Worms, and not the gummy kind.

I try, every day, to not only teach my students what I'm supposed to, but to avoid doing anything that will hinder their learning in any way. Well, today I very well may have traumatized my whole class. We are studying earthworms for our science project and I brought in a dozen worms that I picked up at the gas station on the way to school. Part of today's activity was to watch the worms and draw a picture of them. Umm, there was no movement to watch. But there was this. "Awww, look. My worm's asleep." "Mine, too." "Mine, too." Yeah, I'm afraid they were all "asleep." Some of the kids did figure out that their worms were dead, but that didn't stop them from being interested. I guess I should have just passed out plastic knives and changed the lesson to dissection. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow. But this time I'll check the worms before I leave the store to make sure they're "awake."