Little rotters composting handbook

Thringstone Primary School Thringstone Primary School is a village school of approximately pupils. The school is new to composting and is using Little Rotters as an opportunity to embark on a pupil-led environmental project. At the start of the project it is anticipated the majority of compostable waste will come from left over break-time fruit from the free school fruit scheme. An additional source of compostable waste will come from autumn leaves on the school grounds. These are children who came forward after an initial assembly with Wendell the Wizard Worm to launch the project in school.

The children will rotate on a half-termly basis to ensure as many children as possible have the opportunity to take part. In setting up the club, the first step was to complete a school waste audit, to establish how much waste the school could potentially compost. The audit showed that half of the weight of waste produced every day could be composted.

Undertaking an initial waste audit demonstrates to the group the difference they can make through composting. The school started off with a Litre compost bin and seven smaller collection caddies. The children chose where to put the main compost bin and with adult support constructed the bin.

They are now regularly checking the compost bin to ensure the correct waste is added. The collection caddies are sited round the school in places where compostable material is likely to be produced - in the main corridor, playground and the hall for collecting lunchtime fruit and also the staffroom.

The children empty the caddies everyday after lunch on a rota basis. There are five groups of children mixed age with each assigned a different day of the week to be on duty. The children are now in the process of drawing posters, to advertise the scheme around school and communicate what should be put in the collection caddies. They decided that 12 pupils from the two year 6 classes would form the Little Rotters Club, coordinated by a year 6 teacher who is also the schools science coordinator.

The Little Rotters started by doing a school waste audit to help identify how much compostable waste there was and where it came from.

The caterers are contracted to dispose of their waste as are the gardening contractors, so the majority of the compostable waste was from the pupils fruit scraps, paper towels used throughout the school, teabags and other bits from the staff room and plant remains from their two courtyard gardens. The school used a plastic compost bin, as it was considered tidier and easily available and quick to install.

It was positioned on one of the beds in a courtyard garden. The collection bins were put in the playgrounds where the fruit is eaten and one in each classroom for the collection of paper towels.

The 12 Little Rotters were split into two teams, each team emptying the bins every other week. They have quite a lot of bins to empty but between them this took less than10 minutes and was carried out during class time at the end of the day.

The Little Rotters were easily identifiable by the wearing of green bibs and gloves as they go about their duties. There is a quick reference table with a brief description of the activities at the beginning of the section to help you identify the links. For more downloadable activities and game visit www. Background Information An assembly is a good way to introduce a project or topic to the whole school.

This story not only introduces composting but also how the Little Rotters Club will work and what their tasks will be. Wendell the Wizard Worm has been created especially to help schools introduce their pupils to the wonderful world of composting in a fun and inspiring way.

The story can also be photocopied and made into a book with your own pictures, to read in small group sessions. Teaching Activity 1. To introduce the assembly, find out how many children already know what compost is. Talk about why it is important to make compost and how it will benefit the school.

If you already have the compost bin and collection bins use them as props, emphasise that these are the actual bins that will be used. Other props of compostable and non-compostable items will also help the childrens understanding. Use the OHTs which you can print off from the website to illustrate the story. At the end of the story find out how much they remember. Hold up different items that were in the story, ask if it can be composted or not?

Find out if any of the children compost at home. What does their compost bin look like? Have they seen any worms inside? You could ask them to describe what it looks like inside. Finish with a recap on the importance of composting, again using the Why Compost at School diagram. Announce who will be in the Little Rotters Club if you have already decided. Remember to distribute the assemblys follow up worksheet to teachers, for them to use with their class afterwards. Jess goes to a school not very far from here.

Every morning after break she is asked by her teacher to empty a small green plastic bin of rubbish into a much bigger green plastic bin, on the edge of the school field by the hedge.

She is not sure why she does it, but she always does what her teacher tells her! One day, when she was emptying her small green plastic bin into the big green plastic bin she noticed a worm eating an apple core.

Jess decided to take a closer look. Hello, whats on the menu today? Jess looked around to see who it was. But there was no one there. Heellooo Jess still couldnt see anyone.

