I'd like you to meet my friends--the red wigglers

I love the excitement the short folk have for the worm box and the worms--reminds me yearly why I do science every week.   :>)
I read Wiggling Worms at Work by Wendy Pfeffer for the first time.  In the past, we've read Wonderful Worms by Linda Glaser.  I love the illustrations in Wendy's book (by Steve Jenkins) and the detail about wormlets, what worms eat and how, but I may revisit Linda Glaser's book next year.  It's better geared to our age level and allows for more time to do our science journals.
After reading I opened up the worm box to "introduce my friends" to the students.  I showed the decaying apple, banana peels, garlic clove shell (worms ate the insides) and the leaves intermixed with the coir and worm castings.  Only a few yucks and "why do worms eat garbage?", most couldn't wait until they could hold one.  Some years only half will hold a red wiggler, but yesterday only 3 out of 40 said no.  
After holding the worms and talking about how they move, we washed our hands and returned for a gummy worm treat.  BUT first we stretched and relaxed the gummy worm to show how real worms travel.