Yes, Flat and Crispy

Hey, look at them wiggle!

This week I will be teaching our youngsters about vermicomposting with earthworms.  A flood of memories have spilled into my consciousness of my worm bin introduction last year.   What I didn't realize that morning as I walked into my classroom, was the earthworms in my worm compost bin, had escaped during the night. It wasn’t until I was showing a kindergarten student  the worms in the worm bin, that I noticed a flat, dried out worm on the carpet.  “What is that, I wondered?”  I picked it up and found my dead friend all flattened out and crispy.  I searched the carpet for more escapees.  Sure enough, I found one after another all dried up and definitely flattened out.  I quickly scooped them up and dropped them into the waste basket, hoping Antonio wasn't getting the gist of this.  Unfortunately, a teacher was shadowing me that day, to discover a typical day for a literacy coach.  She saw me on my my hands and knees, crawling under the table, searching for the remains of earthworms.  Together we found 10-12 dead worms and thought maybe we should be writing names on tiny tombstones such as Wiggler, Squirmy, and Boomba.

I looked up while crawling on all fours and saw Antonio’s big brown eyes.  “Are there any in the hood of my sweatshirt?” he anxiously asked.  I assured him there were none and jumped up to rush him back to his room.  Then I searched the carpet again, made sure the lid was secure and plugged the ventilated holes in the worm bin with Saran Wrap. Then I locked those worms in with duck tape.
  
Not long after that, word had spread.  My second grade boys came in all excited about the worm bin.  I opened it up and showed them what was left of my collection.  They were in awe of the whole messy, wet, shredded newspaper clump and the few worms they could see in the bottom.  “Good,” I thought as I slipped the lid on it and placed it gently on the shelf.  As I walked back to sit down at the table, I spotted another red wiggler escaping out the door.  Upon closer inspection, I realized it was stiff and very still.  I scooped it up and tossed it into the waste basket nearby.  "Why did you throw that worm away?" asked an observant boy.  I couldn't quickly think of a better answer and just whispered to him, "It was dead."
  
My day continued as children wanted to know more about the earthworms in the worm bin.  Sitting at the table trying to teach my students, my eyes continued to scan the carpet in the area of the worm bin.  It seemed the Saran Wrap did the trick to block the escape routes.  At the end of the day, I explained to Mr. Chisik, our principal, about the sightings in case a parent should call with questions.  We laughed hysterically at the day’s events, as he gingerly stepped out of my room.  I went back to work at my desk when suddenly a teacher yelled from the hall, in front of my doorway, "Where did all these earthworms come from?"  I lunged across my desk and raced to the doorway only to find Mr. Chisik and Amy laughing uncontrollably.  Fortunately there were no flat and crispy critters to dispose of on the floor.  Seems the joke was on me all day long.


My sincere hope for this week’s lessons on earthworm composting will be for a little more cooperation from my hard-working gardening friends as they become acquainted with my young gardeners.