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Welcome to the Sustainability Lesson Clearinghouse

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Sustainability Lesson Clearinghouse

Build an Indoor Compost Bin

Lesson Description:
IndoorCompost Students will be able to...
  • Describe the composition of soil and give examples of the ways in which it is formed
  • Identify and describe ways to protect the environment (e.g., composting and recycling)
  • Identify and describe the role of decomposers (worms) in a community
  • Write an expository piece that provides facts and details, and describes and analyzes the composting process

Lesson Type:
  • Project

Sustainability Topic:
  • Gardening
  • Waste Reduction

GEF Program Category:
  • Waste Reduction Challenge
  • Green Thumb Challenge

Time Needed:
60 minutes for lesson and 3-6 months to add materials to the compost bin
Standards Addressed:
Science Standard 2: Understand earth’s composition and structure
  • Benchmark # 4:

Science Standards 6: Understand relationships among organisms and their physical environment
  • Benchmark # 5: Know that all organisms (including humans) cause change in their environments and these changes can be beneficial or detrimental

Technology Standard 4: Understand the nature of technological design
  • Benchmark # 6: Use appropriate tools, techniques and quantitative measurements to implement proposed solutions

Technology Standard 6: Understand the nature and uses of different forms of technology
  • Benchmark # 2: Know that elements of an agricultural system are designed to maximize the interaction and production of all the elements in the system (e.g., by composting)

Geography Standard 14: Understand how human actions modify the physical environment
  • Benchmark # 3: Know how human activities have increased the ability of the physical environment to support human life in the local community, state, us and other countries (e.g., improving soil quality through composting)

Language arts Standard 1: Use the general skills and strategies of the writing process
  • Benchmark # 7: Write expository compositions (e.g., develop the topic with simple facts, details, examples, and explanations, use structures such as cause-and-effect, chronology, similarities and differences)

Materials Needed:
  • Opaque (no light shows through) plastic or wood bin with a lid
  • Earthworms (the best kind are called “red worms,” “red wigglers’ or "manure worms")
  • "Brown" material (newspaper, paper towels, leaves, cardboard) 
  • "Green" material (coffee grinds, plants, grass, vegetable and fruit scraps) 
  • Thermometer 
  • "Building an Indoor Compost Bin Directions" worksheet provided below

School or Group:
Green Education Foundation (GEF)
Contact Email:
service@greeneducationfoundation.org
Lesson Documents:
application/pdf IndoorCompost.pdf
Tags for searching:
GEF
Located in: Language Arts | Math | Math | Science | Science

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