The process of educating children is often related to that of gardening, whereby teachers are the gardeners and “plant the seeds and nourish the soil to encourage the growth of their little seedlings”. This metaphor took on a literal meaning when Year 1 students and teachers from YCIS Shanghai Regency Park Campus recently visited a local vegetable farm.

This year, the Year 1 students have been learning about how plants grow, and how important plants are to people. “The vegetable farm was an ideal location to show how farmers tend the plants and prepare them to be sold for people to eat, which helped connect the unit learning for students,” said Ms Jennifer Cairns, a Year 1 Team Leader and Teacher. The students were excited about the opportunity to pull different vegetables from the ground, including carrots, garlic, and Chinese cabbage, and to pick cherry tomatoes from the vine. Then, each student was able to share the learning experience – and the fresh food – with their family, by taking all the vegetables they had picked home.

YCIS Shanghai’s teaching staff is deeply committed to enriching their students’ learning and development by “tending the garden of new learners”, through engaging, hands-on activities and field trips that connect to classroom learning. The opportunity to experience hands-on gardening with class visits to a farm is one example of the creative ways YCIS teachers demonstrate this metaphor throughout the entire school year as they help their students grow and develop.