Hands-On

• Composting requires a worm bin, which can be as simple as a storage tote with drilled air holes or ventilator screens added. Students can add their nondairy food scraps and use the school's shredded paper as bedding for red wiggler compost worms. A moisture and pH meter can help students take measurements of the worms' environment and correct imbalances in the system. The students can apply the finished compost to test plants and leave control plants unfertilized to complete their understanding of the trash-to-treasure cycle.
  
  

Online

• Online lessons can flesh out student understanding of worm bin composting. Presentations include "Wendell," the ace reporter worm, online at Discovery Kids. Wendell discusses the role of worms as recyclers and interviews worm biologist Mary Appelhof. "The Adventures of Vermi the Worm" appears on CalRecycle online. In a virtual worm bin, students learn how to reduce, reuse and recycle by watching Vermi in his bin with apple cores and eggshells.
  
  

Tips

• Instructions for classroom worm composting sometimes call for the students to collect wild worms, but these are typically night crawlers, which do poorly when lacking a deep outdoor space for their permanent burrows. Obtain mail-order red wigglers, Eisenia fetida, which flourish in shallow containers. FindWorms.com can help instructors find a local worm source.