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Page Last Updated: 10/13/04
The Passaic County Office of Recycling and Solid Waste Programs wishes to thank all those who participated in the Earth Month 1993 Story Contest, "The Adventures of Wiggles the Worm," and congratulates all the winners.
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 Hi, I am Wiggles the Worm and I live in a worm farm. A worm farm is a place where worms eat, play, and live with their families. My worm farm is made of leaves, garbage and lots of soil. I eat apple cores, fruit peels, egg shells, and other good garbage that humans feed me. After we eat the garbage it is digested through my body and then fertilizes the soil in my home to make my environment a healthy and strong one. When soil is healthy, humans grow fruits, plants, vegetables, and flowers. They can help your environment. Worms like to eat garbage, so there is less to throw away. Maybe this will help you understand that worms aren't just little slimy creatures on the ground. Where I live is really neat. I live in what you call compost. Compost is something that you can recycle. It turns into fresh soil. I eat vegetables, fruits and grasses, but no meat. I make burrows through the soil where I live, so I can play hide and seek with my brothers, sisters, and friends. I was brought to different places to get kids to recycle. I thought it was pretty neat to see lots of kids. I have a best friend who's named Bruce Van Duyne. I always liked him a lot, he always, gave us worms lots of scraps. Well, I have to say good-bye for now.
Wiggles the Worm woke up feeling extremely happy one morning. Today he was going outside for the first time. His mother was already awake, making breakfast. His father was sitting in the arm chair reading the Worm Times. His older sister was on the phone and his baby brother was sitting in the dirt box playing with his toys.
Wiggles the Worm was very excited. Today was the day he would finally get to go outside. His house was a tree. It was a cozy house and Wiggles enjoyed living there. Now today, he was going to become a worm. He would not be called a "wormlet" anymore. Today was the day he had been waiting for a long time. When Wiggles sat down at the table for breakfast everybody was nice to him, including his older sister which was very rare. Everybody gave him extra orange peels, banana peels and bits of garbage which was really quite nice. Then, his mother came and gave him a black hat. He wore that. His father came and gave him a very expensive pair of shoes. Last of all, his sister and brother gave him a tuxedo and favorite building block. Then, he went away out the door and just crawled around looking all around the world he never could see before.
Wiggles the Worm lived in school where he recycled food that the kids gave it. One day, the kids were going home when a boy came over to feed the worm. The bucket fell over and the worms went all over. All the kids went over to help pick them up. When they put him in the box, the teacher was so happy, but when a child came in from another class, he said, "There to ten worms." The kids all went running to the door. By the time they got there, the worms were all over. The kids picked them up and brought them to the box. By the time they were all done, it was time to leave. The kids all got their book bags and left. When Billy got home, he opened his book bag and saw the worm was in it. It was too late to bring the worm back to school, so he had to take it to his room. Then, he went outside. When his mom came home, she went up to clean his room. All of a sudden, she screamed. She had found the worm and she picked it up. When Billy came in his mother said, "What is this?" Billy said, "It is the worm that came home with me. I will bring it back to school on Monday. But where should I put it? I will put it in a cup in my room." "That's right," said his mother. Billy had this friend over and they played with the worm. When it was time to eat, Billy brought the worm down and gave it some grass. On Monday, Billy took the worm back. He told his teacher that he was sorry that the worm came with him. I think Wiggles had fun on his first adventure!
Wiggles was watching television in the living room. His mom called him for dinner, so he slithered in the bathroom and washed his hands. Wiggles asked his mom, "What are we having for dinner?" His mom said, "We're having your favorite, paper and compost." "Yummy," Wiggles said. He ate it all up and he almost ate his plat. When dinner was over, Wiggles took a nap because he was so full. He fell asleep until next morning. The next morning, his mom called him for breakfast, "Wake up Sleepyhead, it's time for breakfast!" Wiggles couldn't wait for breakfast. He went downstairs to eat breakfast. "What do you want for breakfast, Wiggles?" "May I have garbage?" "You may have a little garbage, just a little. We're going to a BIG place. It's really far from here. We live in New Jersey and this place is in Rhode Island. It is our vacation for the year. I think it's going to be fun. "Do you think it's going to be fun?" mom asked. "WOW!!!" Wiggles said. "Is everybody ready?" dad said. "Yes!" "Then let's go!" When they got into the place they stopped at the gas station. Then they went home and everybody went to sleep.
