Kindergarten Korner

Our Rainy Day Exploration

We had lots of fun on our rainy day Nature Walk. We saw so many slugs out for a Nature Walk too. We looked closely at them outside. Then we decided to bring some slugs inside our class to observe them even more closely.

We made our new Slug friends a cozy habitat. Welcome new Slug Friends. We hope you enjoy your stay.

We fed our slugs lettuce and gave them lots of water. One day we came to school and there was a TERRIBLE SMELL! It was coming from our Slug Tank. OH NO!

That wasn’t the only thing in our classroom that looked and smelled a little stinky! Our Gourds have changed too.

R.G: It’s so dirty.

A.G: it’s so yucky (Plugged his nose).

C.C: So stinky.

M.B: It looks like dead.

K.P: I see leaves and grapes. They are cracking

the grapes and the apple is dirty.

C.S: The leaves are dirty.

E.C: Their making soil.

D.D: Why is it doing that?

A.S: They are getting crunchy and old.

M.A: They are getting super old.

J.A: The apples are dirty.

B.D: The slug is dirty.

G.M: If you keep it somewhere it gets dirty.

R.T: I see berries.

M.A: The grapes are getting super old. We need

to take them out.

J.M: The leaves are changing colours. They are

going to change colours again.

J.V: It’s so messy.

A.V: The leaf is slimy.

A.S: I see lines on the slugs.

N.G: The leaves are slimy. The slugs are eating.

C.H: The slugs are going to eat the grapes.

E.L: It’s getting dirty because everything is

getting old.

M.A: IT’S ROTTEN!

We wondered what we knew about Rotten.

One friend said. “It smells rotten!” We

wondered what rotten means. Can our

slugs and gourds both be rotten? We

decided to investigate what we know

about ROTTEN.

What Do We Know About ROTTEN

B.D: If you leave something in a can and it doesn’t get air, it goes rotten.

E.L: When you leave, leave lots of stuff in a bucket, and leave it for a long, it will get rotten.

N.G: When things get old, when leaves fall down and stay there for a long time, they get rotten.

J.A: If you put food in there. It will be very, very rotten.

E.C: If you put food in the compost, the slugs will come. It will be soft for the worms.

E.L: WE NEED TO FIND OUT WHAT THINGS GO ROTTEN AND WHAT THINGS ARE NOT ROTTEN.

EXPERIMENT TIME YES!

We made a list of things that we thought would rot and things that we thought would not rot. We recorded our choices on a chart. Now all we have to do is find all of these things.

Things That will Rot **Things That Will Not Rot

Orange Potato

Carrots Plum

Pear Water

Banana Soil and Sand

Apple (red and green) Newspaper

Strawberries Lemon

Grapes Flowers

Lettuce Metal

Cherries Eggs Shells

Leaves (Outside) Wood and Rocks

We wanted to know more about how things get rotten so we did some research on the internet. We documented our learning by writing and drawing pictures.

We watched a time lapsed video of rotting food. Here are some of our Rotten Research Observations: What do you see?

R.G: It is yucky, like a rotten banana. Bugs! The

strawberry melts first.

A.G: Really yucky! (Plugged his nose)

M.B: It looks like dead.

K.P: I see leaves and grapes. They are

cracking the grapes. The apple is dirty. They are melting. It will smell like garbage.

E.C: They are making soil.

A.S: They’re getting crushy.

Makayla: They are getting super old. We need to take the berries out. The strawberry disappeared. It melted. Garlic and potato don’t melt. The potato decomposed last. It will smell

like garbage. My food got rotten at my

Grandmas house. We threw it in the garbage.

J.A: The apple is dirty. I see fruit flies now. The

potato is the same. It will smell yucky.

C.C: The apple is getting from the dirt.

B.D: They are going into the dirt. It’s watery

now. There are so many fruit flies now. It will smell like a skunk.

R.T: I see berries.

J.M: The leaves are changing to dark colours. It will smell icky.

J.V: It’s so messy. Garbage

A.S: The leaf is slimy, like play dough. Maybe

our things get gooey and slimy too. They’re

getting crushy. Some things melt fast and some

things take a little bit longer. It will smell like see

weed.

K.M: It’s squishy.

C.C: So yucky.

N.G: It’s yucky and squishy.

C.H: Like sea weed.

A.G: My banana was rotten and all black.

E.L: It is dirty because it is getting older. It

will smell like poo. Ripe is good and rotten is

bad. It gets slimy.

