This interactive crossword puzzle explores proper ways of composting, what materials should be avoided when composting, what happens to compost over time, and the positive impact composting can have on the environment.
Students will learn whether or not pet manure is useful for composting, what food scraps are beneficial for composting, and how composting impacts the amount of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This game is visually appealing and easy to play.
Students can have up to 7 letters revealed to them while solving the puzzle.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should know what composting is before they play the game.
Students should also have some understanding of the carbon cycle and how its relevant to climate change.
Differentiation
This game could supplement a lesson on the carbon cycle where the assessment could involve students developing their own models to describe the carbon cycle or coming up with their own crossword.
For ELLs, it may be useful to define some words before these students play the game.
Students could compare the information in this game with what they learned in a science textbook that discusses the carbon cycle, decomposition, nutrient cycling, or ecosystems.
After students play individually, the puzzle could be displayed on a whiteboard and played as a class in order to gauge overall student comprehension, address misconceptions, and further reinforce the material.
Scientist Notes
This resource is a crossword puzzle that has words related to composting. The clues have an associated picture, and the clues define the word and relate it back to composting. Each clue also has a sentence where the answer fills in the blank space in the sentence. The words are ones used in everyday life. This game would be a good activity to supplement a lesson but it does not provide information beyond definitions. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Language (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.6.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 6 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
Reading: Science & Technical Subjects (6-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.4 Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 6-8 texts and topics.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.7 Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table).
