Worms Eat Our Garbage!

Worms With "The Right Stuff"

Eisenia Foetida: "Red Wigglers" 

Worm composting is using worms to recycle food scraps and other organic material into a valuable soil amendment called vermicompost, or worm compost. Worms eat food scraps, which become compost as they pass through the worm's body. Compost exits the worm through its' tail end. This compost can then be used to grow plants. To understand why vermicompost is good for plants, remember that the worms are eating nutrient-rich fruit and vegetable scraps, and turning them into nutrient-rich compost.

 

For millions of years, worms have been hard at work breaking down organic materials and returning nutrients to the soil. By bringing a worm bin into the classroom, we are simulating the worm's role in nature. Though worms could eat any organic material, certain foods are better for the classroom worm bin.

Setting up a worm bin is easy. All you need is a box, moist newspaper strips, and worms. To figure out how to set up a worm bin, first consider what worms need to live. If your bin provides what worms need, then it will be successful. Worms need moisture, air, food, darkness, and warm (but not hot) temperatures. Bedding, made of newspaper strips or leaves, will hold moisture and contain air spaces essential to worms.

                                           

Many schools have been successfully composting with worms over the past few years. Some school classes keep worm bins as part of an environmental unit, others for science. In most cases, teachers find a variety of multidisciplinary ways to use a worm bin. For example, one class called their room the "Worm World." Writing assignments, math lessons and art work focused on worms as a theme.