A.J: It is all different. They changed.

M.A: The air is going out of the strawberry.

It melted, getting smaller and smaller. When it

rots, it gets smaller because air came out.

E.L: It is shrinking and changing shape.

A.V: It might be all gooey.

When things get rotten they change colour like green, white, black, gray and brown. They decompose and decay.

One friend said: "Out of decay, new things will

grow. Another friend added: Even flowers."

Isn't Life Amazing!

Decomposition Experiment Step #3:

Create our Decomposition Diary Title page. We drew pictures of the things that rot and things that do not rot.

Here are our final Decomposition Diary Title pages.

We recorded our observations in our decomposition diary. We looked at each item to see if anything changed.

Day 9-11: Here Are Some Of Our Observations A.S: The flowers are little pieces all around.

K.M: Water does not rot so I need to drink the water to make it disappear.

S.G: The potato is changed. I see red, green, purple and white.

A.J: The lemon got white.

B.D: The strawberries are juicy, rotten and grey.

J.M: The potato had little things and looks more brown.

I.A: The flowers are getting black.

C.S: I see the pear is soft, brown and squishy.

J.A: The pear is old, soft and brown.

A.G: The wood is the same.

C.C: I see water inside the strawberry.

G.M: The flowers are dry and need water.

E.L: The flowers are dry.

S.A: I see water (grape jar).

M.B: It’s all water inside (Strawberry jar).

N.G: The lemon is white here.

D.D: The apple is goo.

C.C: The pear is more black.

S.C: The apple is browner.

R.G: The flowers are going down.

A.V: The grapes are squishy.

K.P: The strawberries going to water.

G.M: The apple has a brown circle on it.

R.T: The carrots are all brown.

E.C: The newspaper and metal stayed the same.

C.H: The flowers are all crunchy.

M.A: The strawberries are squishy and juicy.

J.V: The strawberry is crushed.

Day 19-20: Here Are Some Of Our Observations

J.V: The strawberry is crushed. Yucky!

C.H: The eggs shells are crushed, yucky , bad.

M.A: The grapes have juice and it’s nasty!

E.C: The grapes are rotten. It’s gross!

S.G: The banana is yellow, black, wet and soft.

A.S: The banana is black and still smells good.

K.M: The banana bend and has water around.

A.J: The pear smells bad and is with water.

B.D: The banana and strawberries have juice.

J.M: The banana is stinky.

C.S: The orange still smells good.

I.A: The pear have chocolate inside.

R.T: The water is not rotten. I can drink it.

S.A: The lemon is hard.

M.B: The soil is the same. It didn’t change.

E.L: The apples smell stink and has water.

S.C: The banana is yucky and smells.

D.D: The lemon is white, hard and cold.

N.G: The banana is black and smells like banana.

C.C: The pear has more juice and smells horrible.

R.G: The pear has more juice.

A.V: The potato has leaves around and has green balls on it.

K.P: The banana is black and has spots.

G.M: The orange is good.

C.S: The banana is smashed and brown, black and white.

A.G: The apples are green and brown and smell rotten.

G.M: One apple is good and the other one is rotten.

J.A: One apple is green and one has spots.

Day 39-40: Here Are Some Of Our Observations

G.M: Leaves go rotten but not rocks.

A.G: The big apple is rotten.

J.A: The strawberries have green leaves.

C.C: The potato is white and has water.

R.G: The pear made more juice. It is flat and brown. It has 2cm of juice.

A.V: The pear has little white thingys on top.

K.P: The banana is black and I see water all around.

G.M: The banana looks different. It is yucky.

N.G: The apples are dark, brown and green.

D.D: The flowers are sticky and gross.

C.C: The banana is coming out and I see bubbles.

S.C: The banana is still all black.

S.A: The flowers look dirty.

R.T: The banana is squish and has yellow water.

E.L: The lemon is white and smells like candy.

M.B: The whole thing is getting rotten.

J.M: The sand looks like sand.

B.D: The plum is wrinkled and I see little white spots on top.

C.S: One apple looks fresh and one has water.

I.A: The apple is rotten.

A.J: The apples are stuck together.

A.S: The lemon is hard and is brown now.

S.G: I see one apple have brown and green.

K.M: The lemon is hard and pointy.

J.V: The apples are crushed and sticky.

E.C: The banana is open has some yellow inside.

C.H: Flowers have a white spider house on it.

M.A: The apples are squashed and watery.

