Soil Layers and Decomposers

A clear jar, garden soil, leaf litter, and two weeks of patience.

Children build the column, then draw it on day one, day seven and day fourteen. The layers settle, the leaf litter breaks down at the top, and if you have added a worm or two the tunnels become visible against the glass, which is the moment the whole class crowds round.

This is the first sheet in the set where the observation runs longer than a lesson, and that is deliberate. Grade three is where children can hold a question open for two weeks.

The page includes the build instructions, three dated drawing frames, and a comparison prompt at the end. It also includes the thing we got wrong for a year, which is that a sealed jar goes anaerobic and smells appalling. Cover it with cloth, not a lid.