the secrets of underground medicine 510 pages

Once the bin is set up, assign one or two students a week to give food scraps to the worms. There are many different ways to build a successful worm bin. For alternative instructions, see the Classroom Vermicomposting Resources at the end of the Procedures section of this lesson. To begin, set up a worm bin according to the included instructions or in the way that will best suit your classroom needs. There are many different types of worms, but red wigglers (readily available online) are best suited for indoor vermicomposting. Vermicomposting is a great way for students to observe the effect worms have in a miniature ecosystem. So, worms are not only important for composting food scraps, they can also play a role in making healthy soils to grow food for us to eat. Fruits, vegetables, and grains come from plants that grow in the soil, and dairy and meat products come from animals that eat plants that grow in the soil. Pretty much everything we eat comes from the soil. Healthy soil is the foundation of a productive farm. For these reasons, worms are an integral part of a healthy ecosystem.Īlthough a farm may not be the first thing you think of when you hear the word ecosystem, farms are natural systems with living and nonliving components that affect each other. Worms also help aerate and loosen the soil so that plants’ roots can more easily develop underground. Students may be interested to learn that worms recycle by eating dead organic matter and then turning it into castings-also known as worm poop-that are nutrient rich and useful to plants. They help change bits of dead plants and animals back into nutrients that plants can use. Students may be familiar with recycling tin cans and plastic bottles so that the materials can be used again and again, but do they realize that recycling happens in natural systems as well? By bringing vermicomposting into your classroom, students can observe how ordinary creatures like worms become super recyclers, turning kitchen scraps into compost that can help living plants grow and thrive. Items to act as barriers (ex., pencil, clothespin, block of wood, crumbled paper, pile of soil, etc.).Consider asking a local medical office to save one for your classroom.) The coolers are often thrown away after the shipment is received. Many doctors, dentists, and veterinarians receive several coolers each month. Recycled styrofoam cooler (Styrofoam coolers are used to ship medicine that needs to stay cold.Search online or contact your county Extension agent for sources of red wiggler worms.)Īctivity 1: Setting up a Vermicomposting Bin

Red wiggler worms (These worms have a number of different common names look for the scientific name Eisenia fetid a.

The secrets of underground medicine 510 pages