the life cycle of plants or animals. (Plants grow flowers that create seeds that can grow into new plants; baby animals like fox kits grow up and then can have offspring.) Revisit the dung cannon fungus (p. 13) and draw a sketch of its life cycle, including the role animals play. 
• Use the Learning Extension (found below and at the end of the scrollable article online) to make spore prints. Revisit the slideshow describing a mushroom’s life cycle and discuss why mushrooms make so many spores.
• Preview the Think It Through skills sheet. Allow students to discuss the questions in small groups.

Use and develop a food web to model the role of decomposers in a forest ecosystem.

• Preview the Connected by Nature skills sheet. Ask guiding questions about the structure of the food web, such as what each organism eats. Discuss the role of the sun. (It provides energy for grasses and other plants to grow.) Summarize how energy and nutrients travel through the web. Then have students complete the activity.

Communicate key similarities and differences in fungi around the world.

• Have student pairs do a two-minute “brain download” of everything they can remember about fungi, with partners taking turns sharing facts. Then work as a class to combine and categorize the facts as applying to all fungi or some fungi. Summarize what all fungi have in common. (They cannot make their own food; they use spores to reproduce, etc.) 
• Preview the No-Sweat Bubble Test. Allow students to work in pairs and then discuss as a class. 

⇨ Learning Extension: Make a spore print! Get a white piece of paper, a fresh mushroom with gills (like a button mushroom), and a glass. Remove the mushroom’s stem and place the gill side on the paper. Add a drop of water to the mushroom cap and cover it with a glass. Wait overnight. Carefully lift the mushroom off the paper. What do you see?