Have the children identify and describe the steps involved in making compost. Students will work in their Exploration groups again. Explain that the students will work with a partner. One partner will choose an organic item to put in his or her container and one partner will choose a manufactured item. Pass around the containers with the objects and let the children choose.
All students fill half of their milk cartons with soil.
The students will put their objects in their cartons and fill the rest of their cartons with soil. Each student sprays his or her container with water, labels the container with his or her name and puts the container in the designated place. Tell the children that they will dump out the contents of the containers each week onto newspaper and observe what the items look like, noting if there have been any changes. Students will draw a picture of what they see each week for four weeks.