Last month, our Transitional Kindergarten students got hands-on with one of Viewpoint’s newest sustainability initiatives: vermiculture, also known as composting with worms. To kick off the effort, Science Department Chair and Sustainability Coordinator Craig Didden visited our TK classrooms to show how food waste can be transformed into nutrient-rich soil with the help of worms.

During his visits, Mr. Didden guided students through the basics of composting, explaining how the worms break down leftover food into healthy soil. 

“We wanted to start with the youngest kids,” said Didden. “If we can help them understand sustainability early on, that message follows them through the grades and back home to their families.”

Our TK students then had the chance to explore the composting process up close, digging into the soil, getting to know their new worm “classmates,” and discovering how these tiny helpers transform food waste into the rich soil they’ll use for planting in the spring.

“I’ll likely return in about a month to check on the worms,” Didden said. “That way, the kids can see that the worms have settled in successfully, and they’ll get to feed them again.”

This lesson is just the beginning, as Didden plans to expand composting efforts across campus, introducing the practice to more grades and encouraging families to take part in the sustainability effort.

“The goal is to compost as much as possible and compost everything we can,” he added. “It starts with small steps.”