Earth Day Lesson: Earthworm Towers

Today we had an early Earth Day lesson with our literacy strategist, Mrs. Reed. Mrs. Reed teaches our first graders all about gardening throughout the year. Today's lesson was focused on the world's best recyclers - earthworms. We first learned about vermiposting from Vermi the Worm through videos and interactive games on the Promethean Board in the science lab. Your students can visit Vermi the Worm at his website to learn more about composting. The students then observed a compost bin filled with soil, shredded newspaper, and potato peels. Mrs. Reed then helped the students build a worm tower. The students added soil, shredded newspaper, water, and lettuce leaves to the top half of a 2-liter coke bottle. They then added earthworms to the mixture. The top half was then placed with the spout down onto the bottom half of the 2-liter coke bottle. Then they filled the bottom of another bottle with soil and planted lettuce seeds in it to grow on top of the worm tower. The students will continue to take care of the earthworm tower by feeding the earthworms and making sure they have plenty of moisture which they need to breathe. They will also observe to see if the lettuce grows and what drainage comes from the compost. Eventually the worms will be added to our grade-level garden. Our potatoes and onions that we planted a while back are almost ready!