Tribewanted: Vorovoro

GREEN CLUB

Lesson 2: Compost

AIM:

To teach about all about compost and why it is amazing!

PREPARATION:

• Before you arrive, ask if the school you are working in is happy for you to build a compost bin on the school site. If the response is positive, a good idea is to speak to the kitchen staff when you are there for Green Club and encourage them to use the compost bins too- put on a compost workshop for them too if you can!


• Ask the school if they have any materials available on site for building a compost bin e.g. scrap wood. If not bring some with you from the island- be inventive- good bits of driftwood would be fine- it is not necessary to buy anything new to build a good, strong compost bin.

TOOLS REQUIRED:

• Paint and paintbrushes for labeling the compost bin.


• 2 saws


• 2 hammers


• machete


• nails


• chalk


• A blackboard


• A bucket-load of compostable food-scraps from last night’s dinner on the island.


• 4 seed packets for prizes
  ball

LESSON:

Introduction:

• Take the children and all the tools outside. A more informal setting encourages the children to see Green Club as fun and different from normal school activities.


• Game 1: Start with the same simple warm-up exercise as you started with in lesson 1:- stand in a circle and pass a ball around the group- when the ball is thrown to you, you must say your name along with your favourite vegetable.


• Get the 2 garden monitors to take everyone on a tour of the garden- noting what has grown/changed etc.


• Quiz: do a quick true/false recap-quiz covering what we have talked about growing your own vegetables in Lesson 1 (true: hands on heads, false: hands on bellies). The 2 winners get a bag of seeds each to take home and plant as a prize and will also be the next 2 gardening monitor for the week, in charge of daily watering and weeding.

Explain that this week we will be learning about compost- a completely natural and easy way to look after the vegetables in your garden as well in re-using what otherwise might simply be thrown away/burnt as rubbish.

Group discussion- try to get the children to come up to the board to write down their suggestions as much as possible- this keeps the theory behind compost from boring them too much!:

i) What is compost? Use the compost waste you have brought along as a prop:

• Composting is Nature’s way of recycling.


• Compost is a natural fertilizer that feeds the soil and so helps plants to grow big and strong.


• Basically, plant waste + moisture + warmth + air + micro-organisms + time = compost.


• Compost is a natural food that is FROM THE EARTH AND FOR THE EARTH


• Here is a simple explanation suitable for school age children which I found on http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/compostfacility/compost2.htm:

Leaves drop from trees. Grass clippings are left after mowing the lawn. Plants and animals die. Over time, these organic materials break down or decompose. The rich, dark-brown, crumbly, soil-like material that results is called compost.

At home or at your school compost can be made out of leaves, grass clippings, vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, wood chips, straw, and small twigs.

Tiny living things do much of the work of breaking down organic materials to form compost. These tiny workers are called microorganisms and include such things as bacteria and fungi. Animals living in the soil help microorganisms break down organic materials. Worms and pill bugs are examples of soil animals that help change organic waste into compost.

As microorganisms and soil animals turn organic materials into compost, they use the organic materials as food. The organic materials provide many of the nutrients that plants need for growth and activity. Eventually, these nutrients are turned to the soil, to be used again by trees, grass, and other plants. This is nature’s way of composting and recycling!!!

The compost that you make at your home or school can be used as a mulch or mixed into the soil. . Compost is one of nature’s best mulches and soil amendments. By composting and mulching you can save money by reducing your fertilizer and landscaping bills, lowering your water bill, and spending less on trash pickups or disposal.

ii) Why is compost good for the planet?:

• compost is completely natural so doesn’t put chemicals into the earth like other fertilizers that you can by in shops.


• Around 30% of landfill is actually organic waste which could be composted and used to help plants grow.


• By feeding the earth with good nutrients, you are in many ways repaying it for what you have/will be taking from it in terms of food for yourself- a beautiful cycle of sustainability similar to the seed-veg-seed cycle.


• Show the seed cycle on the blackboard, thus teaching about how once you start

iii) Compost Cake! To make good healthy compost, what ingredients do you need?:

compost goodies

• Any uncooked fruit and veg


• shredded paper (not shiny magazines though!)


• cotton and wool materials


• tea bags


• old plants


• dead leaves


• tops of perennial weeds


• lawn mowings


• raw eggshells

compost baddies

• any cooked food


• meat or bones


• woody plant clippings


• synthetic fabrics


• diseased plant material


• soil pests


• weeds with seeds on


• oil


• whole eggs


• dairy products

Finally, before the practical part of the lesson begins, amaze the children with these incredible compost facts:

The best gardeners know that gardening is not the art of cultivating good plants, but of cultivating good soil. Just as humans need a good, functioning heart to be strong and healthy, so a plant needs good soil to be strong and healthy too.
Worms are brilliant at making compost. Worms eat their own weight in organic waste, soil and minerals and excrete their own weight in castings daily, which makes compost and enriches the soil.

There are more micro-organisms in a teaspoonful of soil than there are humans alive on the planet.
Soil with not much compost or humus in it will blow away in the wind very easily. Putting compost in your soil feeds the soil and makes it strong and healthy.

BUILDING TIME:

• Split the children up into:
  
  
  
  1. Builders- lead them in building a simple compost structure. Use wood to build a simple wooden structure with a few loose planks at the top for a lid. Think carefully about where would be a practical place to put it for maximum usage (discuss with head teacher first).
  
  
  2. Sign-makers- Make a label for the compost bin and also a large sign with all compost goodies and baddies written out clearly as guidelines.
  
  
  3. Worm catchers (they can go off and find worms to put into their soon-to-be-built compost bin!).
  
  

END:

• Once the compost area is complete- gather everyone round and throw in collectively all the compost ingredients you have and all the worms that have been found. Hurrah!


• Quiz: do a quick true/false quiz covering what we have talked about today. The 2 winners get a bag of seeds each to take home as a prize and are also this weeks 2 compost monitors, in charge of checking the correct compost ingredients are being put in the bin, keeping it clean and tidy and to turning it once a week with a fork/spade.


• The end.