Pre-K 2 Harvests Learning, Empathy, and Purpose Through Fresh Vegetable Sale
On Wednesday, January 21, 2026, our Pre-K 2 students took an exciting and meaningful step in an ongoing learning journey by hosting a soft opening of their fresh vegetable sale—an event rooted in curiosity, real-world learning, and compassion. This sale marks one milestone in a longer-term project centered on vegetables, growth, and community connection, with all proceeds going to support a local orphanage.
Just beyond the Pre-K 2 classrooms—on the garden beds facing the road—students have been carefully tending to their vegetable garden. What began as imaginative play has grown into a rich, hands-on project that blends inquiry-based learning, early science, math, social development, and service learning in age-appropriate and deeply engaging ways.
From Roleplay to Real Life: “The Life of a Vegetable”
The project began organically when students showed a strong interest in building and role-playing a vegetable shop in their classroom. Teachers documented students’ ideas and conversations, using them as a springboard for deeper exploration. From there, the children began experimenting with vegetables—touching, cutting, observing, and asking questions—before planting and nurturing their own crops in the Pre-K community garden.
To extend this learning beyond campus, Pre-K 2 students and their families visited a local market, observing how vegetables are bought and sold in real-world settings. Students watched vendors and customers interact, saw how money and digital payments are exchanged, and helped select vegetables to bring back for further study. These experiences helped bridge classroom play with authentic, lived experiences.
Science, Senses, and Discovery
Back in the classroom, the investigation deepened. Students explored vegetables using digital microscopes, examining seeds, textures, and internal structures. They engaged in sensory and culinary exploration—cutting, crushing, blending, and tasting vegetables using tools such as hand grinders, mortars and pestles, and child-safe knives.
In one extension of the project, students became young scientists by exploring the relationship between plants and water. Using colored water, they tested whether vegetables would change color when soaked, making predictions and observing results. Through this process, they discovered that porous materials absorbed color more easily, while the skins of some vegetables acted as protective barriers—an early introduction to scientific thinking, experimentation, and pattern recognition.
Learning Through Service: The Vegetable Sale
The vegetable sale brings together all strands of the project—entrepreneurship, math, collaboration, and empathy. During the January 21 soft opening, members of the Pre-K team and the school’s admin team were invited to participate, giving students a chance to rehearse their roles ahead of a larger community sale.
Students confidently took on responsibilities: some harvested and bagged vegetables, others prepared produce for sale, and several managed money and donations. A donation box was set up, with all proceeds dedicated to a local orphanage.
Reflecting on the experience, Ms. Darika Jagota, Pre-K 2 teacher and Head of Department for Early Childhood, shared:
“What started as simple roleplay has become a truly meaningful learning journey. The children are not only developing real-life math and social skills, but they’re also beginning to understand where food comes from and why giving back to the community matters. Seeing them take pride in their work and understand that their efforts can help others has been incredibly rewarding.”
From Seeds to Harvest: Completing the Learning Cycle
As the project continued, students began exploring the life cycle of plants in even greater depth. They experimented with growing seeds in different conditions—comparing growth in cotton versus soil—and closely observed how roots develop beneath the surface. These hands-on investigations encouraged careful observation, prediction, and discussion, helping students understand that plants grow and change in different ways depending on their environment.
One of the most exciting milestones came with the first full harvest. With great pride, students picked the vegetables they had grown and used them to prepare a simple stir-fry together. This moment brought the entire project full circle—from planting seeds to harvesting and sharing food. It also encouraged children to try new vegetables, many of them eager to taste something they had nurtured from a tiny seed into a finished dish.
The experience gave students a strong sense of accomplishment and ownership, reinforcing the idea that learning is not just something that happens in the classroom, but something they actively create.
A Growing Project, A Growing Impact
This soft opening is just the beginning. As more vegetables are harvested from the Pre-K 2 garden, additional sales will be held for the wider RIS community. Each step of the process continues to be shaped by student curiosity and guided by thoughtful teaching that connects learning to real life.
For families exploring our Pre-K 2 program, this project offers a window into how young learners at RIS are encouraged to ask questions, explore the world around them, and develop empathy alongside academic foundations. For our current parents and community members, it is a reminder that even our youngest students are capable of meaningful impact—one vegetable at a time.
We look forward to sharing more as this harvest season continues.
