The "Dirt" on Soil

By Chyrell, Jennifer, & Kenneth

We were doing research on soil. Our questions were:

1. What is in the soil?

2. What will make the plants grow?

3. What is different about outside soil (from our garden site) and inside soil (potting soil)?

We collected outside soil and inside soil and put them in different jars. We added water, and put the lids on. We shook them up. We put them away and waited for layers to form. Then we investigated what was in the layers.

We also put the two soils on different plates and let it dry. We used Popsicle sticks to dig through it and used magnifying glasses to see what was in the soil.

We drew pictures of the layers and in the jar and made lists of what was in the soil.

We looked outside at the soil where we want to grow our garden, and made a list of what was in the soil that might hurt plants, and what we need to change to make plants grow there. We also made a list of what we need to get.

We learned that soil is made out of rocks, pieces of dead animals and plants, and ashes. Some animals live in soil that help plants grow. Earthworms are helpful animals. Sometimes you will have to leave some old soil when you put new soil around the plant, because sometimes the plants can't breathe with all new soil. All dirt has layers, but sometimes the worms mix it up.

Some future questions might be:

• How do plants grow?

• Why do some plants suffocate each other when they are planted together?

• How would you know what plants like each other?

• How old do plants get?