Kindergartners at Shawsville Elementary School are studying herbs and how they were used by people throughout history. They planted herb seeds (sage, mint, and thyme) to grow plants that will be used at their "Plant Store." These plants will be sold at the store to help the students learn about the value of money and the process of money exchange.

The fourth grate at Shawsville Elementary School planted colonial living areas to coincide with their study of Virginia history. The students constructed buildings out of milk cartons to represent Native American longhouses, the log cabins of the settlers, and the upscale houses found in the city of Williamsburg. The students used these buildings to construct individual villages. Then they "planted" the village with trees (beans), shrubs (peas), flowers (marigolds), crops (corn), and groundcover (grass). The result was a living landscape!

Other growing projects at Shawsville Elementary School are:

The fourth and third grade students dissected flowers to learn about the structure of flowers, seed production, and pollination.

The third and second grade students constructed verni-culture bins (that means that they made homes in which they raised earthworms). They learned about decomposition and the life cycle of an earthworm.

The kindergartners and the second grade students planted flowers and herbs to be used as Mother's Day gifts.