About this worksheet
A four-week decomposition investigation for 5th grade science. Students seal an apple slice, a dry dead leaf, a piece of bread, a paper towel scrap and a plastic spoon in bags of moist garden soil. First they predict whether each item will break down (yes, partly or no) and how it will look at Week 4. Then they log size, shape, texture and mold once a week. A word-bank conclusion frame and two written questions explain how decomposers return matter to the soil, and why the spoon did not change. The 6 pages align to NGSS 5-LS2-1, with expected observations in the key.
