Over the weekend, our 4th graders collected all sorts of organic materials, including coffee grounds, eggshells, and fruit peels, from home to create compost boxes in Lower School Teacher Monica Sanchez's class! Students even encouraged their families to participate—Emily B. '35 said she put her food-scrap collection bag next to a bowl of fruit so that her family could easily put peels into the bag for the project.

This week, students padded their compost bins with dry materials including twigs and branches along with their scraps from home and drilled holes into the top to aerate the boxes. When the decomposition process is complete, students will use the rich humus product to grow a mini garden in the spring.

The project is part of their introduction to Westridge, as Sanchez explained, acclimating students to habits including properly sorting trash in bins around campus, being mindful of using metal utensils instead of plastic, and using recycled paper to print.