Diary of a Worm...Tub

This week we received a container full of worms.  We prepared our worm tub by tearing up newspaper, adding old fruit and vegetable scraps, and topping it off with a little soil.  The purpose of housing these wriggly friends?  We are learning about how organisms interact with their environment, by observing our worms and how they transform the lovely habitat we made for them into rich compost.

So far, we have begun to build our schema about worms (their bodies, what they eat, where they live, and what they do) by reading fiction for facts.  That is, we are reading some great fictional stories that also can teach us about worms!  It is fun to see students arrive at the realization that fiction is not just for fun- some fiction can be informative!  We have already learned some fascinating wormlore, and dispelled some worm myths...  Did you know:

• Worms don't have eyes.
• Worms eat rocks!  Inside a worm's stomach, the rocks help to grind up food, and then the rocks are passed in worm's poop, which is called a cast.
• Worms have five pairs of hearts.
• If you cut a worm in half, the pieces will not grow into two new worms.  That's a myth!

We will continue to study worms next week, as we (patiently) let the worms do their work in our tubs.

We will continue after break to broaden this understanding of organisms interacting with their environment by researching some other animals that change or alter the space in which they live.  For example, beavers which create dams that alter the course of rivers.  A great home conversation, especially as the weather warms and changes from mammals, birds, even plants and bugs, become evident, would be to look around your yard or the park for evidence of animal or plant changes.  Do seedlings pop up in cracks in the sidewalk?  Can you see holes made by chipmunks or woodpeckers?

We will keep you up to date on the fun changes we see in our worm tub over the next month or two!  Happy worm watching!