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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 2 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 would happen to the compost spread on the beds?
  2. 2. What was in the trash can in December?
  3. 3. What does this record not tell you?
  4. 4. Where did the missing mass go?
2.Why should a compost heap be kept damp rather than dry?
  • A.Dry compost is heavier
  • B.Water makes it smell nicer
  • C.Decomposers need water to live and do their work
3.What would happen in a wood with no decomposers at all?
  • A.Nothing would change
  • B.The trees would grow faster
  • C.Dead leaves and wood would pile up, and their matter would not return to the soil
4.Which of these would rot most slowly in a compost bin?
  • A.Grass cuttings
  • B.A plastic bag
  • C.A banana peel
5.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
6.Why does the middle of a compost heap get warm?
  • A.Compost is made of hot food
  • B.The decomposers breaking the material down give off heat
  • C.The sun heats the middle most
7.Some of a compost heap's mass is lost to the air. In what form?
  • A.As gases given off while the material is broken down
  • B.As smoke from burning
  • C.As light

LessonPrint · 5-LS2-1 · Set 2 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — The Compost Bin, Month by Month

Set 2. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. It would feed the plants, which grew noticeably greener. 2. A warm pile with worms and woodlice, at 26 kg. 3. It does not tell you which decomposers did most of the work. 4. Into gas and water given off as the decomposers broke the material down.
  2. 2.Decomposers need water to live and do their work
  3. 3.Dead leaves and wood would pile up, and their matter would not return to the soil
  4. 4.A plastic bag
  5. 5.Fungi and other decomposers have broken it down
  6. 6.The decomposers breaking the material down give off heat
  7. 7.As gases given off while the material is broken down

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