3rd Grade Green TeamCOMPOSTING PROJECT

By: Green Thumbs Members

How composting works…

• Composting is recycling.

What is COMPOST??Leaves seem to disappear but rain and snow

cause them to decay or in other words rot.After they decay they become bits of soil called

humus.Nutrients from humus get recycled and become

rich food for plants. This process is called COMPOSTING!

Plants Need Compost• Plants need sunlight, warmth, water, and air to

grow. • Nature, plants, and trees make compost by

recycling their garbage.• Many things can be used for composting. We

can recycle all kinds of garbage.

What goes in the compost bin?

• Here are the ingredients that are combined in the compost bin….

What Goes in a Compost?• Orange peels• Tea bags• Worms• Pine needles• Coffie grinds• Every thing should be natural• Water• Egg shells• Air• Green and browns

Greens• Grass clippings• Vegetable trimmings• Fruit Scraps (stems, seeds,

peels)• Flower heads and stems• Bruised bananas• Fruit pulp

Browns• Fallen leaves, sticks, pine needles, coffee

grinds, hair snippings, dryer lint • Nutshells, seaweed, tea bags• Dirt clods, mulch, oatmeal, bread crust

Decomposers• Bugs eat some of the things that you put into

the compost and that helps break down the compost. Bugs you might see in the compost are mites, beetles, millipedes, worms, slugs and snails, and flies.

• The decomposers (bugs) heat up the heap by moving! You might see steam coming from your compost! The heat helps the heap decompose even faster!

Mini-Munchers• The smallest decomposers in the heap are

fungi and bacteria.• Bacteria are so tiny that we can’t see them

without a microscope.• These little decomposers work the hardest of

all.

Nature`s Treasure

• All of the decomposers work hard to make the soil better.• Crawling with worms makes it better.• What used to be trash is now treasure.

Watch these videos…

Compost Kidshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njbn34JrKnE

How Compost is Madehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

cBkBwVFFEWw

We need your help!

• Help us compost every Wednesday during snack.

• Put your vegetable and fruit trash into the compost bin and you will turn trash into treasure!