On Thursday October 17th, 2014, I had a scientist in the school. A Scientist in the school is when a scientist comes to our school to teach us about science. A pedologist came this time. A pedologist is a type of scientist that studies soil. One of the things she taught us was about earthworms.
Earthworms help the earth by digging holes. When they dig holes in the soil it lets air into the soil. Earthworms come out of the soil when it rains.
The scientist told us the parts of a worm. The three parts of an earthworm are a mouth, a clitellum (saddle) and a tail. Earthworms don’t have eyes. They don’t need eyes because they live in the soil. Did you know earthworms have hair?
If humans didn’t exist worms would be alive. If worms didn’t exist humans wouldn’t be alive. That means we depend on worms but they don’t depend on us. Worms live in soil. But what type of soil? The different types of soils are loam, clay, sand and silt. The best type of soil for worms is loam. Loam looks like the soil most people use in their gardens.
Earthworms also help with composting. They help composting by eating earth materials. When they eat earth materials it goes through their body and then comes out of the body. What comes out of the worm’s body is called castings.
When I had the scientist in the school we were holding the worms that the scientist brought. The worm felt slimy and cold. I picked it up but I was still scared to pick it up.
Have you ever touched or seen a worm?
Danica Mutasingwa