It is me, down here, on the apple core. Jess looked into the big green bin and saw where the voice was coming from. It was coming from the worm sitting on the apple core. I have never heard a worm talk before, said a very surprised Jess. Ah said the worm I am no ordinary worm. Compost bin? Everyday you empty your small green plastic bin in here and you dont know what compost is? Wendell was almost annoyed. It is a lovely rich brown soil-like material which works wonders feeding the flowers and vegetables in your garden.

But, I dont put that in your compost bin, said Jess I put the schools fruit and vegetable scraps in there. Thats true, Wendell said, but then I am a wizard worm and what do wizards do? Magic, I believe in magic, tell me about it? Jess at this point completely forgot that she was talking to a worm and normally worms dont talk. Wendell told Jess about the other wonderworkers in his compost bin.

There are millions of minute microbes in here. Some of these creatures are so small you cant see them. These are the invisibles and include the bacteria whose bewitching ways feed on other little creatures in the process of breaking down your orange peelings. The fungi use their trickery and spread their spellbinding fibrous strands as they feed on the rotting bits of plants. So if there are invisibles are there visibles, ones you can see?

Look over there its Sid the Slobbering Slug sucking the last juices out of that apple core. There behind the banana skin the mysterious mites and Clair the Clever Centipede scamper around cleaning up after Sid the Slobbering Slug the slobbering slugs. All this activity is part of the decomposing process, where all materials that once lived rot down to make compost.

So Wendell, what do worms do? Jess asked her new friend. Ah, I was just getting to that. We are the biggest and the best. Worms wave their magic wand and cast spells that turn your fruit and vegetables scraps into compostwell actually, said Wendell I will let you into a secret, what we really do is eat it. I wonder what Wendells favourite food is, Jess thought to herself. She had an idea. See you tomorrow Wendell, said Jess as she headed back to the classroom.

She was already late. This time she had brought some of her friends with her who all wanted to meet Wendell the Wizard Worm and see the magic bin Jess had told them about. Jess knew it was a magic bin because how ever many times she emptied the small green plastic bin into it,it never seemed to get much fuller. You see decomposing makes all our waste smaller. They knew worms liked their apple cores and other fruit peelings, but worms must eat more than that.

Nina had brought some potato peelings and onion skins from the kitchen. Would Wendell and the other wrigglers like these? Yes, we like any uncooked vegetable scraps said the worms as they started to chomp. Deevish had brought the used tea bags from the staff room and some crushed eggshell. I bet the worms wont eat these.

A Oh yes we will said Wendell. Oh no you dont, came a voice from within the bin, worms wont eat plastic. What about our coke cans? Take them to be recycled, we cant do anything with them here, he replied. Another of Jesss friends Darly helped look after the school garden. Could she put her weeds and other bits of plants into the compost bin? The last of Jesss friends Ellie brought with her some of the paper hand towels, which they use in the classroom.

Paper is made from trees, I think Wendell and the other wrigglers will eat these. Well done, we like a nice balanced diet, this is something a bit drier to balance out all the other wet stuff. Thank you everyone we will all work our magic on this lot and see you soon. Soon everyone, even the teachers, were putting only tasty worm food in the small green plastic bin which are then emptied into the compost bin.

After several months they emptied the compost bin of compost and spread this on their flowerbeds, hoping to help make the flowers grow.

And do you know that year they grew the tallest sunflowers and tastiest strawberries that anyone had ever known. Jess and her friends were responsible for emptying the small bins into the compost bin and making sure Wendell and all the microbes always had enough food. They called themselves The Little Rotters Club. When they went to the compost bin they listened out for Wendell, sometimes he stopped for a chat, other times they only caught a glimpse of his pointy hat.

But do you know, every time they listened very carefully they could hear the distant murmurings of the worms as they did their wonderwork, eating away and making compost. So next time you see a worm listen very carefully and you may just hear it talk. The following week it was Chris and Charlies turn to empty the small green bin into the big green compost bin.

Write a short story describing what happened when they met Wendell the Wizard Worm. It was raining as Chris and Charlie carried the small green plastic bin to the edge of the field where the compost bin was Here are the answers, match them to the questions below. What can be composted? List 4 things that worms List 4 things that worms can eat cannot eat.

What do you think can be put in the compost bin? Is making compost good for the environment? Have a look at other posters in school. List 4 things that you like about them and 4 things that you dont.

