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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 24 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. Where did the missing mass go?
  2. 2. What was in the trash can in December?
  3. 3. What claim does this record support?
  4. 4. What happened to the mass over the year?
2.Some of a compost heap's mass is lost to the air. In what form?
  • A.As light
  • B.As smoke from burning
  • C.As gases given off while the material is broken down
3.Why does the middle of a compost heap get warm?
  • A.The sun heats the middle most
  • B.Compost is made of hot food
  • C.The decomposers breaking the material down give off heat
4.What would happen in a wood with no decomposers at all?
  • A.Dead leaves and wood would pile up, and their matter would not return to the soil
  • B.Nothing would change
  • C.The trees would grow faster
5.Where do the minerals in fallen leaves end up after they rot?
  • A.Nowhere, they are destroyed
  • B.Back in the soil, where roots can take them up
  • C.In the clouds
6.Why is compost good to dig into a vegetable bed?
  • A.It keeps slugs away for ever
  • B.It makes the soil heavier
  • C.It returns matter to the soil that plants can take up
7.What do worms do in a compost bin?
  • A.Keep the bin dry
  • B.Eat dead material and break it into smaller pieces
  • C.Make the plants grow inside the bin

LessonPrint · 5-LS2-1 · Set 24 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — The Compost Bin, Month by Month

Set 24. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. Into gas and water given off as the decomposers broke the material down. 2. A warm pile with worms and woodlice, at 26 kg. 3. Matter moves from plants through decomposers back into the soil and the air. 4. It fell from 40 kg in September to 14 kg in June.
  2. 2.As gases given off while the material is broken down
  3. 3.The decomposers breaking the material down give off heat
  4. 4.Dead leaves and wood would pile up, and their matter would not return to the soil
  5. 5.Back in the soil, where roots can take them up
  6. 6.It returns matter to the soil that plants can take up
  7. 7.Eat dead material and break it into smaller pieces

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