Wormeries and Dance Parties

Making Class Wormeries

We continued our plant unit of study by making wormeries.  Students created 3 wormeries using 3 different types of worms: red wigglers, night crawlers and nitro worms.  We created these wormeries to see how beneficial worms can be in composting and to see how they break up soil.  Our wormeries included soil, layered with sand and topped with pieces of apples and dried leaves.

We then covered the wormeries, stuck them in a dark box (with air holes of course!) and will let them sit for a few days to see what happens.  We are curious if one species of worm works better in breaking down the food and leaves, than the others.

WOW, chartreuse worms! These are the Nitro Worms.

Students had a lot of fun putting these together and learning more about worms. Here are a few of the facts that we learned:

• Many worms regenerate. To regenerate means to re-grow. If a worm loses part of its body because it’s cut off or caught on something, the worm can grow that part back and still stay alive.
• Earthworms don’t have arms or legs. They don’t need them! Earthworms burrow tunnels into the ground. In fact, this burrowing does something called “aerate” the soil. Aeration means putting air into the soil. This process is important to make sure that the soil uses all of the minerals it has available. That’s why earthworms help gardens grow.
• Earthworms do not have lungs. They breathe by their skin taking in the air around them.
• Did you know there are thousands of species of worms?

Update on our Plant Experiments

After a week of our plant experiments students took notes and drew observations.  We noticed that the best growth observed so far is from the plant that is under an artificial light for several hours a day.

An example of one of our plant mazes

Our best performer

We continue to observe our "kitchen scrap" samples.  The celery is really taking off, as is the garlic clove.  The carrot is starting to show growth, too.  Surprisingly, the potato and the avocado pit are showing little growth or change (other then the potato rotting!)  We are starting over with a new potato this week.

Luna's Dad, Paul, sharing research he did on the use of fertilizer which was used in National Geographic.

Parts of a flower

Diagrams showing the Photosynthesis Process

Our Trip to Olbrich Gardens

Our class joined students from the Owl's Nest and headed over to Olbrich Gardens for a plant presentation.  We spent some time exploring in the conservatory learning about plant adaptations and some time with naturalists learning about seeds, plant protections and exploring items that come from plants.

One of our own modeling the parts of a flower

Writing - Superlatives and Fractured Fairy Tales

As a part of our language workshop we read the book Things That are Most in the World, by Judi Barrett.

This is a funny book about things that are the MOST (funniest, smallest, silliest...) in the world such as: "The funniest thing in the world is a frog in a chicken costume."  Students then made their own superlatives. It was a fun project.

Our fractured fairytale writing project will continue for one more week.  Many students are writing their final copy.  We will be sharing these stories with each other next week.

Our final writing unit is a play writing unit! 

Dance Party in the Hallway

Congratulations to the students of Marquette.  Over $500 was raised through our week long coin challenge!  Students exceeded the goal of $350!  For each benchmark the students passed, an all school celebration was earned.  Today, we celebrated with a dance party in the hallway.  Here are a few short videos of our class dancing away (one of our favorite things to do!)

Dance Party in the Hall Part 1

More rewards will happen over the next few weeks. Students earned dress the principal, an all-school treat and an extra recess.

Earth Day in May

Finally, the weather has taken a turn for the better (hey, it's not snowing, right?!?) so we will be holding our Earth Day in May outing on Tuesday, May 7.  Our class will join the other third grade classrooms for trash pick-up in and around the school neighborhood.  We could use plastic gloves and plastic garbage bags for this project. So if you have either of these items, feel free to send them in on Tuesday.

Friday is our Urban Adventure!  I appreciate all the parent volunteers!  This should be a great trip and I am so excited for the students to experience this experience.