Worm Observations
Module 4: Building the Soil
The students were captivated by these tiny creatures and interesting
facts about worms. They shared magnifying
glasses, and learned from their neighbor that worms really aren’t that slimy or
scary to touch. The girl who screamed in the garden ended up with two worms in
her tray and after learning about reproduction looked at them and said with a
grin, “Awww, it looks like they’re kissing!” Everyone was excited to
participate in creating the habitat for their worm’s new home.
I would like to share a few things I learned while leading these lessons. There is a materials list at the end of the entry, as well as a description of the “Worms vs. Centipede” game invented by my coworker, which was a fun, active way to wrap up a session.
For the first lesson, I thought I would go through the
worm exploration point by point as the students were at the table. I discovered, however, it is very challenging
to get the entire group’s attention once they have their worms. Once I stopped
trying to get everyone to look up from their worm, and split information with
my volunteer to go around to a few students at a time to explore a specific
point, we were able to delve deeper into the subject.
What helped with my second group was going over basic worm
information before the students had their worms. We looked at the worm bin,
talked about a worm’s function, and using a small white board drew a large worm
to talk about things to look for (telling head from tail, the mouth, hearts,
etc) and reproduction. When the students had their worms, it was easy to ask
the whole table questions like “How many of you were able to find your worm’s
head?” I had an extra copy of the worm exploration packet for my volunteer so
we could each have all the information for our one-on-one time with the
students.
With my first group, we went to the garden to dig for worms, to have
some variation from the red wigglers I had in the classroom. It would be
good preface this with a clear time and worm limit. This is something
the group could have done for hours, and every student was determined,
almost desperate, to find their own worm (finding worms outside is more
difficult in colder weather) With my next group, I skipped the worm hunt
to allow more time for the worm exploration and a worm game at the end
of the session. Every student in the second group was able to find
their own worm in the bedding of the worm bin that we had assembled the
day before.
My students had many, many questions about worms- some of
which I did not know the answers to. This would be a good opportunity to have
the students make a list of questions, pair up, and do online research to share
their findings with the group. Younger students could search for images of worm
eggs, or newly hatched worms, to compare with what they found in their
soil/bedding sample.
Making the bedding and feeding the worms is something that
everyone was excited about and got to take part in. Tearing or cutting
newspaper, wringing out expanded coconut coir (that we had added water to
during the beginning of the session in a five gallon bucket), wetting the
newspaper, and adding that to the bin along with compost/soil and food scraps
gave everyone a chance to contribute to their worm’s new home.
Materials included:
* a nice worm bin
loaned to us by a teacher (can make a simple worm bin out of a Rubbermaid tub
with holes drilled in it)
* a quart sized container of red worms and bedding
* newspaper and scissors
* one compressed coconut coir brick (1/3 cubic foot) and
five gallon bucket
* small container of compost and garden soil
* a baggie of food scraps to feed the worms
* recycled lids (from yogurt and salsa containers) –one for each student to
hold a worm and some bedding for their worm exploration
* magnifying glasses –a few to share is great, we had 4 for
12 students
* trowels and gloves
* Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Applehof and The Complete Compost Gardening Guide by Barbara Pleasant and Deborah L. Matin
* worm exploration packet –two copies is helpful if you have
a volunteer
* small white board (or paper on clipboard)
Worms Vs. Centipede
This is great to play at the end of a worm observation, so students can
really get into using their worm muscles as they wiggle across the
floor. All students line up across one side of a room, to play the
worms. They can only move by wiggling or rolling across the floor. One
student is picked to be the centipede who starts in the middle of the
room and can only crab walk around to tag/kill the worms, who then die
dramatic worm deaths. Worms who make it across the room without getting
tagged win. If most worms are making it across, you can start with two
or three centipedes, or have a rule that when you are tagged you become a
centipede and can start tagging others.
No comments:
Post a Comment