How to Eat Fried Worms
Launch the media gallery 1 playerWould you eat 15 worms for $50.00?
In our Raider Reading 2nd/3rd grade group we read the novel, How to Eat Fried Worms, by Thomas Rockwell. The novel is about a 10-year old boy named Billy and the group of friends that challenged him to eat 15 earthworms in 15 days. The bet, worth $50, will win Billy enough money to buy a shiny new mini-bike. Billy’s friends aren’t heartless, so don’t worry! Billy’s buds decide to cook up the worms in a variety of appealing ways to lessen the ‘yuck’ factor for Billy. Billy survives the first one, chokes down the second, and practically relishes the third. The kids fry the worms in butter and cornmeal, cover them in mustard and ketchup, and Billy’s mom even creates a real dessert called Whizbang Worm Delight to appeal to Billy’s sweet tooth. When Billy’s friends realize that he’s actually enjoying eating these worms, they try everything they can to keep Billy from reaching his goal. Nothing is going to stop Billy from winning this bet or is there??? You’ll have to read the book to find out.
During our novel unit, students researched earthworms and found out a lot of interesting facts. Some of those facts were:
*Earthworms have no eyes, legs, arms, or teeth
*There can be more than one million earthworms in one acre of land
*Earthworms can replicate lost segments (as you will find out later in this article)
*They are able to eat their own weight in food every day
*Earthworms can live up to 8 years
*They have no lungs – they breathe through their skin
*If exposed to light for a long period of time, they could become paralyzed
Launch the media gallery 2 playerAfter learning all these interesting facts, the students decided they wanted to observe earthworms in the classroom. We purchased some earthworms and prepared a bin for them to live in. Each day we had to feed them by finding dead leaves and making up our own earthworm food, which consisted of cornmeal and honey, and also by spraying the soil each day to keep it moist. We covered the bin with black construction paper to keep out the light. It was very interesting to observe the worms.
To end our novel, students were asked if they would eat a worm like Billy did. Thinking that none of the students would possibly want to eat a worm, three hands immediately went up. Would these students be like Billy and really eat a worm????? Check out our slideshow and you’ll be able to see that these students DID indeed eat a bite of REAL worm. Abigail covered hers in honey, whereas Chevelle and Bella decided barbecue sauce would be their choice. The students couldn’t let the chance go by without having their teacher, which would be me, try the delicacy. I tried to “worm” out of it, but after much thought, I smothered my piece of worm with as much barbecue sauce as one spoon would hold and with one BIG gulp swallowed that worm down. Earlier you learned that earthworms can replicate their lost segments, so luckily this poor worm that we chose to cut into pieces, did survive. No lives were lost in this experiment! Actually this story does have a happy ending for all the worms. The worms were taken home with some of the students as their new pets and are now living happily ever after.
Launch the media gallery 3 playerClick the link to view the slideshow 
How To Eat Fried Worms
