WORMS AT WORK!

(Reprinted from the Thompson Education Foundation Newsletter, May 2010. Note that when they mention Leslie Hyland, one of our 3rd grade teachers, that they should have included Butterscotch Culhane and Becky Bice, our 5th grade teachers, who have really pioneered the effort that Mrs. Hyland's Creativity Grant has supported. Hooray for our Big T Teachers!!!)

Slimy, squishy, gross, and helpful? Although you may not think about it when you see them lying on the ground after a rainstorm, worms can be extremely helpful. Leslie Hyland from Big Thompson Elementary has developed a program within her 5th grade Nature and Science class that provides a creative way to encourage recycling and teach about the fascinating world of composting and worms. Even more exciting, Leslie's "Worms at Work" project has become a sustainable program that now involves the entire school!

With her Creativity Grant award, Leslie and her team of support staff have created a composting program that has reduced school lunch waste by 41% and continues to educate and support Big Thompson Elementary. Leslie's idea was to build composting centers at her school and use composting worms to help teach her 5th graders about recycling and the science behind composting with worms. With the help of John "The Worm Man" Anderson, a professional local composter, Leslie used her funds to purchase composting containers which reside in a large garden area outside the school.

This year her class has sorted trash, recyclables and composting food scraps every day at lunch. Food scraps of vegetables and fruit go into large buckets that her 5th graders take out to the worms. The students record the weight of the composted food and learn how to care for the composting worms. Leslie's class regularly composts an average of 15 pounds of food scraps every day! As the project progressed, Leslie was able to include 3rd and 4th graders in on helping with the recycling process and she says it will prepare them for taking over the more difficult role of caring for the worms when they reach 5th grade. Through her "Worms at Work" project, everyone at Big Thompson now helps Leslie and her students make a big difference in caring for the environment.