Inspiring Life-long Learning for Over 25 Years
The Garden as Classroom: From Kindergarten Soup to Middle School Culinary Arts, learning in the garden changes as children grow.
This week, children in Sunflower Garden were preparing the soil for fall crops when they uncovered a “treasure chest” of potatoes planted earlier in the season. They dug them out one by one, washed their harvest, and will soon use the potatoes in their Kindergarten Soup!
For young children, an experience like this holds a surprising amount of learning: careful physical work, cooperation, patience, the wonder of discovery, and a firsthand understanding of how food travels from the soil to the table—and, soon, into their own bellies.
As students progress through the school, these experiences take on greater complexity. This week, our Middle School students visited the same garden to gather fresh ingredients for their Culinary Arts class. Their work brought together what they know about growing food with planning, measurement, collaboration, and cooking.
The skills deepen and the responsibilities grow, but the connection remains. From Kindergarten Soup to Culinary Arts, students are not simply learning about the world around them. They are learning to observe it closely, care for it responsibly, and turn what it offers into something that nourishes both themselves and their community.
