All About Worms
Lesson Plans for: k-2
Subject Areas:
Science, Math, Language Arts
Goal:
To teach students about worms and how the contribute to the garden. They will explore worms and what they need to thrive.
Time Needed For Lesson:
3 Hours (including extension)
Ideal Season:
Spring, Summer, Fall
Materials:
-Night crawlers or red Wiggler worms (1 per student)
-Worm anatomy chart
-Magnifying glass (1 per student)
-Rulers (1 per student)
-Paper and pencils
Procedure:
- Read: An Earthworm’s Life by John Himmelman and Earthworms by Clair Llewellyn to students before the activities.
- Make a KWL chart with the students to find out what they already know and what they would like to learn about the worms. Fill in the L side of the chart after your activities are complete.
- Worm Exploration:
- Have a discussion about worms with the students, point out some fun facts about worms. Display the worm anatomy chart on the board. Similarities/ differences?
- Give students a worm with a little dirt on a plate, a magnifying glass and a ruler, pencil and paper.
- Ask students to make observations on their paper. They can draw a picture of their worm. Ask them to notice how many rings the worm has, if they can tell which end of the worm is the head, how they move, feel to the touch, anything that they can notice and observe.
- Show students how to use the ruler you have passed out. Ask them to make observations about how long and thick their worms are. Record measurements on the board to see how their measurements compare to their peers.
- Ask your students to write a sentence about what they have learned about worms and complete the L section of your KWL chart as a group.
- Return worms to their natural environments.
Lesson Extension:
Take students to a garden; ask them to predict where worms would live and how they help the garden. Give them a spade and ruler, divide into groups of 4 and dig in the garden to find worms. Tell them to record how many worms they find and how long they are on paper. Come back together as a group, discuss what they have found. If they did not find any, discuss why they think there may not have been worms where they were digging.
Bibliography:
Himmelman, J. (2001) An Earthworm’s Life
Llewellyn, C. (2002) Earthworms
