Dirt and Worms

Every year, in my ELD class I teach a farming/plant unit. It is a lot of fun. The academic focus of the unit is food vocabulary and basic sentence formation, both written and oral. It is a fun unit packed with lots of songs and chants as well as good fiction and non fiction paired readings in the texts. My favorite (and the kids' favorite) song is Dirt Made My Lunch by the Banana Slug String Band. On the last day of the unit I make Dirt and Worms with the kids. It is so much fun.

I bring in a bag of ground up Oreo's and tell the kids that I brought a sample of dirt from my house for an experiment. (I don't let them in on the fact that the "dirt" is really Oreo's) I pass the bag around for them to feel. Then we discuss all of the foods we eat and how they one way or the other come from the ground. Then I ask them that if food comes from the ground, then we should be able to eat dirt, right? They of course all say "no!" I then go on to say how I think they are right but my dirt is very clean. I then open up the bag and use a spoon to scoop up some "dirt" and eat a spoonful. They all groan and say "ewww!!!" I tell them that it is really quite tasty and ask for volunteers to taste my dirt. After about the 3rd volunteer it comes out that it is really cookies.

At this point, I pass out a recipe for Dirt and Worms. (I have to get to the standards somehow, right?) We read it, and plan out how we will prepare our snack. Then I pass out the ingredients and the kids "cook!" It is great fun and always fun to watch the kids. They always end up with chocolate pudding faces. How cute!

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Dirt and Worms:
1 cup of chocolate pudding
2 teaspoons of ground Oreo's
2 Gummi Worms

Directions:
1. Take cover off of pudding.
2. Mix in Oreo's.
3. Add worms.

Enjoy!!!