{"id":5306,"date":"2016-05-26T17:13:28","date_gmt":"2016-05-26T21:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=5306"},"modified":"2016-06-02T09:17:36","modified_gmt":"2016-06-02T13:17:36","slug":"worm-wednesday-brings-senior-citizens-creeds-elementary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/worm-wednesday-brings-senior-citizens-creeds-elementary\/","title":{"rendered":"Worm Wednesday brings senior citizens to Creeds Elementary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Velma Cartwright loves visiting the Senior Resource Center and knows the schedule well.<\/p>\n

\u201cMonday is dominoes,\u201d she said. \u201cTuesday is cards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thursdays are marked for \u201cexercise,\u201d and Fridays bring yoga lessons.<\/p>\n

The center\u2019s consistent calendar was thrown for a loop when \u201cWorm Day\u201d was scheduled for a recent Wednesday.\u00a0The atypical entry was for a lesson led by Creeds Elementary School first-graders.<\/p>\n

Cartwright and almost a dozen senior citizens weren\u2019t going to miss it.<\/p>\n

\"marquee\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI went here grades one through 11,\u201d Cartwright told Creeds principal Casey Conger as the group got settled in the classroom. \u201cI was supposed to graduate in \u201952, but I got married in \u201951.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proud former Creeds student was met by equally proud Creeds first-graders who were eager to show off their class pets \u2013 thousands and thousands of earthworms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to start by telling you about the vermicomposter, which is where we started,\u201d began first-grade teacher Diane Marx.<\/p>\n

\"vermicomposter\"<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in August, I went out to my composter at home and picked out about 100 worms. We started with 100 in September, and Mrs. Conger is estimating that we have 12,000 worms with the ones here and outside. We had to build the one outside because they were overpopulating in here,\u201d explained Marx.<\/p>\n

The seniors would get to see the \u201cworm mansion\u201d outdoors, as Conger called it, but the worms at work in the first-grade classroom were the focus of the lesson for now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really like a worm hotel,\u201d continued Marx. \u201cIt has a lid to keep the moisture inside. And it has multiple levels. It has holes in the bottom so they can move from one level to the next. When you add a new level, food goes in the top level. And then you want the worms to migrate upward so the bottom level [of worm castings] can go outside in the garden.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWatch when I pick it up,\u201d said Marx.<\/p>\n

\"WORMS\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWORMS!\u201d students screamed with delight at the sight of worms dangling from the holes in the composter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I picked it up an hour ago there were even more worm bottoms sticking out,\u201d said Marx.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorm butts,\u201d snickered a few students.<\/p>\n

Marx invited the seniors to come forward for a closer look.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe top level right now has a little bit of food in it. It looks like a lot of earth, but it has in it some egg shells, some seeds you can still figure out, a corn cob that they\u2019ve really enjoyed, there\u2019s an avocado skin. The bottom level though looks like just soil. It\u2019s what the worms create.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"worms<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I thought you put dirt in there,\u201d said one guest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no dirt. It\u2019s worm poop,\u201d clarified Conger.<\/p>\n

With her hands in the worm castings, Marx said, \u201cIt feels like playing in the garden.\u201d<\/p>\n

Playing with worms was next for first-graders who posed questions and offered explanations using their class pets.<\/p>\n

The first question: Do worms like light?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to put two worms up there,\u201d explained one student, \u201cand then we\u2019re going to flash our light and see if they will go to the darkness or if it will stay on the paper towel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marx used a document camera to make the experiment visible on the classroom whiteboard.<\/p>\n

\"light\"<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see their front end is already trying to figure out how to get out of the light,\u201d noted Marx.<\/p>\n

The seniors laugh as they watch the worms wiggle and search for darkness.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo what conclusion did we come to?\u201d Conger asked the first-graders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey do NOT like light,\u201d announced a student.<\/p>\n

The remaining eight questions ranged from how fast worms move and their preferred habitats to what they eat.<\/p>\n

