Introduction
Scope and Sequence Chart
Classroom Activities
Grades 3-8
Grades K-2
Great Resources
Related Web Sites
Books
Videos
Software
Correlation to National Standards
Introduction
Wendell the Worm, host of The Yuckiest Site on
the Internet, welcomes one and all to Worm World,
where the inhabitants are eagerly awaiting the chance to squirm out of the compost bin for awhile
and teach your students about their unusual anatomy and lifestyle. Worms are yucky....but fun!
The activities in this Teacher's Guide can help you use Worm World to create a fascinating life
sciences unit. When you're getting ready to teach about invertebrates, make sure to check out the
extensive collection of teaching ideas and lesson plans for grades 3-8 and the additional
suggestions for students in grades K-2. You'll find that virtually all activities in this Teacher's
Guide are easily adaptable for both younger and older students.
Classroom Activities for Grades 3-8
BIOLOGY
Animal Behavior
- A Worm's World and Welcome to It!
Upper elementary students can be somewhat independent in their explorations, so make sure to
give them time to fully click through all the features of Yucky's
Worm World. Let students mentor each other until all
have had a chance to rotate through a turn at the site. Then, introduce them to real earthworms,
available at bait shops, biological supply houses, or a nearby playground, empty lot, park or yard.
Allow plenty of opportunity for hands-on action with the worms!
For a creative writing activity that integrates their online reading and direct observations, have
students write a story in the first person with a worm as lead character. Feel free to encourage
them to post their stories in the
Worm World Forum.
- Something REALLY Yucky
Kids have probably heard the word "leech" before. But chances are, they wouldn't in a million
years guess that leeches, a type of worm, were used as medicinal "bloodsuckers" not all that long
ago.....and still are in use today! In fact, according to Webster's Intermediate Dictionary,
in the early days of medicine, doctors known in Old English as "laeces" often drew blood from sick
patients, believing that good health depended on a balance of four important body fluids called
"humors." One of those humors was blood, and physicians at that time believed that a person became
ill if there was too much blood or too little of any of the other humors in the body.
Enter the leeches! They enabled a controlled bleeding, or "bloodletting," to balance the humors.
After you've shared this history mini-lesson, invite your students to meet
Larry Leech in Worm World. Some leeches are still in business! Literally!
Of course, your discussion of leech behavior is a great segue into a larger discussion of the more
contemporary uses we have for other varieties of worms....all thanks to their squirmy behavior and
unique digestion. Students can explore all about it right from the
Worm World as well as in our related
Web Sites and resources.
Animal Systems
- Which End is Up?
Time for more hands on investigation with live worms! How do you know the top from the bottom?
Or the back from the front? If kids aren't sure from observation, they need to do more research.
Remind them to share their new knowledge with Internet friends and Wendell in the
Worm World Forum.
Life Cycles
- Charting Life Cycles
Most students love to draw. They also like to use cameras and computer software. Let each
student select a comfortable medium for making illustrations of as many worm varieties as possible
-- and they can find a great variety right on the Yucky site. As they use their creative talents,
they'll also be sharpening their powers of observation -- tremendously important in science.
Students can use their pictures in charts or murals that depict the life cycle of the worm. The
Worm Gallery is also always looking for new submissions of students' worm art.
Classification
- Wormy Words
In addition to Yucky's Worm World, have plenty of related resources
in the classroom and bookmark our related Web Sites. Make a
classroom wall dictionary of all the new worm words your students are learning: annelid, fanworm,
earthworm, flatworm, leech, lugworm, nematode, planarian, ribbonworm, spoonworm, tapeworm...to name
several. Get kids started on researching these different varieties. After reading Wendell's
interviews with Eddie, Bobby, Larry,
Paulette and Tommie, challenge kids to adopt Wendell's style and write their own interviews with
other worm types. Send them off to find photos in books or on the Web so they can create
illustrations with colored pencils.
- "Phylum" Under W
Animals called worms belong to most of the approximately 30 main divisions (phyla) of the
animal kingdom. Since a worm's soft body and lack of appendages don't usually leave distinguishable
imprints, scientists can't rely on fossil records to learn about the relationships between each
phylum. So, they generally focus upon similarities and differences in anatomy such as body
symmetry, body cavities, hairlike bristles, special feeding structures and embryonic growth
patterns in order to learn more about each phylum. Let students see what they can discover about
the biological classification of worms by making a chart showing the worms in each phylum and
including distinguishing characteristics of each. Discuss which characteristics are evidence of
adaptation to the worm's environment.
Conservation
- Build a Compost Bin
Yucky's Worm World provides a wealth of kid-friendly information about the way composting
works and the important role worms play in the process. Just have kids go to
Worms as Recyclers to find
out more. Let students take the leadership role in planning and constructing their compost bin,
from finding the materials, to reading the plans, to doing the building (with supervision, of
course). Let them document their efforts with photos, and later the kids can make a multimedia
documentary of their project. Try to allow opportunities for other classes, interested community
members and family to join the project. Depending on the magnitude of your operation and how much
compost they produce, they may find some enterprising directions for their efforts. Remind them
that compost is a valuable commodity for gardeners. Check Yucky's
resources and related Web Sites for
extended reading.
