Outdoor Hour Challenge
Spring Series #9 Invertebrate Study-Earthworms
Inside Preparation Work
Read in the Handbook of Nature Study all about earthworms on pages 422-425 (Lesson 107). This short section is packed with all kinds of interesting facts about earthworms. The lesson on page 424 gives you lots of ways to study the earthworm and I suggest choosing two or three to try during your outdoor time.
Outdoor Hour Time
“Any garden furnishes abundant material for the study of earthworms. They are nocturnal workers and may be observed by lantern or flashlight….For the study of the individual worm and its movements, each pupil should have a worm with some earth upon his desk.”Take 15 minutes of your outdoor hour time to find a place in your yard to dig for worms. If you have a garden or flower bed, you may be successful in finding earthworms just a few inches down in the soil. Use some of the suggested activities from the lesson in the Handbook of Nature Study to carefully observe your earthworms.
Handbook of Nature Study, page 424
Follow-Up Activity:
Allow time for a nature journal entry. You may wish to include the following things in your entry:
- How does an earthworm crawl? Does it have legs?
- How long is your earthworm?
- Examine the segments of the earthworm and draw them in your nature journal.
- What color is your earthworm?
- Can you find the head and the tail of the earthworm?
- Where did you find your earthworm? Can you find its home?
- Do you know why earthworms are important?
More Earthworm Links
- My Anatomy-Getting to Know Squirmin’ Herman. This is an excellent source of specific information about the parts of an earthworm.
- Anatomy of a Worm
- Project to try: Quart Jar Worm Farm
Post an entry on your blog sharing your experiences during your Outdoor Hour challenge for earthworms and them submit it to the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival.
If you would like all the Spring Series Challenges in one place, I have an ebook gathered for you to purchase for your convenience. The ebook also contains art and music appreciation plans for the spring months as well as custom notebooking pages for each of the challenges. Please see this entry for more details:
Spring Nature Study with Art and Music Appreciation
I just found your wonderful site and a couple of weeks ago received the Handbook of Nature Study as a download. It is broken into parts. I found the insects and invertebrates section and went to the pages you listed, but can't seem to find anything on the earthworm. Those pages were talking about ants. Do you have any idea how I can find the original lesson?
ReplyDeleteKelly,
ReplyDeleteThere are two free downloads floating around out there. The first is the complete book in one file and the other is the one from Homeschool Freebie which is broken into six parts.
I tried to solve the problem by giving you the lesson number so you can look for it that way in your version of the book. For earthworms it is Lesson 107.
If you have the HSF version, it is on page 156 of the ebook. If you have the complete book in one file, it is on page 462.
My best advice is to print out the table of contents for your version. If you have the HSF version, you will need to go to the Introduction ebook and print pages 10-17 for the complete table of contents. I think that will help you find the Challenges much more easily.
Hope that helps,
Barb
We had fun with this study even though we never found earthworms. We did make dirt though - with oreos and pudding :)
ReplyDeleteWe've had so much fun this week focusing on Nature Study and catching up on the challenges. Thank you so much for all the work and time you put into these challenges. We really enjoy them! I have especially enjoyed the Seasonal series' - its fun to explore the seasons one little piece at a time. I can't wait for the Summer ones to start.
ReplyDeletethis was another great study. I really enjoyed reading the Handbook of Nature Study section on earthworms.
ReplyDeleteProbably the worst article I've written in a while - but wanted to post about the study - I guess my heart isn't into the writing. . . . Lots of pics though. :) We enjoyed the study!
ReplyDeleteFunny how I discected a worm in middle school and don't remember ANYTHING about it. I learned more from this study than I've ever known about worms! Thanks for the challenge!
ReplyDeleteBrandy at Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood
Also linked our post on snails. Thanks!
ReplyDelete