WORMS!!

We were invited to join in on a great field trip this week.  We went to a local environmental center.  They offer great field trips but you must book well in advance.  The trip we were on was all about composting.  The kids learned about composting both indoors and outdoors.  But the main focus was on the possibility of having a compost bin indoors so you can compost all year round.  The bin they used was made from a plastic storage tote with small holes drilled in it.  The worms they use and suggest for composting are red wigglers.  Here is a link about red wigglers and about composting.  Red wigglers are big eaters so they are great for composting.  You can order them online or buy them at your local bait shop.  The kids learned what you can and cannot put in your compost bin.  Anything that grew out of the soil can be composted and turned back into soil.  Such as scraps from fruits and vegetables, egg shells, grass clippings, leaves, shredded paper.  Never put meat or dairy in your compost bin.  During the field trip the kids were all given microscopes so they could look at some of the compost from the bin.  They got a close up look at the worms and also found some fascinating little microscopic bugs in there helping out the worms.  Lili couldn't wait to get her hands on a worm.  She got one out of the compost and it was very squirmy on her hand.  On the way home both of my kids asked if we could get some worms for our house.  Hmmm.....maybe we can talk daddy into
that.  They will have to live in the basement though.  Luckily the worms in a compost bin can live in a room that is at a minimum of 52 degrees according to the instructor at the environmental center.  I don't think our basement ever gets that cold.  According to the website I linked above you need to find out how much you will have to feed your worms each day, so you will need to weigh your kitchen scraps for a week or so and see what your average amount is.  Then get double the amount of worms.  So, 1 lb food = 2 lbs of worms.  I suppose it would help if I had a kitchen scale for that.  Maybe we can use our scale from our school supplies, it measures in grams but it will be a good lesson for the kids and we can convert the number from grams to lbs.  At the end of the field trip after the kids finished their lunches anyone who had leftover fruits or veggies  (apple cores, orange peels, etc...) were able to feed the worms.  The kids loved it!  So far it has been the best field trip of the year.

*Tip from the instructor at the environmental center: Her worms don't like broccoli.  When she put broccoli in her bin the worms all tried to climb out.  So maybe broccoli scraps are best put in the trash.

It all put me in the mood for spring.  I've got my garden plan already started :)
Happy composting!

"The only thing you absolutely have to know is the location of the library"  - Albert Einstein

We're done already!

It's the end of the week.  That means it is time to work on next weeks lesson plans.  I was going over our list of what we planned on getting done this year and it looks like we have about 4 more topics to cover and we are done.  It should only take us about 2 weeks to cover it all.  So it is only February and we have finished our goal for the school year.  How awesome is that!  The plan is to have a week of review to make sure all we have learned has stuck.  Then I guess we'll move on to the making a plan for 3rd grade.  Since we are ahead I'd like to give some child led learning a try, to let Lili spend more time learning about whatever strikes her fancy.  Since I sort of backed off a bit on how much she reads she has started going through books faster than we can get to the library.  The other week we went on Friday and by Tuesday she was complaining that she had nothing to read.  She had already finished everything she checked out on Friday.  Our next trip to the library I let her get as many books as we could carry.  I hope the love of reading stays with her.

Next week we will reach our 100th day of school!!  They are so excited.  We have been tracking the days until the 100th day.  I have been browsing Pinterest for ideas.  Here is our plan so far for our 100th day of school celebration.  Most of the ideas are from a site I found off Pinterest and some from friends.  Here is a link to the site for ideas....

http://www.tipjunkie.com/all-crafts/ideas-for-100th-day-of-school/

100th Day of School
1. Make a 100th day of school crown (printable from link above)
2. Make a 100 piece edible necklace (with fruit loops or similar cereal)
3. How far will 100 steps from our front door take us?
4. Draw a portrait of what you would look like at 100 years old.
5. Write about what you would do with $100.
6. Build anything you want with 100 legos.

We will also get to celebrate by going out to lunch with Grammy and several of our Aunts.  It should be a fun day.

Happy 100th Day of School!!  Here's to approximately 80-90 more days until summer!


"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world.  Love of books is the best of all."
        -Jacqueline Kennedy