School Projects

The Kindergarten Level

The most obvious and common school project I have run across is at the grade school level, most often in the Kindergarten class. Young kids and worms just seem to go together. Most haven't developed adverse reactions to squirmy, slimey critters yet and are actually quite excited about watching, digging, and letting the worms crawl up their arms.

The great thing about a worm project at this level is that the kids really can do most of the work putting the project together. All it takes is a rubber tote with holes drilled in the sides and bottom, screening material to cover the holes, and hot glue to glue the screening material over the holes. The kids can help with much of this with caution used in the obvious areas.

The bedding material can be shredded newspaper which the kids can shred by hand and the food is donated every day from kids lunch leftovers and daily snacks.

The kindergarten teacher at my local school named her class worm bin "The Worm Wagon". She set her worm bin up in a red wagon to catch the leachate from the bottom of the bin and it made it portable so it could be stored out of the way in the corner of the room when not in use, but could still be brought out where all the kids could gather around and investigate what was going on in the worm bin. I still remember the excitement the day I brought the class their worms and dumped them out on their worm bin. *One surprising note: As you know most kindergartens have a morning and an afternoon class. I took the worms to the afternoon class and that class is the class that really took ownership of the worm bin. Something about actually seeing that big pile of worm wiggle their way down into the worm bin made an indelible impression upon them. They were more attentive and involved in the worm bin over all than was the morning class.

Suggested classroom discussion:

what do worms eat?
where does our garbage go?
what happens to our garbage after the garbage man comes to get it?
what kind of things can you bring from your house for the worms to eat?
what do you throw away that worms could eat?

4th and 5th Grade Level

At the 4th and 5th grade level the kids are obviously more sophisticated and can make more independent decisions on how to set the system up and problem solve. Indeed this should be part of the project. The project I was involved with was a joint project with two teachers including 2 separate classes. Each class designed and built their own system. There was collaboration within the teams and a healthy competitiveness between the teams as each tried to come up with a better system that ended up with more of a worm population. Each developed their own feeding styles, maintenance schedules, and methods for harvesting.

If you have an "expert" in the field in your area, it is an excellent idea to have that person in to give a talk to the class. The class gets the experience of interviewing, and processing information given in an alternative form from books and classroom teaching.

Here are some of the questions I was asked:

How do we make money from worms?
Who figured out that red worms were best for eating garbage? Do other worms eat garbage?
How is the poop fertilizer?
Can we add different worms?
How many bins do you have?
Do red worms make the best fertilizer?
Where do you get the worms?
Do your worms eat all your garbage?

At this level you are still dealing with kids growing worms and worms eating garbage. The next level is where you can really introduce a new depth to the learning experience and make a difference on a large scale.

Vermicomposting of Lunchroom Wastes

A Mid-Scale Vermicomposting Program

Entering into the study of vermicomposting will lead you on to the realization of many facts which many of us do not think about on a daily basis, but would be wise of us to learn about. If we want to continue to have the quality of life for our children and our children's children that we have enjoyed most of our life then we must make adjustments to the way we have been living and dealing with our waste. To continue to promote fast food in our cafeterias, disposable plates, utensils and cups, water bottles and the like, is an irresponsible message to our young people. The education of our future leaders - our children - is of utmost importance if we wish to maintain a high standard of living. We must stop mixing food waste with our paper and plastic and burying it in the landfills where it creates a toxic dump.

With vermicomposting as the tool, a seemingly insurmountable problem becomes manageable with a positive outcome. And the lessons learned along the way will be invaluable.

Project-based learning is a strategy that allows students to take ownership of what is learned and how. It provides the opportunity to learn by doing, by making decisions and finding solutions to problems encountered as a natural process of the project. All aspects of the child can be engaged as they apply their academic, social, and life skills to the work at hand.

"Worm science" is an effective way for students to experience first hand the basics of life cycles. Learning by doing has a profound resonance which gives the student ownership over what he/she is doing and will foster a community in your classroom and their lives beyond that.

A New Look at the Three 'Rs'

For hundreds of years the three R's stood for Readin', Riting, and Rithmetic. But in this day and age, with all our new technology, conveniences, and resulting waste, it now becomes necessary to pay attention to a new mantra - Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

Laytonville Middle School began vermicomposting project and school gardens in the fall of 1987. They demonstrated that communities could reduce the use of their landfills, water and fossil fuels. This is a valuable lesson to teach our students. In ten months time they eliminated the use of one trash dumpster which was costing them $6,000.00 in disposal costs. And that's just part of the picture.

One of the first systems that will have to be devised is a sorting scheme for the lunch room wastes. Once you implement this system you will see that it goes way beyond the recycling of food waste and can encompass the handling of your complete waste stream:

VEGGIE
WASTES

↓

CANS

↓

PLASTIC
BOTTLES

↓

UNTREATED
PAPER

↓

YUCKY
TRASH

↓

WORM
FOOD

As you can see the implementing of a vermicomposting project will require vision and the desire to make a real difference from the very beginning. You will need the ability to look at old problems in a new way and see the solution as a process that has a beginning and an end. You will first have to determine what your specific vermicomposting needs are. Who will be responsible for the project? Who will do what needs to be done and where can you do it? What special equipment and or technologies will you need to proceed and be successful? Where will you get the funds to support the project? How will you keep records and who will decide what records need to be kept? What will you do with the product produced, and who will benefit from them? What obstacles do you have in your way and how will you deal with them?

