Worm Progress

Today was such a fun day with the worms.  They have been growing over time.  The worms do not like the light so they hide under newspaper.  During Winter Break, the custodians helped us by watering the worms.  The worms have also been making babies. We take turns to take care of them as our responsibilities.  We tried putting in a whole orange to see how long it would take the worms to eat it. We also noticed that plants have started growing in our vermicast. That's really exciting! Overall the worms have been doing good and growing well.  We are so proud.

Written by: Adaora, Marcell, Savannahri, Vaepo, and Alize

 Baby Worms!

 Feeding the worms some old fruits and vegetables. 

The plants are growing!

Our First Worm Feeding

To feed the worms, we had to put our gloves on, then pull the bin out so everyone could see.  Then we had to open the cover of the bin.  We flipped the newspaper layer over so that we could dump banana peels, whole bananas, peaches, coleslaw, carrots, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and potatoes, into the bin to feed the worms.

When we opened the bin, it looked disgusting, but after a while we got used to it and had fun.  When we were over the bin, it smelled putrid.  We saw the worms and they were black and brown.  In order to get the job done, we used teamwork throughout the week.  To be the first group to feed the worms was fun, awesome, exciting, and gross.

Written by: Kailee, Adaora, Leiani, Vaepo, Camreyn, and Dylan

Wonderful Worms

Today Ms. Jaffe came to our class and taught us about worms.  Ms. Jaffe works at the Waikiki Worm Company.  We got our very own worm bin ready by ripping up cardboard and newspaper.  We brought the worms food like pineapples, salad, banana peels, apple cores, and papaya skin.  We got to observe and compare epigeic worms (worms that don't live underground) and endogeic worms (earthworms). We also learned about the "F.B.I." which stands for fungus, bacteria, and invertebrates.  They are all examples of the decomposers that we will find in our worm bin.  We also learned that the biggest worm lives in Australia and is 12 feet long.  None of the worms are poisonous and they are super harmless.  There are different types of worms in the world. Today was super awesome, our class learned a lot.

Throughout the remainder of the school year, we will be taking care of our worm bin. We need to water it everyday and feed it once a week. The worms like to eat a variety of healthy foods. The don't eat dairy or meats, so we need to be careful about what we feed them. After 6 months, we will have our first harvest. Our harvest will yield two products: more worms and vermicast (worm droppings). This way we can start more worm bins at our school and donate the vermicast to the peace garden. We are all very excited about our new project and can't wait to learn more.

WORMS!