Monday, April 7, 2008

Take Your Worms to School Day.

Today I took a container of worms to school. I spoke to and took questions from sixty second graders. This made Baby Monkey the star for a day.

The topic was soil. Ever tried to keep sixty eight year old children on topic? We talked about composting and organic and inorganic materials in the soil. We talked about what plants do for us. We talked about the longest Night Crawlers they have ever seen. Eight year old kids tell monster fish stories.

One of the teachers had two containers to plant. We added some worm castings to one. The other was just potting mix. They are going to see if the compost makes a difference in the way the plants grow. These are going to be crazy container gardens. She had seeds for Bachelor’s Buttons, tomatoes, wax beans, and pumpkins. I can’t wait to get a look at these in about four weeks.

They looked at the worms with a mix of awe and disgust. One poor little girl got one on her arm and had a complete melt down. She may be scared for life, but she will live. They caught on pretty quick that worm castings = worm poo. I got lucky and was able to find a worm egg to show them.

They asked some really good questions.

“Where is the worms head?“

“How do worms see?“

“Why are there so many worms in that eggshell?”

“What is the biggest worm you have ever seen?”

Here is what cracked the teachers up.

Little Girl, “Where do you get worms?”
Me, “I got my worms from my friend.”

Me, “Any questions?”
Several children at different times, “One time, in my yard….”

The question I dodged, “Where do worm babies come from?” I was not sure how I would get around the fact that there are not girl and boy worms, well not exactly - Yikes!!!

They kept me talking for a full hour. Children are more fun to talk to about gardening than grownups.

16 comments:

  1. I want that crazy composting container thingy you were talking about. Sorry about the seminar; I know you're mad at me, but you'll forgive me b/c you love me and I'm wonderful (look at your header). :)

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  2. I'm not mad at you sister. I missed you, but not mad. Remember I've done this baby thing a few times. You get a free ride until he is four or potty traind, which ever comes first.

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  3. What fun. I know what you mean about the way kids talk! They seem to come up with questions I've never even contemplated.

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  4. Oh, sorry, got of topic. I have the containers ready to make you the crazy composting thingy for you. Do you want worms? I can give you worms.

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  5. You are my brave sister.

    Hi Cinj, they ask the wildest thing.

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  6. Kids have it all in them, right there at such a young age. I think we then spend the rest of our lives forgetting it all. I once visited a class of 10 year olds - they came up with the design for my science research project all by themselves. I was gobsmacked as I thought I'd been soooooo clever when I designed it myself.

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  7. VP,
    That's a great story. You should post it on your blog.

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  8. Sixty eight year old kids at the same time? WOW! That must have been a very interesting hour!

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  9. They were very well behaved. Much better than eight sixty year old master gardeners.

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  10. This is so great, Debbi!!! Of course, those planters sound completely insane. But I know from my own little trials how much better plants grow in vermicompost than without it, even in the same beds. Can't wait to see how excited the kids get when they see it, too!

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  11. Hi Ben, I always have better results with the worm castings. The soil seems to hold water better too. I took them hyacinth bean seeds. They thought the looked cool, like oreo cookies.

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  12. Ohhh....I want you to do a field trip to MY house and talk about worms! My 6 year old LOVES them. We went on a worm hunt just this weekend.

    What a fun post!

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  13. Sherry, do you have composting worms? My boys love our red wrigglers.

    Remember the song:
    Red Wrigglers
    The cadillac of worms.

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  14. I love your two posts about your worm lecture. I read part of them aloud to my husband because I thought they were so cute and intertaining. Next you will be going on a speaker's circuit: have worms will travel!

    I looked at Kurt's blog. He is adorable, at a cute age.

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  15. Why thank you barbee. I really did enjoy myself.

    Kurt doesn't post on his blog like i would like him to. It was supposed to help with his reading and writing. Hopefully, he will pick it back up again.

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