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Background

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Red worms are fascinating creatures!  Red worms have been used for many years as workers in composting bins, creating soil from our compost!  This lesson will introduce the students to these amazing animals as a basis for other gardening concepts such as soil, compost, and food webs.  

Red worms have needs that must be considered when handling them.  Please share this information with your students, so they better understand why they should handle the worms in the ways you are asking.  Red worms tolerate a wide range of temperatures, however, the ideal temperature is between 55 – 77 degrees F. Bedding with a temperature above 84 degrees F. is harmful, sometimes fatal, to red worm populations.  Red worms should be protected from freezing temperatures too! Temperatures below 50 degrees F. slow down worm activity. Red worms need a moist environment. Worms breathe through their skin and the skin must be moist in order to breathe. Red worms need oxygen to live and produce carbon dioxide.

Red worms are on the market under many different common names. Some people call them "red wigglers," or "manure worms." Fishing suppliers may call them "red hybrid," "dung worm," or "striped worm." All these names are for the same kind of red worms.

Red worms have both sexes, but mating is still necessary. If the worm has a swollen band, called the clitellum, at about one third between head and tail, this means that the worm is sexually mature. The clitellum is used during mating; it also secretes another substance called albumin. This material forms a cocoon in which the eggs are fertilized and baby worms hatch. It takes at least three weeks for the worms to develop in the cocoon. Although a cocoon might hold as many as 20 eggs, usually only 3 or 4 worms will emerge.

Interesting facts

• Worms don’t have eyes!
• If a worm is cut at the posterior end, sometimes a new tail will grow back on. Sometimes a second tail will appear next to a damaged tail. However, the posterior half of the worm can’t grow a new anterior (head.)
• Worms live and die in the same year.
• Red worms will eat newspaper after it has softened.  Most kitchen waste or table scraps, any vegetables, grapefruits, orange rinds, apple peels, lettuce and cabbage, celery ends, spoiled food from the refrigerator, coffee grounds, tea bags, egg shells are all suitable worm meals. (Remember, no meat or dairy products belong in a worm bin.)
• Since worms don’t have teeth, their food must be broken down by muscle action in their gizzards.  

(Note:  Red Worms Rock! Adapted from “Lesson 2: Getting to Know Red Worms” at www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Schools/curriculum/CTL/K3Module/Unit3/Lesson2.pdf ; other resources, information, and images taken from http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/redwormsedit.htm)

Vocabulary

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Red worm: scientific name: Eisenia foetida, a type of worm that turns organic matter into compost.
Vermiculture:  using worms to produce compost
Habitat:  the specific area where a plant or animal can naturally live

Attention Grabber

Garden Activity   

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BEFORE THE STUDENTS TOUCH THE WORMS:

• Discuss with students the correct way to handle live red worms.  Including: be gentle, don’t drop them, keep them wet/moist, and keep them away from bright light.  
• Have students as a class come up with a poem, song, or chant that includes the above list, that they can recite to help them remember the rules of worm handling.

Part 1-Observing a Red Worm

• Give each pair of students a magnifying lens.  Have them practice using the lens properly.
• Provide each pair with a moist paper towel.  This will be the worm’s home for the class period.   
• Give each pair of students a red worm.
• Using their EYES ONLY, have the students describe their worms with descriptive words.  
• Using their MAGNIFYING LENS, have the students describe their worms with descriptive words.
• Students should record these descriptive words in their Red Worms Rock! booklet.
• Draw a picture for the students of a red worm and label the parts (mouth, head, segments, band, and tail).  
• Students should draw a detailed picture of their worm in their booklet.   

Part 2-Do Worms Like the Light or the Dark?     

• Take a poll of the class to see who thinks worms prefer the light v. the dark.  
• Give each pair of students a shoebox with a partial lid.  So that half of the inside is in the light and the other half is in the dark.  Place a moist paper towel in the bottom to keep the worm wet.  Explain this is done to conduct a humane study of these animals.  NOTE:  This portion of the study can also be done as a class with one shoebox.  Have one pair at a time do one test with their worm while the rest of the class records the results.    
• Have students place their worm in the middle and record where (or if) the worm moves.  
• Ask the students to place the worm in the light section to see if it moves away towards the dark. Record the results in their booklets.
• Ask the students to place the worm in the dark section to see if it moves away towards the light.  Record the results in their booklets.

Part 3-How long is your Red worm?

• Have students practice measuring using gummy worms first.  This is a fun way for students to learn how to measure without harming the worm.  
• Students can also mark the length of their worm on a piece of paper with a pencil then measure the paper.  (This may be a good technique once they are handling live worms that wriggle around!)
• Give each pair of students a moist paper towel and a Red worm.  
• Have the students measure the worms and record their results in their booklets.  
• The above may be repeated with more worms to obtain more data or keep the faster students occupied.
• Write the students measurements on the board.  
• Have students make a simple bar graph in their booklets using the measurement data of the class.  The number of worms on the X-axis and the length of the worms of the Y-axis.

Wrap Up 

• Discuss with the class what they learned in this activity.  (Possible answers: how to measure, characteristics of red worms, how to make a bar graph)
• After the discussion, have each student say one word that describes what he or she learned.  Have the rest of the class repeat that word.

What's Next?

• Start a compost pile or worm bin with your students.

Download Materials

Red Worms Rock! Student Booklet