It was getting so close to our Christmas vacation. We wanted to document any changes in our experiment. So we made a chart to record our observations before and after the Christmas vacation. Here are our findings.

We still have more wonders about how things decompose. What should we do?

Now we know that some things take a little bit of time to decompose and some things take a long time to decompose. We wondered why our water, metal, sand, soil, newspaper and rocks did not decompose at all. Are there some things that never decompose?

M.A: Let’s make a decomposition race. We can pick some things and see who will win the race.

E.L: We can pick something that we know rots very fast like a banana and a strawberry.

E.C: Why didn’t the newspaper decompose? It gets rotten in the compost. We need to put the things into dirt to help it decompose.

M.A: Our experiment stuff has to be in the dirt.

A.S: Maybe the banana won’t win the race if it’s inside the dirt.

E.L: To be fair, everything has to be in the dirt.

Then we received a special delivery in the mail. It was a see through compost container. This will really help us see which thing will win our decomposition race.

We picked 3 things to observe how they decompose. We chose a banana, a crumpled piece of paper and a Styrofoam cup. We wondered which one would decompose first.

Who will win the race?

We looked at our 3 things. We began to notice some changes. Here are some of our observations. We documented our learning by writing and drawing pictures.

Our Observations

B.D: The banana peel disappeared. We can see the sticker.

E.C: The banana turned black and disappeared. The paper is not food so it didn’t rot, only fruits and vegetables.

M.A: I see a little bit more yellow near the sticker. The paper and the cup are not going to be like this.

J.A: The banana is black. I see the sticker.

B.D: The paper is dirty and wet.

R.G: The banana is gone. I see the sticker.

K.M: I see the paper is wet. The banana have water.

E.L: The banana is black and the cup is dirty.

Our Observations

A.V: The paper is up and down. I see the paper wet.

S.C: I see paper and one sticker. I see a cup dirty.

R.T: I see a cup. I see paper. I see a sticker.

N.G: I see paper cup is dirty. I see a paper. I see dirt.

S.G: The paper got dirty. The cup dirty with black. The banana is down there at the bottom.

C.C: I see some black in there. Paper is wet and the cup is full of dirt.

D.D: I see the banana turned black. I see the paper getting light. The cup is dirty.

E.C: What happened to the banana? Nothing happened to the paper cup.

Our Observations

S.G: The cup is dirty and the paper dirty. The banana is very black.

A.V: The banana is gone. I don’t see the banana. I see the cup is white. I see the paper is orange.

A.G: The banana is black. The banana is gone. It decomposed all up.

K.M: The banana is rotten and black.

B.D: The banana is all gone. It decomposed all up. The paper is darker now.

A.S: I see the sticker but not the banana. The banana changed colours to black. The paper is more darker. The cup looks dirty. The cup didn’t change colours.

M.A: The banana was yellow, then black and now is gone.

J.M: I see the paper cup is gone inside the dirt. The paper cup and the paper are not rotten. The banana is rotten. I don’t see the banana. The paper cup is going in the dirt. Everything is going in the dirt.

Our Observations

D.D: I see a cup with dirt. The paper is down because of the dirt. The banana is gone all black.

E.C: I see the banana rotten. The paper orange a little bit.

J.A: The only one left is the cup.

E.C: The cup is not food or garbage. I see a little yellow juice outside the cup. The dirt have juice.

B.D: The cup is not compost, not changed. I see juice. The juice is orange and the cup is dirty.

S.G: he cup is very dirty. I see some yellow water. The cup can’t change because is white. The paper is clear. I see some rocks close to the cup. I see dirt. I see the banana sticker, looks like a dollar.

E.L: The cup is the same. I see the water yellow. Smells weird.

J.A: The cup is making water. I see yellow water. The cup is paper not changing like the other paper. The cup is covered with soil. The cup is white and soil water.

Our Observations

M.A: The cup is not changing because it is a paper cup. The cup has water. The cup is not compost in the water. The cup has water or juice, I don’t know.

C.C: The cup is really dirty. The cup is wet. The dirt is wet. I see some water.

E.L: The banana turned to dirt. The paper is decomposing. The cup is yellow.

B.D: The banana is dirt. The paper is wet. The cup has juice in it.

J.A: The cup is making more water.

E.L: The cup is changing to yellow and smells weird.

Our Observations

R.G: The banana is black. The paper is orange. The cup is yellow.

A.V: The banana is gone. Paper is white and the cup is dirty.

