Catbird Blog: Worms

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Worms

Friends were excited to be back together this morning, and busily re-engaged with one another.

After journaling and running a few errands (mostly to say hello to other friends), Roseanne the Science teacher came in to talk with us about our new worm composter. We are one of three classrooms that are taking care of worms, and the worms are going to repay us with beautiful, rich soil for our garden.

The Catbirds listened while Roseanne explained how the composter worked and what we would need to do to take care of it.

She opened it up and showed us the worms and explained that they are different from the ones we dig up outside. They are red worms, and are smaller and skinnier than earthworms. Some Catbirds were fascinated, while others said, "Ewwww!"

Roseanne showed us what the finished soil looked like and told us how it is made.

Friends asked good questions, like: How many worms are in there? (At least 500!), and Can they eat peanuts? (Ground up peanut shells, yes, but not in our classroom because we have a friend with allergies).

Then, we headed outside, where there were Ice Cream Shops being opened, holes being dug, music being played and lots of running and chasing.

Back inside, we gathered for Morning Meeting, and started a conversation about the Problem of Meanness. We noticed that many friends are saying and doing things to one another that makes people feel bad. During our Moment of Silence, we thought about ideas to solve this problem. Friends shared their ideas with one another, and we decided to keep thinking about it.

Next, we read the book, Hickory Dickory Dock. It is a particularly good book for us, because it has rhyming words that we could guess. It also had a clock that BONGED! It started a t one and went all the way up to 12, so we counted along until we ran out of fingers. We solved this problem by using our feet!