Future Growers Get Their Hands Dirty While Learning Math and Study Skills

Visitors to the Southern California Garden Show can enjoy strolling through the selection of miniature gardens created by schoolchildren from Orange County.

Designed and made by second- through sixth-graders, the small gardens exemplify this year’s theme, “Enchanted Gardens--a World of Legends, Myths & Fairytales.”

Students of sixth-grade teacher Penny Pfleiderer at St. Mary and All Angels School in Aliso Viejo have created gardens for the past four years.

“The miniature gardens are a really fun project that teach the students a great deal, including math, writing and study skills, and how to work as a team,” Pfleiderer said. “To create the gardens they had to do a scale drawing, and they were required to write an essay about the project.”

The project gives students an invaluable learning experience, agreed Michael Ann Powers, children’s garden project coordinator for the show, who said there are 1,500 children participating and more than 90 miniature gardens.

“The kids learn about the garden design process, which includes site planning, scale, research options and presentation,” she said.

Kids involved in the project consider the experience a valuable one.

“I liked how we worked together as a team and came up with a really cool and interesting project,” said Christi Rinehart, 11, whose team created the Three Little Pigs garden, complete with a brick house made of painted sugar cubes and a straw house of twigs.

“The project was fun and exciting, and I learned a lot,” agreed team member Kelly Norris, 12. “Although it was a little difficult to scale the project down, we did it by using math skills, and it was really interesting.”