On Friday, May 24th the 3rd graders at Oak Hill Elementary participated in an assembly “How To Eat Fried Worms” . After reading Thomas Rockwell’s book “How To Eat Fried Worms” the Oak Hill Elementary 3rd graders in Miss Nicki Sesney’s 3rd grade Language Arts class decided to give Principal, Deneen Houghton and their Physical Education teacher, Chris Collins a challenge to eat fried worms! It all began when the students wrote persuasive letters to the staff asking them to eat a real fried worm. Principal Deneen Houghton said in her response letter that she first thought the letters must be an “April Fool’s Day” joke, however they were dated March 22. In the letters students wrote persuasive arguments. Student Lucas Marks said they would complete a research project on earthworms. Student Zach Tettemer said he would bring a sweet treat every week after she ate them. He also said he would bring her a drink to wash down the taste, Diet Pepsi, her favorite. Principal Houghton wrote back “If I agree to eat the worm, I will want the whole class to work really hard and give 100% on all their assignments for the rest of the year. Just like you commented in your letters that if I agree, I can’t back out, the same rules apply to you. If I agree to eat the worm, you can’t back out on your end of the deal.” In the assembly students read from their persuasive letters and wrote research summaries on the author, Thomas Rockwell. The students also participated in chapter skits of the book. After the skits, it was time to eat the fried worms. Principal Deneen Houghton’s husband, Bill Houghton, served as the Chef. Houghton showed the kids the large squirmy Canadian crawler worms much to the children’s delight. He then dipped them in water and salt water, an egg batter mixture, panko crumbs and finally deep fried the worms until crisp. Principal Houghton, Coach Collins, 3rd grade teacher Sesney and five other teachers then chose their condiments, such as ketchup, cocktail sauce and whipped cream to accompany their worms. Sesney said “With a little cocktail sauce and a bit of lemon, the worms were not so bad! I would definitely do it again!” After the shrieks and laughter, many of the kids and parents decided to give them a try as well. For those students that were not brave enough or willing to eat a real fried worm, they received pudding cups with oreo crumbs and a gummy worm on top. Both Houghton and Sesney said their favorite quote of the day was from student Lucas Marks who said to the worm chef, Mr. Houghton “They were delicious! How did you cook them?” Sesney added “I am so proud of my students, as they successfully completed many activities during and after reading the book. It was so worth it!”
