What a day we had! We started off with taking the touch and feel pool outside and taking turns putting cups of dirt in it. After we explored the dirt, I brought out the worms. Each child put at least one worm into the dirt. We looked closely at the worms and described what they looked like and how they moved. The kids had a blast! We all had to work together to tote the pool, the big bag of dirt, the worms, the ground cover, cups along with the timer and camera. Everyone had a job and we made it in and out of the classroom staying together as a group.
Our book, Wormy Worms, was more of an informational text instead of a story today. Before each page, I told the kids to listen for the answer to the special question while I read. We reread the pages several times if needed to find just the right answer to the question. Using a big piece of paper, I wrote the 'worm words' that the kids thought of using the pictures and words from each page. As Tucker said, "Ms. Gail, we have a lot of words up there!" (e.g. worms, dirt, dig, tunnels, mouth, eat, wiggle, fat and skinny, mole, chipmunk, on top, in, leaves, mix, garden, damp, cool, dark, no eyes, no nose, no ears, stretch and squeeze, soil, soft and airy). Tucker was right!
As a group (so that means sharing and waiting your turn!), we made a worm house using a clear container. The first step was to take turns putting dirt in the container for the worm's home. Second, we put some water in the dirt in case the worm got thirsty. Third, we cut up some apples pieces so the worms had food. They each had a turn to tell me the three things that the worm needed to live before being able to put their worm in the dirt. Joseph helped Ms. Ellen put her worm in the dirt:) In the kids backpacks, you will find a manila folder with the pictures of how the worm home looked on the first day. Hopefully, your child can retell what we did today using that as a picture cue. Please have your child bring it back tomorrow, so that we can continue to record our observations.
It was a full day of worms. I have some left over if anyone would like them. Maybe, you could make your very own worm house!
