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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 4 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. How much material was added in September?
  2. 2. What would happen to the compost spread on the beds?
  3. 3. What happened to the mass over the year?
  4. 4. What does this record not tell you?
2.Why does the middle of a compost heap get warm?
  • A.The decomposers breaking the material down give off heat
  • B.Compost is made of hot food
  • C.The sun heats the middle most
3.Where do the minerals in fallen leaves end up after they rot?
  • A.In the clouds
  • B.Back in the soil, where roots can take them up
  • C.Nowhere, they are destroyed
4.Which of these would rot most slowly in a compost bin?
  • A.A plastic bag
  • B.A banana peel
  • C.Grass cuttings
5.Some of a compost heap's mass is lost to the air. In what form?
  • A.As smoke from burning
  • B.As gases given off while the material is broken down
  • C.As light
6.Turning a compost heap over with a fork helps it rot faster. Why?
  • A.It squashes the worms
  • B.It lets in air that the decomposers need
  • C.It cools the heap down
7.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

LessonPrint · 5-LS2-1 · Set 4 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — The Compost Bin, Month by Month

Set 4. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. 40 kg of leaves, peelings and grass. 2. It would feed the plants, which grew noticeably greener. 3. It fell from 40 kg in September to 14 kg in June. 4. It does not tell you which decomposers did most of the work.
  2. 2.The decomposers breaking the material down give off heat
  3. 3.Back in the soil, where roots can take them up
  4. 4.A plastic bag
  5. 5.As gases given off while the material is broken down
  6. 6.It lets in air that the decomposers need
  7. 7.It returns matter to the soil that plants can take up

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