Katie Shell - Appalachian State University



Katie Shell

Science Children’s Literature Activity

Fiction Book and Author:

The Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin, Pictures by Harry Bliss.

This book is a wonderful children’s book that follows the life of a worm based on the daily diary that he has written. Each page has a different date on the top of it and it explains what he did that day or what he might have learned through his observations of his activities. Throughout the book, the worm is going through his everyday life while teaching those who read this story about worms. For example, the second page reads “2. When we dig tunnels, we help take care of the earth.” Children are able to learn what worms eat, how they move and interact with other insects, and various other necessary information. This story is not only one that children love to read but it is one that they actually learn about worms from.

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Non Fiction Support Books;

Wiggly Worms at Work by Wendy Pfeffer is a great non fiction book to include in the

classroom when doing lessons about worms. This book gives information about a worm’s

anatomy, the way they move and their life cycles. This story is a great one to incorporate

what worms do for our soil and how they are constantly working to make our earth better.

This nonfiction books highlights the importance of the tunneling that worms do.

It Could Still Be a Worm by Allan Fowler is a book from a series of books called the Rookie Read About Science series. This book and others of this series are great nonfiction books that engage children in different facts about worms. For example, on the first page of the book it shows a real picture of an earth worm and asks the children how long a worm is. This book goes into facts not only about earth worms but it touches on other various kinds of worms as well. This book is easy for kids in kindergarten through third grade to understand. The pictures in this book are excellent for engaging students and really getting them interested in science activities with worms.

An Earthworm's Life by John Himmelman is a great book for children to learn the life cycle of a worm. This book educates children on where exactly worms come from and how they form. It follows the life cycle through a whole year including transitions through winter and spring. It clearly defines the roles that earth worms have throughout their lives. This book is a part of the Nature Upclose Series, which are also great for educating children about science topics.

Science Specific Standards Addressed in My Activity:

Kindergarten Standards for Science:

Competency Goal 1:

The learner will make observations and build an understanding of similarities and differences in animals.

Objectives:

1.01- Observe and describe the similarities and differences among animals including: structure, growth, changes, and movement.

1.02- Observe how animals interact with their surroundings.

1.03- Observe the behaviors of several common animals.

1.05- Observe the similarities of humans to other animals including: basic needs, growth and change and movement.

Content Standards for Other Disciplines:

Kindergarten Standards for Language Arts:

Competency Goal 2:

Objectives:

2.01, 2.02, 2.03, 2.04, 2.05, 2.08

Competency Goal 3

3.01, 3.02, 3.03, 3.04

Competency Goal 4

4.01, 4.02, 4.03, 4.04

Competency Goal 5

5.01, 5.02, 5.03

Kindergarten Standards for Mathematics:

Competency Goal 1

Competency Goal 4

Objectives: 4.01, 4.02

Competency Goal 5:

5.01, 5.02.

Background Information for Teacher:

• Be familiar with the Diary of a Worm book and know at which points throughout the story you will stop to see if the children understand what is being read. Explained in section 6 of lesson plan.

• These are some facts about worms that you must know to teach the lesson and answer questions:

-worms in the wild only live about 2 years at the most.

-they donot have lungs, they breathe through their skin and can live under water for a while.

-they do not have eyes but are light sensitive.

- they can detect the motion of a robin

-know how they travel: they use their complex muscle system and hairs (setae).

- they do not have teeth, they use a gizzard to grind up food.

- Earthworms have no fewer than five hearts!

-they can replace lost segments.

-earthworms usually come out of the soil after a lot of rain because it becomes too wet for them to survive.

• To build the worm habitats you must understand that these habitats need to be covered on all sides with dark construction paper because the earthworms are so light sensitive. You will also need to cover the habitats with wet paper towels and keep them moist throughout the day.

Description of Science Activity:

Materials:

The Diary of a Worm

Construction paper for the kids to draw on

Crayons

Three clear plastic shoebox size bins for the habitats

Soil- enough for 3 habitats

Example of a completed worm habitat

Earth worms (can purchase at a bait shop)

Dry leaves- enough for each of three groups to have six or seven

Rocks or gravel to fill the bottom of the habitat bins

Cups- 20( or the number of the kids in your class)

Pre made poster with gummy worm graph

3 packages of gummy worms- pre cut into separate colors and put into baggies

Baggies- for gummy worms (fill with about 8 gummy worms per student)

Worm graphs

Prior to the Lesson:

Have construction paper and crayons already set out for students to make observations.

