The soil has been turned, weeds pulled, and seeds have been sowed…let the growing begin! The Kinder Garden is the place on campus where science, life skills, art, collaboration, and hands-on learning come alive!
The preschool through fifth grade Environmental Field Studies courses are designed to actively engage students in the concepts of ecology, sustainability, organic gardening, and Earth Systems Science. The Field Studies curriculum dove-tails with each grade level’s curriculum, providing a place for hands-on, project-based learning to flourish. Each grade level keeps a Field Journal to record weather events, chart plant growth and write descriptive essays about the natural world. Many of the grades get to experience a seed-to-table approach to organic gardening techniques, literally eating the fruits (or veggies) of their labor.
Program Highlights
- PS-PK: learn the basics of plants and seeds as well as experiment with the elements of dirt, water, and seasonings to create their own “garden goulash”. Just before the end of their pre-k year they get to plant pumpkin and gourd seeds in the garden.
- Kindergarten: when the pre-kindergarteners return to school as kindergarteners, they see how those seeds have turned into colorful pumpkins and gourds which have taken over the garden all summer! Throughout the year the kinder-garteners grow their own vegetable gardens and harvest their own crops, eating and planting throughout the year.
- First Grade builds on their knowledge of seed planting, maintaining their crops, and harvesting while exploring the world of flowers and herbs with which they make wonderful teas and provide many of the herbs for our seed-to-table recipes.
- Second Grade, our Compost Kings, learn how their lunch-time leftovers can create rich organic soil for our gardens. They also learn about the systems of the Earth and how those systems are used at the local community level to provide energy, water, and food.
- Third Grade puts their study of Orange County into action by planting and maintaining Native Plants from the Southern California Region. As they learn botany and design principles they become our resident Native Landscape Architects here on campus.
- Fourth Grade becomes a tribe of Tongva Indians, the original inhabitants of this region. They are forced from the land by the US government and must make a sustainable home of their own on new land, moving away from the hunter-gatherer lifestyle to the “mission-type” living of agriculture.
- Fifth Grade takes their socially responsible duties seriously by recycling all of the paper used on the Pegasus campus throughout the year. This is a huge responsibility and important job on the Pegasus Campus. As well as their recycling duties, additional lessons are infused into the curriculum to develop a sense of what the world needs to be globally sustainable.
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