"Mommy! Are you ready to go to the beach?" asked Wiggle’s little brother Squiggles. "Shhhh! Don't be too loud, you might wake up Giggles!" said Wiggles. Giggles was their baby sister and she had to take a nap. Mommy had heard Wiggles quiet down Squiggles and she said, "Wiggles, that's okay. She is ready to go anyway." "Okay, Mommy" Wiggles said running up the steep stairs to the second floor. "Mommy, can I hold Giggles?" asked Squiggles. He had followed right behind Wiggles up the steep stairs. "No, Honey. You can only hold her while you're sitting down at the beach," Mommy said nicely. "Come on, let's go get into the buggy. Mommy like to call the car a buggy. "I get the middle car seat, or buggy seat!" Wiggles said. Mommy grinned. Wiggles got in the middle seat and buckled his safety belt. "It's important to buckle your safety belt because if the buggy gets in an accident, then you get saved by the safety belt. That's what I learned in Preschool one day." "I've always buckled my safety belt and so has Daddy. I bet he wore his to work today," Mommy said buckling Squiggles and Giggles in their car seats. Mommy got in, buckled her safety belt and drove off. It wasn't a long ride, so they got there real soon. After Wiggles splashed and played in the water he saw a strange, unknown, purple and pink animal. Wiggles called Mommy. She wasn't busy because Giggles was giggling and Squiggles was building a sand castle, so she came. Mommy said, "Oh! That's an octopus." Wiggles said, "He frightened me, Mommy," "That's okay. He won't hurt you," Mommy said, "He's harmless." "I'll name him Jiggles because he jiggles around a lot." Mommy told Wiggles more about Jiggles. He wasn't so strange after all. Every time Wiggles, Squiggles, Giggles, and Mommy went to the beach, they saw Jiggles. They loved Jiggles, and Jiggles loved them.
Every day Wiggles would go to school. There he would learn to be a good worm. Good worms have to recycle and care about the earth. Good people do, too. One day, when Wiggles went to school, he heard from Mrs. Worm that the Head Worm of the garden patch was coming to talk to them about becoming food worms. Wiggles was nervous. What if the Head Worm didn't like him? What if the Head Worm was mean?
When he left the school, all of the worms were sad. In that day, they had learned more about the earth than had learned in their lives. They had learned how to cut down on garbage. They had learned about how Earth, our home planet, was full of pollution. They learned that they could make a difference. One of the worms in Wiggle's class decided to work at the recycle center when he got older. Another decided to never pollute again. Wiggles decided that when he grew up, he would travel around the garden patch, telling other worms how important it is to save the planet.
One day when Wiggles woke up, he told his mother he didn't feel well. His mother said, "We'll take you to Dr. Slurmo's office so he can see if you have a fever or worse."
They went to Dr. Slurmo's office, in Slimeville, and waited until the doctor could see them. After about an hour, the doctor came out and said, "You're next, Wiggles." As Wiggles entered the room, the doctor said, "What hurts?" Wiggles said, "My throat feels sore and my head hurts. I don't think I can go to school today." The doctor took Wiggle's temperature and found that it was not high at all. In fact, Wiggles had no signs of being sick! He asked Wiggle's mother to come outside to the other office so he could speak to her. When they got outside, he asked her if Wiggles had a test today for which he didn't study. "Of course," his mother said. "Wiggles has a math test today." "Do you think that's why he's pretending to be sick?" asked the doctor. The doctor went back into the room and told Wiggles that if he was so sick that he couldn't go to school, then would have to stay in bed for a whole week and not play "Wormtendo" or worm ball with his friends. He would also have to eat brussel sprouts and beans for his headache. Wiggles didn't like that idea at all. He told the doctor that he was feeling much better and could go to school after all. He went into math and, to his surprise, his teacher was absent! The test wasn't going to be that day after all! Instead of studying that night, he played "Wormtendo." In the morning, Wiggles told his mother he was sick again. "Oh, no you don't!" she said. "I know what you're up to this time, Wiggles. Even though you're a worm, you're not wiggling out of this one!"
Wiggles the Fairy Tale Worm is a wimpy worm that lives by a castle. He is so wimpy that a small bird picked him up with his beak. The pretty princess that lives in the castle saw Wiggles and threw him the rest of her apple. He ate it and became strong. Wiggles escaped from the bird's beak and was falling, but the princess held out her hand and caught him. She brought him into the castle. The princess loved Wiggles. She thought he was cute and funny. She decided to keep him as her pet. She fed him her left over fruits and vegetables since he liked them and they made him strong. The princess read him stories and let him sleep and play in her doll house. One day the maid was cleaning the princess's room. She was dusting the doll house when she saw the worm and screamed. She started to hit Wiggles with her mop. Wiggles was always prepared and took out the apple core he was saving. He took a bite out of it. He took the mop from the maid and scared her away. When the princess came in she found Wiggles badly hurt. She picked him up and put him in the little bed. She dressed up like a nurse and cleaned him. She cheered him up by telling him jokes. When Wiggles was feeling better, the princess took him outside by the garden. Today the princess was going to plant some seeds. After that she started to cut off the bottom of a trash can. She placed it over a pile of soil. To Wiggles surprise she put in scraps of food and mixed it with the soil. The princess told Wiggles that he would east the scraps of food. He didn't mind he always ate scraps anyway. She said it would feed him and make less waste. She placed Wiggles in. He started eating and eating. Everyday Wiggles looked forward to coming to the trash can filled with scraps of food. After awhile he grew and became stronger. This made the princess proud of Wiggles to be helping the environment.
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