Principia School’s innovative approach to education expands beyond the classroom and into... the chicken coop? Believe it or not, it does! And with Principia’s robust outdoor program, Lower School students can often be found outside in the garden, the woods, or even in the chicken coop, harvesting vegetables, planting seeds, and making an impact. 

It begins early on, with students—as young as kindergarten—getting their hands dirty and diving into everything the campus has to offer during the first week of school. From gardens to beehives and chicken coops, students are getting a firsthand look at the natural world and their place within it. “Connection to nature and to place are foundational principles of sustainability,” says Garden Education Coordinator, Hope Gribble. “It’s important to develop a relationship with something in order to take care of it.”  

Already this school year, students have harvested vegetables and herbs from their class gardens to make food with their classmates. Zucchini bread, “plant part” veggie tacos, salsa, and even carrot cakes are on the menu—and students are involved in every step of the process, from harvesting and cleaning the vegetables to prepping and making the food. But lessons in nature aren’t limited to the garden bed (or the kitchen), and there’s still a lot to learn this year. 

Fourth graders look forward to studying soil samples and composting, and will eventually compost scraps from their lunches as part of the “Soil Squad”. Fifth-grade students who have signed up to be “Chicken Keepers” are tasked with collecting eggs and filling water and feed bowls for the Lower School’s feathery friends. Whatever eggs are not used in classroom cooking demonstrations are taken home by the fifth-grade students. And second graders continue to track the migration of monarch butterflies, submitting their data to Monarch Watch, a global community effort dedicated to the conservation of monarch butterflies.  

“Everything is so interconnected,” says Gribble. “Having our students engage with nature helps reinforce that one action makes an impact. Whether they’re donating garden produce to Loaves and Fishes—a local emergency services provider—or helping the monarch butterfly conservation effort, they’re learning that they can take positive action and create positive ripples.”