As part of our Power of Food project, we are continuing to learn more about composting. We gathered what we knew about the topic and began asking ourselves questions. The students knew that we have a compost trash can at school where we put our food leftovers, but they wondered what kind of food can be placed in a compost bin. They remembered that there was a compost area at the HEAL Farm (from our field trip in November 2023), and the children could describe what they saw there: soil, tiny pieces of vegetables and bugs, pieces of leaves and twigs.
We watched a video about composting that helped us understand the composting process and its impact on our environment. We also realized that we had a lot to learn about the subject. For example, some of the students were surprised to learn that when we put food scraps into our landfills, they produce gases that are harmful to our environment. To illustrate this point, I brought some vegetable scraps to school and we placed them in a container to see what would happen. Some of our students wondered whether we should throw away food that had gotten moldy in the main trash container, or if it should be left in the compost bin with the other scraps students. We are still exploring this topic, but I asked the children to check at home to see what they could find out about composting. We will gather our data next week and continue our studies on this topic.