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The Compost Bin, Month by Month is a free printable Grade 5 science worksheet on using a year of compost records as evidence that decomposers return matter, aligned to NGSS performance expectation 5-LS2-1. It prints 7 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two students in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 13 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

The Compost Bin, Month by Month

5-LS2-1

NameDate

Read the record, then answer the questions.

1.Read the record, then answer the questions.

The Compost Bin, Month by Month

Monthly notes and masses from the school compost bin, over one year. WHAT WENT IN AND WHAT CAME OUT September: 40 kg of leaves, peelings and grass added December: pile warm inside, worms and woodlice present, 26 kg March: dark crumbly material, few recognizable pieces, 17 kg June: dark soil-like compost, 14 kg, spread on the beds Plants grown in that bed were noticeably greener.

  1. 1. What claim does this record support?
  2. 2. What does this record not tell you?
  3. 3. What was in the trash can in December?
  4. 4. What would happen to the compost spread on the beds?
2.What would happen in a wood with no decomposers at all?
  • A.The trees would grow faster
  • B.Dead leaves and wood would pile up, and their matter would not return to the soil
  • C.Nothing would change
3.Why does the middle of a compost heap get warm?
  • A.Compost is made of hot food
  • B.The sun heats the middle most
  • C.The decomposers breaking the material down give off heat
4.Why should a compost heap be kept damp rather than dry?
  • A.Water makes it smell nicer
  • B.Decomposers need water to live and do their work
  • C.Dry compost is heavier
5.Which of these would rot most slowly in a compost bin?
  • A.A banana peel
  • B.A plastic bag
  • C.Grass cuttings
6.Where do the minerals in fallen leaves end up after they rot?
  • A.Nowhere, they are destroyed
  • B.In the clouds
  • C.Back in the soil, where roots can take them up
7.A fallen log in a wood is soft and crumbly after a few years. What has happened?
  • A.Fungi and other decomposers have broken it down
  • B.It has turned back into a seed
  • C.The rain has melted it

LessonPrint · 5-LS2-1 · Set 13 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — The Compost Bin, Month by Month

Set 13. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Matter moves from plants through decomposers back into the soil and the air. 2. It does not tell you which decomposers did most of the work. 3. A warm pile with worms and woodlice, at 26 kg. 4. It would feed the plants, which grew noticeably greener.
  2. 2.Dead leaves and wood would pile up, and their matter would not return to the soil
  3. 3.The decomposers breaking the material down give off heat
  4. 4.Decomposers need water to live and do their work
  5. 5.A plastic bag
  6. 6.Back in the soil, where roots can take them up
  7. 7.Fungi and other decomposers have broken it down

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to 5-LS2-1 of the Next Generation Science Standards.