Design a poster to tell everyone about the Little Rotters Club. Try out some of your ideas on the back of this sheet as rough drawings before you start work on your poster. This worksheet will help you to write an article about The Little Rotters Club.

Write your answers under the questions. How many people are in this club? Are they all pupils or are there adults as well?

What years are the pupils from? THE What have you been collecting to put in the compost bin and make compost? If yes, tell people why. Do you have a quote about composting in your school? Newspapers like to have a quote. A quote is something that a person has said about your project.

This could be your Head, a pupil or teacher. Quotation marks are used to show that the sentence is exactly as someone has said it. For example: Chris said Composting has been really good for our school. Now you have written some interesting points, think how you can link all you answers together to turn it into an article for a newspaper or newsletter. Background Information What is waste and why is it a problem? Geography As a society we are currently producing more QCA links waste than ever before at home and at school.

Unit 8 Improving the environment The fact that we produce waste, and need to get Section 2 - What do we throw away in the rid of it, is a concern for us all. How could it be reduced? Learning Objectives. The questions. The use of these resources cannot go on indefinitely - they will run out. Learning Outcomes. When something is thrown away we are failing to see it as a resource. It is well understood that what is waste to one person may not be viewed as waste by another.

A good example is scrap metal which has been recycled for many years. Increasingly people are realising that it makes economic as well as environmental sense to use "waste" rather than just throw it away.

See Composting and the Environment in Section One. Purpose of the Waste Audit This activity introduces children to the environmental issues of waste and the benefits of recycling, especially composting. Pupils discover how much waste the school produces in a day and how much of it could be composted.

Waste Audit Preparation Gather together all the equipment Have a typical days rubbish ready. Teaching activity rubbish sorting 1. Discuss with the children why recycling is important and what types of materials can be recycled and how to go about it e. Discuss where these are located. Record the number of bin bags of rubbish the school throws away in one day.

Record the total weight of this rubbish. Split the class into 3 groups. Each group will sort through one bin bag of rubbish. Explain to the class the purpose of the exercise is to sort the black bag of rubbish into 3 different categories recycle, landfill and compost and what can go into each. They will end up with 3 separate piles on their floor covering. Ask each group to re-bag each category of waste into clear plastic bags. So instead of the one black bag of rubbish they now have three bags of the different categories.

Ask each group to record the weight and volume of each category of their waste on the record sheet provided. At the end of the exercise the class will have recorded the different categories of waste from 3 bin bags of school rubbish. NB: Although yoghurt pots and other plastic items may have a recycling symbol on them.

At the moment limited facilities exist to recycle them. Post waste sorting activity data handling 1. Using the data collected from the exercise calculate the average amount of recycle, compost and landfill waste in a bin bag of school rubbish.

From this data calculate the amount of each waste type the school generates - in a day - in a week - in a year. Discuss ways to separate the compost waste, so it can be collected and put into the compost bin. Waste Average in Waste per Waste per Waste per category a bag day week year. Background Information Geography When making compost in school it is important that the correct items go into the compost bin in QCA links Year 4 order to create a good balance of ingredients Unit 8 Improving the environment and avoid items that could cause a health and Section 2 - What do we throw away in the safety problem in the future.

All the items in the first column of the table below will break down easily and decompose to Learning Outcome.

Children should learn - make compost. Following on from the school waste audit, discuss with the class that making compost is a method of recycling that can be done in school. It is a natural process. All organic waste will rot down to make a brown soil like material, show an example.

Use the worksheet to reinforce what materials can be composted. What can we compost? Put it in - Composting Rubbish or Recycle. Below is a list of items. Which ones can we put into the compost bin for worms to eat? Which ones will not compost? Background Information Science How long will it take for various items to decompose?

Anything that was once living is Learning objectives. Organic things can be used to make rates. See the chart for decomposition material to decompose.

Teaching Activity Ask pupils to estimate the amount of time it would take for items to decompose. As you do this, put either the actual items, a picture or a label in the order in which they predict each would decompose, on a time chart. Collect together an example of materials from the equipment list. Label each item attach it to a piece of string with the label at the other end. Fill the plastic container half full with soil, place all the items in the container and cover them completely with soil make sure the labels are not buried.

