Schedule a workshop | What CAV provides | What school provides | Workshop Fees
About bins | About worms | About bedding | About food for worms

Welcome to Worms in School

The Composting Association of Vermont (CAV) offers the Worms in School workshop for preschool through grade 8 classrooms.  Worms in School  is a 1 - 2 hour hands-on introduction to vermiculture - composting with worms. This workshop is available to schools in Vermont that want multi-year  vermiculture based learning.

The workshop includes: compost bin set up; care and feeding of worms; harvesting of worms and vermicast (composted material); and follow up technical assistance. Teachers also receive a 100 page curriculum guide - Feed it to the Worms - developed by Keene State College and the New Hampshire Geographic Alliance with funding support from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and USDA.

Worms in School is an example of “education for sustainability.” Over the course of a school year students can see how organic material is transformed into a soil amendment, and they experience firsthand the sustainability of a food system that includes the recycling of food scraps.

Vermiculture and on-going maintenance of the worm bin are easily incorporated into lesson plans to meet state standards.  In addition to biology, the worm “community” can be integrated into math, social science, language, and arts curriculums, and in the larger school community to inform responsible stewardship.

The Worms in School workshop is made possible through grant funding and partnerships with the UVM Extension Master Gardener/Master Composter Program and Gardener’s Supply in Burlington.

Schedule a Workshop for Your School

Contact the CAV workshop instructor nearest you. (list of instructors)

You and the instructor will discuss how to tailor the workshop to your class age group, prior knowledge, interest and needs, and to determine workshop logistics:

• Date, time, location
  
  
• Duration of workshop – 1-2 hours (includes set up and clean up)
  
  
• Bin, bedding, worms, food scraps needed for the workshop demonstration
  
  

What CAV Provides

• Workshop instructor and coordination
  
  
• Follow up email or phone call within 2 weeks of workshop
  
  
• Vermicast and containers to ‘harvest’ worms
  
  
• Coordination with classroom teacher for bin, bedding, worms and food scraps
  (see options below)
  
  
• 100-page curriculum guide – includes geography lesson plans with standards, activity pages, templates to collect data, illustrations, glossary and electronic resources
  
  
• Follow up technical assistance as needed
  
  

What the Host School or Classroom Teacher Provides

• Supervision and group process during the workshop
  
  
• Coordination with instructor for bin, bedding, worms and food scraps (see options below)
  
  
• Evaluation of workshop (teacher does this with students at the end of workshop)
  
  
• Local publicity; submit photo to local newspaper
  
  
• Follow up reporting in years 1, 2, & 4 after the workshop via email. (5 – 15 minutes to complete) Reporting Form (pdf), or Reporting Form (Microsoft Word)
  
  
• Arrange for the care of the worms during the summer (Typically cared for as part of summer programming, or a student or teacher takes the worm bin home for the summer. Or you can empty the bin and start again the following year.)
  
  

Workshop Fees

• Mileage reimbursement to instructor (payable on day of workshop unless other arrangements are made)
  
  
• $100 fee to Composting Association of Vermont (due on or before day of workshop unless other arrangements are made)
  
  

About Bins, Worms, Bedding and Food Scraps to Feed the Worms

Your workshop instructor coordinates with you to make sure you have a bin, worms, bedding and food scraps on hand for the day of the workshop. Making a bin (instructions provided for wood or plastic), gathering leaves for bedding, and collecting food scraps to feed the worms are activities that students can do to prepare for the workshop.  Coordinate with the workshop instructor to ensure that your students get the most value from the Worms in School workshop.

Bins

There are a number of low or no cost options for a vermicomposting bin.

• A student and parent can make one out of wood (boards or plywood)
  (DO NOT USE chipboard or pressure-treated boards or plywood)
  
  
• Use a plastic storage tote with holes drilled in it
  
  
• Adapt a plastic storage tote with a conversion kit (www.wormkits.com)
  
  
• Request a donated Worm Chalet (available while supply lasts)
  
  OR
  
  
• Buy a commercial vermicomposting bin
  
  

Worms

• Whenever possible, the Worms in School program will provide 1 pound of worms at no cost. These come from the instructor or from another school.
  
  
• Worms for vermicomposting can be purchased through:
  
  wormpost.com
  downtoearthwormfarmvt.com
  greenmountainsoil.com 
  
  

Bedding

• The workshop instructor can bring bedding (leaves, newspaper)
  
  
• The classroom teacher can collect about 10 gallons of leaves with students prior  to the workshop
  
  
• Several students can collect small quantities of leaves and bring them to school
  
  

Food for Worms

• The workshop instructor can bring vegetable food scraps to demonstrate how to feed the worms
  
  
• The teacher can assign one or more students to bring in a few quarts of vegetable scraps and some egg shells (no meat or dairy products) 
  
  

Questions?

Contact your local Worms in School instructor (list of instructors)    
      

Resources

Dig it! The Secrets of Soil - http://forces.si.edu/soils/index.html

Wormpost.com - how-to info, worm biology, bins, vermicomposting glossary 

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