JUNE 2009

Oh, WOW! Just finished a week-long class on VERMICULTURE! From 9 to 11 in the morning, at Aldridge Gardens in the field trip garden, 10 students learned about WORMS!! Katy, a 10th grade helper, was my right-hand person. There were 8 boys, 2 girls. There were 8 small people going into kindergarten, one going into 1st grade, one going into 2nd. They came from all over - Macadory, Bluff Park, church schools. Yet they melded into this cool bunch of dirt explorers! It was hot, it was sticky, sometimes it was smelly! We identified poison ivy, gourds, lilies, tomatoes, bamboo, pillbugs (rolly-polly bugs), butterflies, beans, and bees. We learned about (short word) ROT and (long word) DECOMPOSITION. We recited the silly poem about "Ooey Gooey was a Worm." We had a meeting in the Stump Circle where we read about the Magic Schoolbus. We also read about what (who?) could be found under a rock, what's in the Diary of a Worm, and used magnifying loupes (5x) to really get down and observe THINGS. The explorers drew pictures, a few wrote words, of the things they saw. They used pens so there wasn't a big to-do about erasing mistakes (Soooo helpful!).

I remember, as an undergrad, writing a paper on how I could teach anything from picnic table in the yard...ah, youth! Oh, BTW, I haven't yet gotten a grade for the last paper I wrote, and the hindsight is killing me. There have been SO many new articles since I wrote it, so much MORE new information, more people who agree with the idea, that would have made it better. C'est la vie! Now, the latest class has us examining Leadership. It's funny. It feels like opening a whole new view on the world. You know, I've always been so appreciative of my leaders. I appreciated that they did- whatever- they did so that I could do what I do. But this class has opened my eyes to the power welded, or not welded, by school leaders. And the resulting percolation into classrooms. Or is it an upward movement? Yes, I know I have to have a vision of what I aim to teach, I have to stand behind, believe in what I have as my goal, and make sure my students know what the goal is... What I hadn't solidified in my mind was how much this all matters from MY leaders. So now I'm embarking on a campaign to rekindle the Hoover vision of a technologically POWERFUL educational system so that we make the BEST use of all the tools given us to enhance the lives of our students. So there!

Sorry, early morning soapbox!

Back to last week - one day we created fingerpainted worm tracks by pouring a puddle of liquid laundry starch on the back of freezer paper (the shiny side is too slick). To that Katy added a couple of drops of blue, yellow, and red food coloring. Stir it all together and you get the greatest shades of brown! And really GOOEY fingers! We let it all dry and the next day we added worm eggs (splotches of brown puff paint), we printed worms using stamps carved from potatoes (we added the leftovers to the compost pile!) and several more made with a trail of glue covered with sprinkled dirt. It really does LOOK like a worm- when they stretch out you can see the particles of dirt moving down their digestive system. We had a failed experiment (but a GREAT photo!) of making gummy worms. If you take 3/4 cup boiling juice + 1 package of unflavored gelatin, mix, pour into a loaf pan, and submerge about 10 drinking straws in it, cool and squeeze out the "worms". We tried it also with a package of BLUE jello + 1/2 cup boiling water, the rest is the same. The straws were too skinny so getting the worms out was sticky, hard to accomplish, and didn't work well!! YOU try it with FAT straws! But the photo of everyone showing their blue tongues is priceless!

Oh, the best part! We made worm condos! Everyone got to take home a tennis ball tube with a (decorated, of course) coffee filter paper (w/ rubber band) "roof." Rocks in the bottom, dirt, clay soil laid the foundation. Created a decorated, removable paper skin for the tube (worms like DARK!!). Added a touch (!) of water and chose the best 5 worms and an egg or two with a little compost to inhabit the home.

I didn't know pre-K's could do so much! This was a GREAT bunch of kids; they shared, they discussed, they worked hard, they cleaned up (don't tell their moms!)! I had a Blast! Thanks!