“We are going to do something today that is a lot fun!” Miss Nell informed the class. Several children immediately started yelling out what they thought it might be, “Another field trip?” asked Tyler. “Another party!” called out Katie. Miss Nell shook her head and said, “No,” to each guess. Brian mumbled, “It’s probably something dumb.”

“I hope you won’t think that it’s dumb, Brian.” Brian quickly looked up and gave a sheepish smile. He didn’t know he had said it loud enough for her to hear. Miss Nell continued, “It’s something that is going to be a little dirty and some of you may be cautious at first.” Brian’s hand immediately shot up, but before he could say anything, Miss Nell laughed and said, “I know, Brian, you’re not afraid of anything.” Then everyone laughed, too, even Brian.

Miranda said, “Ooh, I can’t take it any more! Just tell us, please!” Miss Nell laughed again and said, “Okay, today we are going to study something from nature. We are going to look at, touch and observe….earthworms!” Katie shrieked and turned pale. The class was used to Katie being dramatic but this time she didn’t look like she was pretending. Everyone thought that Katie was very serious. Especially Miss Nell, who could tell just by looking at her, that this was no act, Katie was truly frightened. The teacher was concerned that Katie might faint.

Miss Nell knew that some children might not want to touch the worms but she wasn’t prepared for this. She quickly asked Miranda if she would help Katie to a chair and then go and get a drink of water for her. Miranda, who was always willing to be helpful, jumped up and did what the teacher had asked. As she led Katie to the nearest chair, she said, “Don’t worry, Katie. I’ll help you.”

To get the class back on track, Miss Nell explained how the centers were going to be set up. She told them that at the first table there would be a couple of worms in a bowl and they were going to just look at the worms and describe what they looked like. At the next table, there would be a big worm bin; they were to dig through the dirt to see if they could find any worms. If they did, they could then do an experiment like measure it. At the last table, the bin would be narrow but high and the sides would be clear so it would be like they were able to see the worms under ground. At this center, they were going to discuss how the worms were behaving.

From across the room, Katie informed everyone, “I’m not touching any worm!” Miss Nell assured her that she wouldn’t have to do anything that she didn’t want to do. And quite frankly, based on Katie’s earlier reaction, Miss Nell didn’t want her anywhere near the worms.

Miss Nell got the worm bins and bowl and placed them on the tables. She then divided the class up into three groups. Everyone was to visit each table once and then after they were done they could go back to their favorite center for another visit.

Tyler visited each center quickly and then he went back to the one where he was allowed to hold the earthworms. Tyler was definitely not afraid of earthworms. He thought they were so cool. At home, he liked to go on earthworm hunts. He told the other kids, who were seated at the table, that once he had surprised his mom by coming to the door with a whole handful of worms. The other kids wanted to know what happened and Tyler said, “She just gave me this look like she was really grossed out.” Tyler took his time and he dug through the entire worm bin. He wanted to find as many worms as he possibly could. Each time he found one; he measured it and then recorded its length on a piece of paper.

Miranda led Katie around to the non touching centers. Katie mostly stayed behind Miranda but once she summed up the courage and quickly peeked at the worms. She said, “Ooh, yuck!” and immediately ducked her head back down. Miranda tried to encourage Katie by saying, “I don’t think they’re that bad.” But Katie just huffed, “If that’s how you feel, you can leave me all alone and go hold one.” Miranda said that it was okay she didn’t need to; she would stay and help her.

Everyone else seemed to be having a fun time with their science lesson, even Aleisha. Miss Nell said to Aleisha, “I didn’t know that you liked worms!” Aleisha smiled and said, “I like all creepy crawly things.” As she walked around between the centers, Miss Nell told the children things like, even though earthworms are small they play a very important part in our ecosystem and earthworms are farmers’ helpers.

All too soon, as far as Tyler was concerned, Miss Nell said that it was time to put the worms back in their bins and clean up the tables. She said that before they could have a snack, everyone needed to wash their hands. Miss Nell turned and smiled and said, “Especially, you, Tyler!” Tyler laughed and held up his dirt covered hands for the whole class to see.

Miranda and Katie went to find a seat at the snack table. Miss Nell said that she was proud of both of them. “Katie you were very brave and Miranda, it was so nice of you to be willing to help a friend.” Both girls gave their teacher a big smile and said, “Thank you.”

No one thought anything of it when Brian went over to the snack table but when Miss Nell heard him say, “Hey, Katie looked here,” she was alarmed. She looked up from her paperwork and saw that he was about to dangle a worm in front of Katie’s face. Miss Nell called out, “No, Brian, don’t!” but it was too late.

When Katie opened her eyes and looked around, she saw that she was in the nurse’s office. The nurse came right over to Katie to check on her. She asked if she was feeling well enough to return to class. Katie said, “I guess so.” Then the nurse asked her which student she would like to have walk with her back to the classroom, Katie said, “Miranda, please.”