Also, outside on picnic tables or some other place that can get dirty, you will need to have three groups each with one plastic bin, six or seven dry leaves, some gravel or rocks and soil pre poured into cups so that students aren’t pouring soil out of a bag by themselves. Also, each table or group should have about four earth worms already in cups so that the students can just put them in their habitats. When completing the math portion of this lesson, it is important that you already have enough baggies for the number of kids in your class. Each baggie will have about eight gummy worms in them of different colors. Each student will get a graph to color in according to how many worms of each color they have. You should also have the gummy worm graph hanging on the board and the worm cut outs ready for students to practice counting and putting them on the board.

Lesson:

Before reading the book, show the kids the front cover and ask what you think this story is about? What do you think will happen? What do you already know about worms? Also ask the students to pay careful attention to what they learn about worms from the story like what they eat or how they see and other information like that. (This will give the students something to look for throughout the story and keep them on task). Throughout the story ask content questions to make sure they are following what is going with the worm. For example, for March 29th, stop and ask the students if they think worms can walk upside down? Why not? How do they move? After reading the story follow up by asking different questions about what students learned from the story.

Then you will have a few worms already in a pre made worm habitat that you can bring out to show the kids. Ask them to make observations about what they look like etc… You will need to explain what an observation is and other details or examples to explain it. Then discuss the facts about worms: do they have eyes, how do they move, are they good for the earth, what they eat, what happens when it rains. This could become a little crazy because the kids are very excited so try to maintain control as best as you can without limiting the students from seeing and saying what they want to contribute to the discussion. After explaining that at some point throughout the day the students will be making their own worm habitats, send the good listeners to their seats and ask them to draw what they might have observed about the worm. Give them about 10-12 minutes to finish their pictures and have them sit on the carpet when they’re finished. Once they return to the carpet, have a few students share what they observed or drew on their paper. Once a few have shared it would be a good idea to have every child sit their drawing on the ground and give students a chance to glance at other student’s observations. This way each child will get the opportunity to share with others.

At some point during the day, split the students into groups. First, before going outside, recap on what they have learned about worms thus far. Ask specific questions and go over any questions they may have. Then calling groups outside that are paying attention and quiet, begin working on building the worm habitats. The gravel rocks will fill the bottom of the containers, then comes the soil. Each student will need to share and take turns however, be sure to have enough cups of soil for each group so that each student will get to pour one into their habitat. Let them spend some time adding leaves and putting the worms in. Ask the groups what they notice about what the worm is doing when he gets into the habitat. How many worms are in the habitat. What color are they? Are they big or small? Do they look like the size of erasers or crayons? Take some time to discuss this with each group and come together to recap on what makes a good habitat for a worm. (moist, wet environment, soil etc…)

The next day or the same day, have the student recap what they learned about worms and their habitats. Then explain what the math activity is going to be about. Have your own baggie of gummy worms out and as a class count and sort the worms by color. Call on good listener to come to the board and stick on a green, orange, red worm above the correct color. Practice graphing with the students by continuing to ask students which color has the most worms, which ahs the least and are there any columns that have equals? Once you feel like the students have a good grasp on the concept, you may explain their graphing worksheet to them by making sure they are to color in the number of worms they have in their baggies above the correct color word. For example, if they have two red worms, and one orange one then they will color in two red worms and one orange one. Be sure to explain that you have a bag full of large gummy worms that you will hand out at the end for students who worked really hard and did not eat any worms that they were graphing. After going around and helping the students graph and sort their worms, call them back to the carpet to discuss the results. Have some student’s graphs already chosen to discuss and have the students tell how many of each they had and how it compares to your teacher graph on the board. You could also have the students still sitting and listening interact by telling if they agree with what the person sharing is saying about their graph. End the discussion by having students again put their graphs in front of them on the floor and look at each other’s.

Assessments:

During the lesson, constantly assessing the students by referring to the information that they have already learned. Ask questions and asking students to share their observations and graphs. By having the students color their observations of the worms this allows the students to put on paper what they are seeing and observing about the worms. This could be a good kindergarten assessment.

Sources:

Kids World Exploration, Hands On Science

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