Don't
Worm Your Way Out of This One!
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Don't
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I chose to complete the vermicompost inquiry because I had the worms and Andrea Britton, Third Grade Teacher I chose this inquiry to begin our science unit on Soil. We also use the district purchased Harcourt Science book, Unit C Chapter 3. On day one we started off by reading Wiggling Worms at Work by Wendy Pfeffer. This was a good introduction for the students which sparked their interest and gave them some background knowledge before observing their own worms. When students were asked to make a hypothesis as to how long they thought it would take their worm to eat a Cheerio, instead of raising hands I passed out sticky notes and had each student write one of the following: M for minutes, D for day, and D+ for more than one day. This allowed students to make their own hypothesis and not worry about what the rest of the class thought. Before observing the worm and Cheerio together 15 students thought the worm would eat the Cheerio in minutes, 5 thought one day, and 5 thought more than one day. The students had noticed our worm bin and were excited to finally discuss the contents. I have a busy class this year and I was surprised at how well the student groups worked together looking at and taking care of their worms. The students enjoyed drawing a picture along with writing their worm observations. After the observation we discussed whether or not any worms had eaten an entire Cheerio (some students believed they "saw" their worms "eat" some of the Cheerio). We took another count of how long the students thought it would take a worm to eat a Cheerio. Three students still thought it would take a few minutes, 10 thought it would take one day, and 12 thought it would take more than one day. Over the next few days we made quick observations of our Cheerios in the worm bin. By the last day all of the students understood that it takes worms more than a few days to eat Cheerios. Nickole Utz, Third Grade Teacher I chose this inquiry because it aligns with our district's science curriculum and our state standards. I liked many things about this inquiry: the vermicompost bin, the graphs, the book resources. I wouldn't change many things. However, for the worm observation I did things slightly different than recommended. First, I put students in groups of 3 or 4 for worm observations instead of pairs... Also, I used my own assessment instead of the proficiency assessment provided. I used many resources. I requested all of the books from the library and read many of them aloud. The others I made available to students in our class library. I also tried to contact Bobby Trombly for a vermicompost bin talk...she usually just does talks on how to set up a worm bin. Since mine was already made she felt she didn't have anything to add. Jennifer Gerstle, Grade 3 My first grade class just wrapped up the Cheerio experiment for "Don't Worm Your Way Out of This One!" Wow! This activity was a huge hit with my students! They really enjoyed being able to observe and handle the worms! I added to the lesson mainly by reading a book about worms to introduce the lesson, and then again before every observation for our graph. I am amazed at how much literature is available about worms! We had parent/teacher conferences right around the time of our observations and virtually every parent told me their kids were so excited about the worms that they couldn't wait to get to school the next day to take another peek at them! The nice thing about this lesson is that there are so many extension possibilities. Our class decided to start adding food waste to observe the composting process. We will then use this enriched soil with potting soil in the spring for our unit on plants and seeds. This will allow the students to experience real applications of the composting process. We chose this inquiry because third grade curriculum focuses on life sciences quite heavily, so we figured it would be a good way to bring actual "life" into the classroom. The thing that we both liked was the enthusiasm the students had for observing their worms. Their excitement level was over the top as they saw their worm in action! We did not really feel a need to change anything in this inquiry. The only thing we would have liked was some instructions on making a worm bin, particularly what type of soil to use. We did go to Cincinnati Public Library to pull some of the many books they offered about worms and made those available to the students to read. Overall, I feel like this was a great lesson due to the level of interest it sparked with the third graders. Mike Kolbinsky Before our family started vermicomposting, we would throw away a lot of food waste each year. Since we've begun vermicomposting, not only do we save on our waste collection bill, but we also have rich soil for gardening, grass planting, potting plants, and nourishing trees. Hugh Mus--Parent I chose this activity because I figured first graders would be interested in worms, and when they are interested in something, it is easier to teach about it. I liked the hands-on interaction that the kids had with the worms while making observations about them. They loved watching them crawl on their desks, and even on them. The books suggested for this activity were great! They were on the level of the kids, so they could easily understand them. I did not conduct the part of the lesson which the students were supposed to investigate worm castings. I thought this may be a little over first grader's‚ heads. I had a lot of feedback from parents about how much the kids enjoyed this lesson, and the parents loved the pictures that I took of the kids with the worms. As an extension to this lesson, we will combine all four first grade's worms into one bin. We will add food waste to observe the composting process. In the spring when we plant seeds, we will use this soil for planting, which allows for real applications of this process. Christi Bach, First Grade When
I started this inquiry, I knew very little about the vermicomposting.
Now my students and I feel like experts! |