NEWPORT COAST — The weather was perfect and the sun was shining — an ideal day to spend in the garden.
Sage Hill School senior Spenser Apramian stood over a raised planter showing a third-grade student how to use a small stick to plant seeds.
"In each you're going to put a little seed with some water," the 18-year-old said, "and eventually they're going to grow."
About 200 third-graders from Costa Mesa's Killybrooke Elementary School, the Edward B. Cole Sr. Academy and El Sol Science and Arts Academy, both in Santa Ana, took a field trip to the private Newport Coast high school for a lesson at the school's new organic teaching garden.
The younger students rotated around the still-growing garden, learning about plant adaptation and soil composition, and getting their hands dirty planting vegetables, herbs and flowers with freshmen and juniors.