Growing More Than Plants

How All Saints' Students Learn Through Garden and Orchard Spaces

One of the best parts of the Shaver Learning Commons is the addition of an orchard area and garden beds where students get their hands dirty learning about life cycles, sustainability, and even global cultures. 

These spaces give students hands-on experiences with the planting, growing, and harvesting process—building connections to the natural environment while understanding the importance of "using the earth's resources rightly," which we pray for every week at chapel. Curricula like this have been shown to increase an individual's concern for the environment, carrying into adulthood. 

Learning Across Grade Levels

In science classes, the garden beds support year-round learning objectives around life cycles, plant kingdoms, and plant anatomy through dissection activities. For example, fourth-grade students will soon plant petunias with Mrs. Pelenytschka to study plant parts later in the year.

During parent-teacher conferences in September, Mrs. Pelenytschka received enthusiastic help from several students to prepare the beds for fall planting. To everyone’s delight, a hearty lavender plant and a sprouting basil plant survived the summer months—a wonderful teaching moment about the sustainability of life in various conditions.

From Garden Bed to Global Table

All second-grade students participate in the Blue Watermelon Project, a year-long gardening and cooking program. Through their Chef in the Garden program, local chefs design recipes inspired by ingredients grown in our school gardens, with culinary and garden activities reinforcing classroom curriculum. 

Mrs. Rachel Taylor, Second Grade Faculty Member, shares the impact:

The Blue Watermelon Project has helped us plan our growing garden by identifying which plants thrive best during different seasons. Through this process, we’ve gained hands-on experience with planting, nurturing, and harvesting crops while observing how climate and soil conditions affect growth. Watching our plants progress from seeds to full-grown vegetables teaches us valuable life lessons of patience, responsibility, and the satisfaction of seeing the rewards of our hard work.

We’ve also developed practical food preparation skills and explored creative ways to use fresh garden ingredients in healthy meals. This has broadened our understanding of nutrition and encouraged us to make healthier food choices. 

Our cooking sessions have taken us on a global journey—expanding our knowledge of diverse cultures and traditions. By preparing and tasting dishes, from Jamaican Sorrel Hibiscus tea to Chinese stir fry, Thai noodle dishes, and Mexican lentil tostadas, we’ve learned how food connects people across the world and reflects cultural identity, history, and geography.

Our students are building life skills in the kitchen while developing independence in caring for plants and understanding their needs. Through hands-on learning, they are discovering the joy of cooking and realizing that vegetables can be delicious when prepared well. Students also enjoy learning about where their food comes from and how it is grown, helping them form meaningful connections between what they eat and the environment around them.

From Flowers to Fruit

In pre-kindergarten, students explore the life cycle of lemons in hands-on ways. Last year, children watched orchard flowers bud and grow into fruit, then picked, cut, and squeezed lemons to freeze the juice for their spring lemonade stand. They were also able to taste the fresh fruit from the tree!

These garden and orchard spaces are becoming vibrant outdoor classrooms where students across all grade levels build skills, curiosity, and appreciation for the natural world.