Red Wigglers ‘Worm’ their Way into Woodland’s Fifth-Grade Curriculum

“When my students heard the word ‘worms,’ they were all in!”

And Woodland fifth-grade teacher Sharon George couldn’t be happier with how the end-of-the-year project involving the red wiggler worms turned out.

It all started because sustainability is a big interest in the George family. In fact, George’s daughter is in sustainability studies at Arizona State University. George said, “My daughter told me about a composting webinar, I attended it, and a week later I was told that the educational group, LetsGoCompost, would fund a worm composting project for our fifth-graders.”

George opted for a composting project called vericomposting (using worms called red wigglers) because it was easier for kids to see, plus decomposing was part of the fifth-grade life sciences curriculum.

Back in February, George received a worm tower and lots and lots of red wiggler worms that formed the ‘Compost Corner’ in the fifth-grade hallway. Over the past few months, the students observed the red wigglers in action and quickly became experts on vericomposting.

“There are specific types of scraps that can be used for vericomposting,” said J.J., a Woodland fifth grader. “Egg shells and watermelon rinds are good, but you can’t use things like citrus or baked goods.”

Fellow student Raelynn said, “it was crazy to see that the worms could eat and decompose trash in just a few days!”

Over the next few months, the students learned about the importance of these worm decomposers and worked together to take care of them.

The whole project culminated with George and the rest of the fifth-grade team introducing a new project-based learning (PBL) initiative based on composting and waste management. During the last few weeks of school, the 12-day PBL challenged students to create companies to help the school cafeteria manage food waste.

Experts from the Cincinnati Zoo, a solar company, and a waste management company talked with the fifth-grade classrooms to arm the students with knowledge as they created their companies.

“The amount of learning that came out of the PBL was amazing,” said George. She went on to say that the main challenge in education is the varied levels of background knowledge that students have coming into the classroom. “Every child learns differently. In PBL, every child gets the background knowledge they need in a manner that works best for them; it’s more hands-on learning.”

The student groups that Geroge put together included varied learners. “The collaboration in these groups was out of this world.” For two and a half weeks, the students were the teachers and shared their talents with one another. It was a real-world collaborative experience. “My struggling learners may not always be good with pen on paper, but they surprised me with their creativity and how they came out of their shells, and they were often perfect orators.” She noted that gifted learners were able to take their learning to a different level as well.

George feels that when you give students accountability for their learning, they find education much more meaningful.

The Waste Management PBL was cross-curricular, touching upon standards in ELA, math, science and social studies.

Last week, the classes held a gallery walk where the student groups showcased their companies. The students created everything from company names and logos to business plans and commercials.

The ‘Waste Warriors’ company aimed to reduce waste by developing a program to teach kids and adults how to compost. They would sell composting kits with everything needed to get started.

Another group proposed putting signs on bins in the cafeteria to show students and staff what can be composted and what can be recycled.

Another suggested collecting rainwater and turning it into drinking water, while ‘Styro-No’ wanted the cafeteria to stop using non-recyclable Styrofoam containers.

Fifth-grader Morgan said that the goal of the project was “to help Woodland reduce waste, and then we are going to use the soil from composting to plant a garden near the cafeteria to grow Ohio native pollinator plants.”

Lydia said the most exciting part of the project “was getting to help our school. I hope it works so we save money and make the world a better place.”

Audrey had a slightly different perspective. She learned that “nature is very pretty and can do lots of things for us to reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions.”

George said that LetsGoCompost is going to continue to support her sustainability work next year. “It can all start with just one family. It’s a necessary thing for our world, and I hope that it extends beyond our classroom.”