Exploring Soil
Nau Mai! Welcome to the Kids Greening Taupo Online Nature Classroom!
This week’s Online Nature Classroom is all about soil
In unit three of our Online Nature Classroom we learnt all about the lives of bugs, we then went on to learn about plants and fungi… but what ties all of these themes together?
The answer is soil!
Soil is the basis of life, without soil, life as we know it would be very different… in fact, there may not be any life at all! Think about it, soil holds water, nutrients, oxygen, and food, all of which are essential resources for life on Earth. No soil = no sustainable life.
Everything in nature is connected through a chain/web of interactions. We have previously talked about how fungi and plants work closely together to share and send messages and resources, and how fungi can take over insect bodies turning them into zombies… but how are these all linked together?
It’s called the circle of life. Just like in The Lion King movie, life constantly cycles from birth through to death, seed through to dead decaying log. When organisms die in nature; bugs, fungi and other creatures work together to break the dead organic matter down, recycling it into nutrient rich soil. This process of break-down is called decomposition.
Naturally, there is no waste in nature, except things in the wrong place. For example, plastic doesn’t occur naturally, it was made by us humans. Unfortunately, plastic doesn’t decompose. Instead it was made to last, and it does that job well. In fact, it takes approximately 450 years for one plastic bottle to simply break down into smaller plastic bits! To put that into perspective, your great, great, great grandchildren could potentially dig up a plastic bottle that you used 400+ years ago! That’s why when digging holes into soil we can often find litter deep down. Learn more about plastic recycling in Taupō.
Check out this song about about PLASTIC that you can teach your friends and whānau.
In this lesson we are going to focus on the importance of soil, and the role of decomposers in reducing the food waste heading to landfill. What are you waiting for? Let’s dig a little deeper into the topic of soil … literally!
An introduction to the world of our greatest DECOMPOSERS
Resources for teachers:
Taupō for Tomorrow has created this awesome padlet about the water cycle.
Our weekly ‘Fill your Kete’ section will provide you with some fun nature activities based around our weekly topic. As this unit’s theme is Soil, the activities include digging holes to explore soil layers, investigations into your local decomposers and biodegradability, and learning how to set up your own worm farm and compost bin.
Day 1:
Dig a hole to EXPLORE soil layers
You'll need permission and some help for this one!
NOTE: check for pipes and wiring underground before you dig.
Dig a small hole into the soil (no more than 20cm x 20cm wide).
Try and pull the soil out in one piece (but it’s okay if you can’t).
Are there colour differences as the soil gets deeper? How far do the roots reach?
Did you find any insects or worms? Let’s learn about the role of worms in soil in this video.
Does it get wetter? Drier? Touch it and find out!
Is the water in the soil part of the water cycle? Where do you think it might go next?
To learn more about soils watch these videos:
Soil is Alive!- Learn about what’s living in soil
Test your soil profile HERE.
DAY 2:
Investigate your local decomposers
Head outside with a light coloured bucket or open container, a white paint tray is great.
Gather some local soil (the darker the soil- the better). Rich leaf litter is good to collect too.
Look closely at the soil. What can you find? Is anything moving around? Jumping?
If you do find anything moving try to identify them. Draw them, or write down what they look like. Look through the list below.
If you can get a clear photo try using the I-Naturalist App to identify your creature.
Learn more about your local bug decomposers below:
DAY 3:
Curiosity Questions
These curiosity questions will help with the Day 4 Activity- Making a Biodegradability Garden.
What types of materials will decompose?
How long does it take for different materials to completely biodegrade?
What conditions are necessary for materials to biodegrade?
Is there anything that would speed up, or slow down decomposition of items? After researching this, think about modern landfills, where the waste is completely sealed off and encased in concrete. What do you think this means for the waste inside? Would it still biodegrade over time?
Extra for experts:
Find out the difference between degradable, biodegradable and compostable ‘plastic’ bags?
How are they different to standard plastic bags?
This is a good starting point for understanding the difference between ‘degradable’ and ‘biodegradable’.
Is one option better for our environment than another?
DAY 4:
Biodegradability Garden
Bury a range of different objects in an empty garden space and see what biodegrades.
Mark out a spot in your garden where you are allowed to bury things.
Bury your items. Can you predict which things will biodegrade first? Are there things that you think will never biodegrade? Predict what will happen to each item and then compare your predictions with the results when you dig the items up!
Ideas of items to bury:
Wood (a pencil is interesting to watch break down)
Food items (banana skin, an orange, an apple core)
Cardboard
A newspaper
A teabag (plastic vs natural fibre)
A fruit sticker (this leads to interesting conversations too)
Glass
Plastic (wrappers, containers, cornstarch ‘plastic’, bags)
3. Mark where things are buried with labelled ice-block sticks.
Check on the items after a couple of weeks, and then again after a couple of months. It’s fascinating to see what happens to the different objects. Were your predictions correct? Were you surprised about any of the results?
DAY 5:
KI TE PANUI/ TO READ
This week’s ki te Panui section is based on Soil.
Head to the section below for the read aloud story, Compost Stew- An A to Z Recipe for the Earth.
If you already have this book make sure you head outside to connect to nature whilst enjoying it!
After reading/listening to the book make sure to try the follow up activity where you will learn how to set up your own worm farm or compost bin.
In each Online Nature Classroom we will give book suggestions along with at least one video read aloud.
This week’s recommendation is Compost Stew- An A to Z Recipe for the Earth.
Watch the read along below-
Follow up activity:
Set up your own worm farm or compost
Now that we have investigated biodegradability in our gardens, we know that our food scraps naturally break down fast with the help of bugs, fungi, and other creatures, whereas plastic doesn’t.
So why do we send so much of our food waste in plastic bags to the landfill/dump?
What really happens to this food in these landfills?
Watch the video below:
Here are five reasons why we should all set up a compost/worm farm:
Less waste going to landfill (which allows more food to biodegrade, which doesn’t occur in sealed landfills, reduces methane leaching into the environment from landfills and saves money).
Free, natural fertilizer for your garden.
Improved soil structure (there is a bit of a story as to why this is important, but simply it is).
Increased water retention in soils (saving water usage).
Increased biodiversity in your backyard.
We can all do something to help reduce our waste going to landfill!
Opportunities for local Taupō schools/ ECE:
If you are interested in getting a worm farm or a compost bin set up in your school with training for your staff, contact our local expert:
Taupō Community Gardens- taupocg@gmail.com
If you are interested in doing a school waste audit, contact our local expert:
Shannon Hansen from the Taupō District Council- shanson@taupo.govt.nz
OTHER BOOK SUGGESTIONS (soil):
Read aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5qhb1Jpow4
Learn more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T3INWmMp7I
Read aloud: https://youtu.be/MV3A864z9W0
Read aloud here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-iJU-CceIE
For higher level reading