Put a lid on the container. Keep the soil moist. Dont let it dry out or freeze. Observe what happens to each item over a 4-week period. Discuss why some things decompose quicker than others. Art Create a time chart display for the classroom. Numeracy and ICT graphs and chart showing decomposition rates. Can you guess how long a crisp packet, plastic carrier bag and a banana skin would take to breakdown?

Make your own rotting rate chart based on your results. Background Information A compost heap is full of life and activity, forming a complex food chain. There are Science millions of organisms living in a compost heap, QCA links working in many different ways, but all Unit 3C Characteristics of materials contributing to the decomposition process to Learning objectives.

This activity helps demonstrate the activity Learning Outcomes. Children inside a compost heap. Explain what a food chain is and how a compost heap is a habitat for lots of creatures involving lots of food chains.

Split the class into groups of 4. Give each group a blank food chain sheet and a set of pictures. Ask them to work out who eats who and stick the pictures in the correct box on the blank sheet.

Go through the answers with the whole class giving each group two points for every creature they put within the correct group. Create a display showing the food chain inside the compost bin. You will need a set of 12 composting creature pictures. Decide who eats who and which group each creature belongs to. Once you have decided stick the pictures down. You will get 2 points for each creature in the correct group.

Background Information Worms spend their life digesting, grinding, and excreting organic matter. Without the help of Science worms, every plant and animal that died and fell QCA links to the ground would stay right where it fell. By Unit 4B Habitats breaking down organic matter - like dead plants Section 2 and decaying animals worms create valuable Learning Objectives. Children should learn - nutrients necessary for rich and fertile soil.

Children - good for plant growth. These worms can eat through the greatest amount of organic matter, therefore making them the most efficient composters of all worms. Worms are invertebrates. They have a long cylindrical body divided into segments. The grooves that extend around the body of the worm show the arrangement of the segments.

Some species have a body composed of over segments. The bump in the middle of the worm is the saddle or clitellum. This is only present on adult worms and contains the gland cells that secrete slimy mucus to form the cocoon, which will hold the embryos.

Ask the children to predict where in the school grounds are the best places to find worms - in the flowerbed, under trees, in the grass or in the compost bin? Using the fork or spade go into the school grounds and collect some worms, record how many worms were found in the different places. Once you have collected the worms return to the classroom and split the class into pairs. Give each pair a worm. Hand out the following pupil worksheet.

Care for your worm Worms like to be damp so keep your worm on a moist paper towel. Do not harm your worm. How long is your worm? Worms are difficult to measure, they can make themselves very long or very short. Measure your worm at shortest and longest to find out the average length. Carefully use a pencil to guide your worm onto a straight line on a paper towel and make a dot at the front and back ends.

Measure the distance between the dots. What happens to your worm in the light? Shine a low power torch on the worm for 30 seconds. What does the worm do? Which is the worms head and which its tail? Look at your worm using a magnifying glass. Bridging the gap. Put two books on the table leaving a gap of 3cm between them, lay a paper towel on each and sprinkle one with water so it is damp.

Put the worm on the dry sheet and watch it bridge the gap to get to the wet sheet. Listening to worms. As today's event proves it can also be lots of fun too. Ten local schools and nurseries brought their compost with them whilst several others arrived by post, all in the hope of winning the fantastic "What Rot!

While the judges Kirsten Leask, Senior Officer at Eco Schools Scotland and Kathleen Kirkness, Changeworks Master Composter Project Co-ordinator carefully scratched and sniffed the compost samples, the children had the opportunity to get up close and personal with the live inhabitants of a compost bin with Angus Egan of Earth Calling. With feely boxes, smelly boxes and activities like making grass head worms from old tights - the fun just kept on growing. Changeworks' Waste Education Service funded by City of Edinburgh Council has been working with over 17, school pupils this year to help them to reduce reuse and recycle their waste.

The success of this competition is a fantastic reflection of the commitment to reducing waste that staff and pupils have shown and shows that local schools and nurseries can all help the environment by reducing reusing and recycling. Is it ok to keep this worm farm out when it gets to 40 deg? Kookaburra Worm Farms — June 24, Worms need to be kept between deg C. If you can keep it completely shaded then it may be OK, but 40 deg ambient is going to be too hot unfortunately.

Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Categories: Worm Eggs , Worm Farm.