Herman, a shy earthworm, spends most of his time in the dark, crumbly earth, eating dead leaves and making tunnels. Herman and Marguerite: An Earth Story by Jay O’Callahan Award-winning storyteller O’Callahan offers another of his most popular tales, a story of helping each other and sharing our gifts. But unlike you or me, he never has to take a bath, he gets to eat his homework, and because he doesn’t have legs, he just can’t do the hokey pokey- no matter how hard he tries. This worm lives with his parents, plays with his friends, and even goes to school. Fiction Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin This is the diary of a worm. This book includes cross-section illustrations of the worm’s underground environment and informative charts. Wonderful Worms by Linda Glaser Simple informational text and full-color illustrations encourage an appreciation for the small creatures of the Earth by explaining the vital role that earthworms play in the planet’s ecosystem. Find out how worms help us as they wiggle their way underground. Worms eat the bits of leaves and plants mixed with the dirt and leave behind castings that feed the plants. As they make their way through the dirt, worms loosen the soil so roots can spread and grow. Wiggling Worms at Work by Wendy Pfeffer and Steve Jenkins Deep underground and on the surface, worms are hard at work! Worms work like little plows, burrowing through soil by swallowing it. The illustrations provide a useful perspective. Each page provides a detailed look into the worm’s world while the text describes the page’s content with a sentence. Literary Resources Nonﬁction An Earthworm’s Life by John Himmelman Underneath the soil, below the child’s bare foot, and among the roots and pebbles we can examine the beginning network of a worm’s tunnel. This instructional model provides a framework that builds on students’ prior knowledge and allows them to actively engage in doing science through investigations. We have used the 5E instructional model Enter code: SC121302 (Bybee 2009) to organize the ac-tivities. We caution students that they must always be able to see their hands-don’t reach into or under bushes! We check for poison ivy and remind the students of the saying “Leaves of three, let it be!” The following activities have been adapted from Grow-ing Up WILD: Exploring Nature With Young Children (Council for Environmental Education 2010), an environ-mental education activity guide for children ages three to seven Keywords: Earthworms (see Internet Resource). When we are ready to go outside, we explain to our students what they will be doing, the tasks they need to complete, and to always look first-don’t touch any wildlife they may find.

A New Beginning by Wendy Pfeffer