A worm slithers on a student's hand at the EARTH Field Day for Lawrence school children Monday at the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds.

Slimy.

That’s how one local sixth-grader described his experience with worms at EARTH Field Day.

On Monday, students from three Lawrence schools converged on the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds for Earth Awareness Researchers for Tomorrow’s Habitat (EARTH) Field Day.

“They’ve come to learn a little bit more about the environment in a fun and educational way that ties in some of what they’ve learned throughout the year already in their classrooms,” said Emily Morehouse, 4-H Youth Development Leader.

Students’ lessons centered on air, land, water and living resources – and included cockroaches, an opossum, worms and a rainfall simulator. The children participated in a Soil Olympics and made their own edible aquifers to learn about well systems and pollutants.

And they learned some tidbits during the event.

“Worms are part male and part female together,” said Jack Jiang, a sixth-grader at Hillcrest School.

“I learned about recycling,” said Emily Tamerius, a sixth-grader at Broken Arrow. “My family recycles, and it helps the community so we can reuse things a lot. It’s helping the Earth quite a bit.”

“The opossum was really creepy,” said Kyle Whittman, a student at Broken Arrow. But he says he plans on checking to make sure the work he does at his grandparents’ house is environmentally friendly.

Morehouse wanted the day to resonate with the young students.

“We’re hoping that they become better stewards of the environment, better citizens, so that by learning some of these concepts, they’ll be able to improve their own families and communities,” she said.