So Brooke and I went to school to check on the fish after our long ice storm weekend plus a snow day today, and I decided to check on the worms and wow, we found a lot of worms. I have to admit, I was a little concerned that we were not seeing the worms move to the food, or much movement at all, but after today… They were all over! I read somewhere that they love avocado and I bought 2 overripe avocados that were discounted at our local grocery story and tossed them in. Where do you think we found worms??? In the avocado peel! I had squished it open and buried it in the dirt/leaves a little and they were all over it! Needless to say, I was excited and relieved! Brooke was my photographer, so excuse the pictures. We even found a baby worm which in my research I learned that they are white for the first few days then they change to the red/brown color. Can’t wait for the kids to give the bins a stir!
The worms are all moved into their new homes! 3 classes of 2nd graders have helped layer dirt, shredded paper and food scraps along with the half broken down leaves the worms have been calling home. I had one girl who was grossed out and wasn’t going to touch them - ironically she was the one seated next to them - little did she know- as we were learning about worms and composting. Then it was time to get dirty and move the worms and she got closer and closer and finally she was holding one! Love that they get so interested and conquer their fear! Next week we will learn about what worms like to eat and start saving their scraps from lunch. Love that they and eager and willing to bring stuff in! A few 2 liters have came in, we even had someone drop off 2 bags full! 1 of the 12 goldfish I brought survived and I reached out and received quite a few donated guppies for our ecosystems we will be starting! More pics later this weekend - my phone was having a problem so I used my iPad and I left it at school today.
Wow, what a busy day! I introduced our worms to my first class of second graders and they loved it! I don’t think there was a single kids who was grossed out - they all were ready to find the worms! We started out watching a quick YouTube video on worms followed by another on composting. I learned that worms have tiny hairs that help them move! Then I showed the kids 2 different samples of dirt, some that was really sandy and hard and another sample that was softer and darker. Then we talked about how worms could help turn the sandy dirt into nice dirt that plants would grow a lot better in. Then we got dirty! Kids layered the sandy dirt, shredded paper, a layer of yard waste that the worms came with, they some food scraps from my weekend food prepping consisting of banana peels, egg shells, cucumber peel and green pepper leftovers. Next week we will learn more about what worms like/don’t like and begin gathering our leftovers from the lunch room! My next class of second graders will fill another composting bin and transfer the last of the worms. I’m trying to get ahead of the students and made my ecosystem complete with a goldfish, plant and worms! My hope is to make smaller ecosystems (just a fish and seeds to watch grow) if we get enough pop bottles... I spent my morning getting the extra fish settled in a small aquarium - thank you science closet - and building my ecosystem. I took the worms to school where they are waiting to be transferred to our compost bins. I’m having a hard time waiting for the students - I want to make sure they get their hands dirty (haha) with this project too. As I was cutting up veggies for the week, I remembered to save my scraps for our bins. I’m hoping to get a bin in the cafeteria for students to put their salad scraps and what not into then when they come to class they can feed the worms! I found a few baby worms as I was digging for worms for my ecosystem! I hope to post pictures of the students working and getting our worms comfortable so you all can experience this adventure with us! Maybe I can even start a general blog of our other day to day activities! For now we will stick with the worm blog! And so it begins - our wormie adventure! I have been wanting to learn and teach about worms, and compost for a while now and was waiting until spring to start. I thought my kids and I would make a adventure out of going out to our farm and digging up a few worms from the field and starting there. No, no, no, I learned you can't just use any kind of worm. You see, I was visiting my sister in Grand Rapids who had just went to a composting workshop and she shared her knowledge with me. I then called our local bait shop and learned they don't carry the right kind of worms for composting - bummer! We then decided to contact the worm people from her workshop and luckily they were at the farm and we could go meet with them and get some worms! 1 freezing hour later, we had 2ish pounds of worms mixed in 2 5 gallon buckets full of yard waste to bring home. The worms made the journey back to my house in Pigeon! Thank you Wormies Vermicompost for the worms and the info! Find them on facebook or at www.thewormies.com/ |
AuthorHi, my name is Jamie Schaefer and I am the Elementary Art/STEAM/Technology teacher at Laker Elementary School in Michigan. Most of my webpage is used to gather resources for my lessons, and this is my first blog! I am excited to share our worm adventure! ArchivesCategories |