S.G: The banana is rotten. The paper is yellow. The cup is yellow.

G.M: The paper is dirty. The banana is gone. The cup didn’t change.

G.M: Banana is gone. Paper is down. Cup inside the dirt. The cup is old.

I.A: Banana is gone. The paper is little. The cup is down in the dirt.

S.C: Banana is rotten. The paper is yellow. The cup is rotten.

C.C: The paper is buried in the dirt.

Our Observations

J.A: It’s all gone, only orange now.

A.G: The cup is water. The paper is yellow. The banana is gone.

C.H: The banana is gone.

K.P: The banana is gone. The paper is yellow. The cup look brown.

A.S: The paper is wet. The cup is yellow. The banana has rotten.

C.S: The banana is decomposed.

M.A: The banana is squished.

D.D: The banana is gone. The paper is yellow.

Our Observations

K.M: The banana is gone. The cup is yellow.

A.J: Banana is black.

R.T: The paper is yellow. The banana is gone. The cup is yellow.

E.L: The banana is gone. The paper is dirty. The cup is yellow.

J.A: The banana is black. The paper is orange.

I.A: The cup is very dirty.

N.G: The paper is red. The banana is gone.

M.B: The cup is brown. The paper is yellow. The banana is black.

We were looking closely at our decomposition experiment. We noticed that the banana disappeared. We noticed that the paper is all crumpled. But the Styrofoam cup is still there. Some people thought that it changed and some people thought it did not change.

E.C: The cup did not change.

M.A: The cup didn’t get small. We don’t want this garbage.

R.G: Maybe it doesn’t decompose.

A.S: Maybe it is going to change tomorrow?

E.C: Maybe we should leave it for 100 days.

R.G: I like 100 days.

B.D: It’s like a new experiment.

We decided to take the cup out to look at it more closely. We wondered if it would decompose after 100 days! Stay Tuned.

First we looked at the banana. 8 Friends thought that the banana had decomposed and 20 friends thought that the banana was still there.

C.C: The banana is deep. It’s hard down.

R.G: The banana is little like a circle at the bottom.

S.G: It’s very deep.

A.S: Maybe the hard pieces is the banana. We have to take all the dirt out.

E.C: The banana is a fruit. It decomposes first.

C.C: The banana disappeared forever, gone forever.

J.V: I can’t find it. The banana is in the mud.

R.G: The dirt covered the banana. You can’t see it anymore.

G.M: The banana is rotten now.

Then we looked for the paper. Where is it? 14 friends think the paper is still a rectangle shape and 1 friend thing the paper will not be all together.

J.M: The mud is covering the paper. I see it already.

M.B: I think the soil is covering the paper.

C.C: The paper is dirty.

B.D: The paper first was light and then turned to dark.

E.L: The paper is the same but the difference is that it is crumpled up.

A.S: The paper is wet. If we touch it it will break and turn to half.

Now the waiting is over. We can finally check to see if our Styrofoam cup has decomposed after 100 days. 7 friends thought that the cup would change and 18 friends thought the cup would not be changed.

E.C: The banana juice leaked to the other side on the cup.

C.S: The cup changed by getting dirty.

A.V: The cup was white and turned yellow.

M.A: The cup stayed the same. It just has a crack on it because it got crushed by the soil pushing it down.

E.L: We should get a new cup and compare it to the dirty cup.

C.C: I think it will be the same just not dirty.

M.A: The cup is still there. We have too much garbage if we bring Styrofoam cups to school every day.

B.D: Maybe it will never go away.

M.A: That is not good. It will hurt the earth.

E.C: We need to find out if it ever can decompose.

Will the Styrofoam ever decompose? Will it be on Earth forever?

E.L: We need to find out. We can go on the internet to find out.

A.S: If it is true then we should never use Styrofoam ever again.

E.C: It hurts the Earth forever, even when we get so old.

Here is what we found out in our Decomposition Research.

How long does it take to decompose?

Glass: NEVER!

Cans: 200 Years!

Plastic: 1000 Years!

STYROFOAM: 1 MILLION YEARS!!!!!

E.C: That’s longer than the dinosaurs lived.

It is not good news! It is shocking! We need to take action now!

We need to make a promise to OUR EARTH!
That’s why we made a promise to eat only healthy foods like fruits and vegetables. AND we have NO GARBAGE in our lunches or snacks. At the end of the day our garbage can is empty. We only have some recyclables like paper.

We have been recording and counting all the fruits and vegetables we eat each week.