\"fast\"<\/p>\n

\u201cHere, little wormy,\u201d called a student attempting to direct a worm to one habitat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve learned not all worms are created equal,\u201d Marx told the guests. \u201cNot all of them are as bright. The last time we did this experiment, one went into the rock.\u201d<\/p>\n

One student pointed to the screen, \u201cThat one\u2019s not very bright.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMust be a senior citizen,\u201d quipped one senior making all the adults in the room laugh.<\/p>\n

Students used a bag of food scraps to show what worms eat and how they prep a new level of the vermicomposter.<\/p>\n

\"food\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWorms eat apples, banana peels, lettuce, soft carrots and coffee grounds,\u201d reported one student presenter.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoffee grounds are like chocolate to worms,\u201d added Conger. \u201cWe have several people saving their coffee grounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marx asked student presenters what should be kept out<\/em> of the composter?<\/p>\n

\u201cCheese and meat,\u201d answered a student.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot that they won\u2019t eat it,\u201d Marx told guests, \u201cbut it will smell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marx topped off the \u201cdish\u201d with layers of moist shredded paper.<\/p>\n

\"paper\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThat looks yummy for worms!\u201d a first-grader exclaimed.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Yummy, yummy,\u2019 say the worms,\u201d said another student.<\/p>\n

Last but not least, first-graders shared the secret of \u201cworm tea.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think it\u2019s worm pee,\u201d said a student.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a super fertilizer,\u201d said another.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you use it on plants, it makes them grow bigger than it\u2019s supposed to be,\u201d said a third student.<\/p>\n

\"worm<\/p>\n

Using it on plants is exactly what Creeds fourth-graders are doing as part of their studies on measurement, a citywide grade-level objective.<\/p>\n

Conger explained to their guests that fourth-graders designed and measured quadrants for four plant beds located not too far from the outdoor worm mansion. Each quadrant has the same plants but the fertilizer is different so the students can study how that factor impacts plant growth.<\/p>\n

Worm tea and worm castings from the first-graders\u2019 worm farm fertilize two of the beds. Store-bought fertilizer, Miracle Gro, is used with the third set of plants. The fourth bed has compost made on-site from students\u2019 lunch scraps.<\/p>\n

\"garden\"<\/p>\n

\u201cThe green beans are loving the worm team,\u201d shared Conger.<\/p>\n

The collaborative project has fourth-graders writing letters to first-graders with questions about the worms. First-graders respond with their own letters including questions about plant growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have taught the fourth-graders about worm farming and the fourth-graders count on them to provide the fertilizer they need for their gardens. It\u2019s a true family event,\u201d Conger said.<\/p>\n

Marx added, \u201cFifth-grade sent down a messenger this morning to ask for another bottle of worm tea for their plants upstairs.\u00a0So they are experimenting with it as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Marx\"<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you know worms could be so exciting?\u201d Conger asked their special guests.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can save the coffee grounds at the senior center. That would be a nice partnership,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

As Conger escorted the senior visitors to the front of the school, Juanita Swoope marveled at what she had seen over the last hour.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t do anything like that when I was in school. It was very interesting to see what the kids are doing today,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Cartwright was in awe, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had never heard of children doing that before,\u201d she said. \u201cI used to be a school bus driver, too \u2014 drove for Creeds.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s that Creeds pride again.<\/p>\n

The first-graders may have found themselves a new worm farmer. That is, after dominoes on Mondays and cards on Tuesdays.<\/p>\n

This Creeds Elementary School\u00a0garden project\u00a0is supported by a\u00a0Virginia Beach Education Foundation grant underwritten by Waller, Todd & Sadler Architects. To learn more about the foundation, visit www.vbef.org.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Velma Cartwright loves visiting the Senior Resource Center and knows the schedule well. \u201cMonday is dominoes,\u201d she said. \u201cTuesday is cards.\u201d Thursdays are marked for \u201cexercise,\u201d and Fridays bring yoga […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":5313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[79,39],"class_list":["post-5306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-creeds-elementary","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5306"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5320,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5306\/revisions\/5320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}