Worms Do More Than You Think!

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

Years ago, I converted a storage bin into a vermicomposting bin for my classroom. Over the years my students have enjoyed our “pet worms” while learning about the science of worms, scientific classification, food chains, composting, gardening, ecosystems, and environmental health. Having founded and moved to a new school this school year, I am now just getting ready to introduce the worm bin to this year’s students. Students are always amazed that worms not only eat up that unappetizing banana peel, apple core, watermelon rind, and any number of other fruit and vegetable wastes, but convert them to compost that looks and smells just like dirt! I want to be ready to capture that interest and create numerous learning opportunities for my 28 fifth and sixth graders. With no school library yet, I do not have access to the variety of quality worm-related books that I would like to support those experiences. The books I have selected for this project include a variety of fiction and nonfiction books as well as a variety of reading levels so that every one of my students will have access to reading materials related to food chains, ecosystems, and worms. Students will not only witness decomposers and composting in action, but strengthen their reading skills while acquiring scientific knowledge and vocabulary about food chains, worms, composting, and ecosystems as well. As a small group of teachers and parents, we wrote, petitioned for, and opened a brand new public charter school in southern California this year during the economic crisis. Our small school of about 150 students has a health and science focus and we value developing the skills, talents, and interests of the whole child rather than focuses solely on what score he or she will make on the state tests. We have drawn students from over 25 different schools within the county. Approximately 50% of our students are English Learners, 40% have qualified for free and reduced lunch, and 14% are receiving special education services. We are doing great with the help of many generous donors and volunteers. We do struggle to do what we envision with such huge cuts to public education this year. That makes it especially difficult as a start up school, as our funds are quite limited this year. Each of our seven classroom teachers as well as our director have spent incredible amounts of their own money purchasing supplies and materials so that they may provide terrific learning experiences for our students at our school. Donate to our project and you will help my students build reading skills, acquire scientific knowledge, and develop an appreciation for the important role worms play in our environment.