EARTH SCIENCE
Soil Science
- "Brown Gold"
Rich, dark compost is a gardener's dream, all thanks to worms. Together with your students,
read the directions to Build a Compost Bin and complete that
project. Or, obtain worm compost from a parent or local gardener or farmer. Provide several
different unfertilized soil samples to compare with the compost produced by the worms. Mix some
compost into another plain soil sample and put them to a seed planting test. Students can record in
their journals data pertaining to the weight and color of the soils, how quickly the seeds
germinate, how healthy the plant is, and how hardy its flower is. They can judge taste, too, if
vegetable seeds are used. You won't have to tell them that the worm compost mix will be superior
every time.
SCIENCE CAREERS
- Vermiculturist: Hobby or Career?
Check your local extension office or nearby college or university for help in locating a worm
specialist. If you decide to Build a Compost Bin and it takes
off as a class project, your students will doubtless have many questions for the worm specialist,
or vermiculturist. Invite him or her for a class visit or arrange for the class to take a trip to
where he or she works. Ask kids to compare what they've learned about this individual with Yucky's
resident Worm Woman, Mary Appelhof. Do
they consider what each worm expert is doing to be a hobby or a career? By what criteria? What
related opportunities exist in soil science? If they don't know, challenge them to find out!
- Ecology Careers
Students interested in ecological studies have many career paths they can consider. Point out
Worm Woman's interview with Wendell to
get them thinking about vermiculture. Then let students brainstorm a list of other jobs tied to
ecology. This could be the start of a fascinating Ecology Career Day at your school.
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY
- High Tech, Low Tech Debate
Where do low tech endeavors like worm composting fit into our complex, high tech society?
There's a question worthy of debate! Kids can investigate the relative value of worm composting for
the average gardener. Challenge them to assign a value to their time per hour based on current
market value, figure in any material and worm costs and other expenses, and determine how much
composting really costs per month or year. Compare with other available methods of fertilizing
garden soil and weigh the costs, pros and cons. Once all the facts are in, have the class present
both sides in a formal debate, with half the students arguing in favor of composting and the other
half advocating for alternative, high tech methods. Invite another class to be the audience, and
see how persuasive your debaters can be.
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Classroom Activities for Grades K-2
BIOLOGY
Animal Behavior
- Be a Worm Watcher! Start your kids off with a point and
click peek at Yucky's Worm World and an opportunity to
explore the interactive body structure
chart. Then bring out the real McCoys! Get your live earthworms from a bait shop, biological
supply house, or just dig them up in a nearby playground, empty lot, park or yard. Divide students
into small groups. They'll quickly get over the yuckiness of handling the worms, and will observe
their many sections, muscles, stiff hairs, and their thick wet skin.
Encourage students to record their observations in pictures or words. For further observation,
place worms and soil in a glass jar. Younger students can dictate a group language experience story
which you can post at Yucky's
Worm World
Forum. Older students can post themselves, with supervision.
Life Cycles
- Worm Squirm
"Squirm" perfectly describes most of what a worm does. It even applies to childbirth! Have
students download Yucky's video of a baby worm being born, then look at books from your school or
public library which depict a worm's life cycle.
Classification
- Meet the Characters!
At Yucky's Worm World, students can
see footage and read clever interviews with an earthworm, leech, planarian, tapeworm and a bearded
worm. Each one has a name and is interviewed in character to help with classification. Invite
students to write a realistic skit or story drawing on the Yucky worms and their characteristics.
More advanced students who are ready to do some outside reading could research another kind of worm
and write an "interview" in the style of Wendell, the worm reporter. Students are always welcome to
share their writing by posting in the
Worm World
Forum. They can share their illustrations, too!
Conservation
- Decomposition: They Can Dig It!
Worms are nature's champion recyclers! Have students click back to Worm World's
Worms as Recyclers for a
colorful "inside" tour of a composting bin. Worms aerate the soil with their constant squirming and
nourish it with their castings. If you have only one computer in your classroom, try projecting on
a large screen so the class can read together, or have the students rotate turns in groups of three
or four. They'll need to read closely if they plan to build their own worm farm! Directions are
included. To extend your students' knowledge, check out these Web
Sites and resources. For kindergartners and first graders, integrate
some large motor skills by imitating the movements of a worm on the floor or putting on a shadow
puppet play about the work worms do. Remind kids to tell Wendell all about it in the
Worm World Forum!
Habitats and Ecosystems
EARTH SCIENCE
Soil Science
- "Brown Gold"
Together with your students, read the directions to Build a
Compost Bin. Enlist parent volunteers to assist students in building the bin and getting the
composting process started. Or, obtain worm compost from a parent or local gardener or farmer.
Collect samples of plain soil from around the neighborhood and compare with the "brown gold"
compost the worms have produced. Beginning writers can draw pictures in their science journals
showing what the soils looked like, while older children will be able to add descriptive words or
sentences to record their findings.
Finally, have the children think about ways they could find out if the composted soil is better,
worse, or the same as the regular old garden variety. For example, if they're good problem solvers,
they might suggest planting some seeds in each type of soil and observing the results. If time and
resources permit, students can actually try out their ideas and post the results in the
Worm World Forum.
SCIENCE CAREERS
- Meet Worm Woman!
If your students think worms are as gross and cool as most kids do, they'll enjoy getting to
know Mary Appelhof, a.k.a. the Worm
Woman of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Mary is a virtuoso when it comes to worms and composting, and she
shares her expertise in an interview with Wendell Worm. As a terrific follow-up activity, arrange a
field trip to your local agriculture supply store, cooperative extension office, or garden center
if they offer composting and vermiculture education.
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