Composting with kindergartners

Today I got to go to my kids elementary school to be the "trash monitor".  Actually it's the lunch monitor but I think of it proudly as the trash monitor because the job is to teach the kids how to sort their trash.  Glenview Elementary school is an excellent elementary school in the Oakland district.  We feel lucky to have our kids at such a great school.  Last year the PTA got together with the school staff to start a recycling and composting program in the lunchroom at the school.  With the start of this school year, it's time to teach the new kids and remind the kids who have been at the school how to use the system.  I spent this morning (little kids eat lunch early) helping 5 year-olds figure out what is trash, what is compost and what can be recycled.  Most of the kids are getting into it.  The take their time and really consider what to do.  I hope it follows them home and helps them understand that they can make a contribution to how their family lives in the world.  It was also great to see so many little kids who had a handle on these concepts.  Kids with lunch boxes that look like my kids boxes.  Full of reusable containers and foods that didn't come in individual packages.  Kids who knew what to take home to reuse; who made almost no waste.  Although I did have to confront a major personal composting dilemma...is a Twinkie really compostable if in fact it will never degrade? does it make a difference if you take off the plastic wrapper? Oh well.  My girls seemed to like seeing me there.  It was fun to get to see them all big and in kindergarten.