Sorting of the waste is only the beginning, but this process will help you determine the scope of the project and will get you well on your way to answering all the other questions that will come up.

Step 1: Conduct a school-wide waste audit

In order to determine the size of your vermicomposting project you must first determine the volume of food waste that needs to be handled by your system. Ideally, the students will handle this with the support of staff, faculty, and parents. Everyone needs to be involved, with the students managing the entire project.

The cafeteria is the obvious producer of waste on a large scale, and two containers for pre-consumer food waste should be stationed in the kitchen for staff to use. But if you look closely there are many other areas where the audit can be effective as well. Integration into the daily activities of the students is essential to success.

Set up two food waste containers with the trash and recycling containers in the cafeteria. These containers will hold post-consumer food wastes. One will be for vegetable, grain, and fruit waste - this includes all vegetable peelings, fruit rinds and cores, egg shells, breads, pizza crust, coffee grounds, pancakes, noodles, beans, melons, and well you get the idea. The second one will be for meat waste and bones, and dairy products like milk and cheese, dressings, and fats.

Developing a picture-clue bulletin board which will help in identifying the various recyclables is a very good idea. Labeling the containers will cut down on confusion as to where each item goes.

After lunch the food waste, both pre-consumer and post-consumer, are weighed by the students and recorded. After a month of this process you will have enough information to determine on average how much waste is produced each day. The amount of food waste to be recycled per day will determine the size of your vermiculture project.

The recycling of non-compostables is a separate project that could be undertaken at the same time as the vermicomposting project. All of these items have an impact on our landfills.

Step 2: Building an environment

On earth all living things have a specific environment which directly relates to their survival. The housing for worms can vary greatly depending on the materials available and the basic requirements of the persons providing for the worms. However, the thing that does not change is the conditions the worms require in order to survive and thrive.

When planning your bins remember to consider whether the material is going to be detrimental to the worms or other organisms in the composting culture. Wood that has been pressure-treated with preservatives will not only be bad for your worms but the substances will leach into your compost. Then if you use your compost on your vegetable garden those same toxins will find their way to your dinner table.

Make sure that your bins are not too deep. Air is a very important ingredient for healthy compost. You also want to be able to work the bins with relative ease, and the worms are top feeders.

How big your bins are and how many you have will depend largely on your school's food waste audit. The recommended amount of worms is 1lb per square foot. Typically, you will need one square foot of space to bury one pound of food per day per 2lbs of worms.

A good size for a worm bin is 4' x 8' and one foot to eighteen inches deep. By purchasing 3 boards which are 2" thick and 8' long by however deep you want to make your beds you will be able to build the4 sides of the worm beds . Use 2 - 4' x 8' 5/8" exterior grade plywood for the top and bottom of the bin. Hinged lids are optional but do make it easier to handle the opening and closing of the bin. The corners of the bins get held together with 4 evenly spaced 16D nails. Reinforce the corners with steel-reinforcement. Moisture and weight are both factors that will cause stress on your corners and warping of the wood. Screwing in steel corner braces in the corners will strengthen the bin and help it last longer.

The bottom of the bin will need holes for drainage of excess moisture. Drill 5 rows down the length, of 4 holes each across the width of the bin. Place the finished bin up on supports to allow for air circulation and drainage. Cinder blocks are good for this. Make sure and support the corners and the middle of the bin. The middle should be supported along the out side of the bin and in the center.

With what the school will save in waste disposal these bins will more than pay for themselves.

Step 3: Aspects of a successful mid-scale vermicomposting project

One of the most important aspects of a healthy worm bin is a good supply of oxygen. A system that is anaerobic (without oxygen) is toxic. It will kill your worms and all the good bacteria that are working on decomposing the material in your bins. And it will smell very bad. A properly maintained vermicomposting system will not smell.

Compaction will also decrease the supply of oxygen in the bin. Shallow bins and frequent turning help to keep oxygen incorporated through-out the bedding material. Natural compaction occurs with the worms working the material and converting it to castings.

Adequate moisture is necessary for the worms to remain healthy and is also a requirement for the other decomposers in the vermicomposting system. Since the regular turning to incorporate oxygen into the bedding also encourages evaporation of the moisture present, additional moisture needs to be added to keep the moisture level adequate. This can be a tricky aspect of the system. However, remember that the worms like to feed at the top of the bin and that gravity will naturally pull the water down into the bin. Ideally, when you water the bin it's the top you want wet, not the bottom - so apply less water more often.

Stay tuned for more to come...

A Worm Farm

Testimonials:

Worm Education Links