Decomposing Classroom

I honestly don’t know how this happened, but somehow my 6th grade has spent nearly a whole quarter on solely decomposition. It all started with our rotting fruit “flipbooks.” After that came the “What affects the rate of decomposition?” labs — I really wanted the students to get the chance to design their own experiments to test specific variables. We did all sorts of hands-on explorations and observations in the garden, forest and compost. Oh yeah, and can’t forget about all those decomposer songs.

Clearly, I should have stopped here. The classroom was turning into a garbage pit. We had one shelf crammed with the rotting fruit jars. The experiments (in cut-top 2 liter soda bottles) were scattered around the room in selected spots of sun/shade, etc. An aroma of soil mixed with sickly sweetness pervaded the air. “Why does your classroom always smell so weird?” Colin asked me.

But somehow I had the idea to cap it all off with a creative project. So, before I know it, there are fliers up on the doors advertising for auditions for various compost plays (“The Compost Games! based off the popular Hunger Games!”) and kids are signing up like crazy. Other students did comic strips instead.

By the end, I was so ready to end, but we still had these long-term experiments going on. I’m pretty sure that the students were convinced I was a decomposition fanatic. At least I can confidently say that none of us will ever look at mold the same way again.