From Pumpkin to Compost- A Hands On Recycling Demonstration

After reading the book, “Pumpkin Jack” (a story about a decomposing pumpkin), first graders had a discussion about what happened to the pumpkin and how it relates to our learning.  I introduced our next science project and brought out our own Pumpkin Jack.  The kids were beyond excited to see what this pumpkin was for and what our experiment for the day was going to be!

I explained to the kids that we are going to do a demonstration that answers our two important questions, “What happens to our trash?” and “Why should I recycle?”.  We also talked about how we will be able to see how composting works and how long it takes.  Before diving in deeper, I explained to the kids that this is going to be a long-term demonstration (we won’t check on our pumpkin until April) but I think it’s great for the kids to know that sometimes science can take a LONG time.

At lunch time, I asked the students to save a few pieces of trash. We put it all in a bag to save it for later. When it was time for our experiment I took off the top of our pumpkin (which I had cleaned out earlier) and as a class, we selected the trash that we wanted in our pumpkin. Some of the items included were a banana peel, ziplock bags, paper towel, carrots, bread crust, tin foil, doritos bag, apple and strawberry slices, a piece of styrofoam plate, and a disposable fork. We wanted a variety of materials to ensure that our demonstration of what happens to trash works!

After filling our pumpkin with trash, we went out to a back corner of our backyard to a hole that I had previously dug. I placed the pumpkin inside and we took turns filling the hole in with dirt.  Our pumpkin is located next to our wild flower garden and marked with a special flag so we know where to dig it up in April!

When we returned to class, we wrote about our predictions. Students recorded four different items that we put in the pumpkin and then made a prediction about what they think we will see when we dig up our hole in April.

The Summit Preparatory School is a fully accredited, non-religious, private school offering a full-time seated independent education for students in Springfield, Ozark, Nixa, Rogersville, and the greater Southwest Missouri area. Our preparatory school setting offers an enriching early childhood, elementary, middle school, and high school curriculum in a supportive environment. We have state of the art facilities, highly-qualified teachers and staff, and a large range of educational programming. Interested in enrolling your child? Learn more about our admissions process.

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