Term 2 staffroom noticeboard to inspire our creative Timboon P12 teachers.
​"So this is a quick trip to update you on what we have recently covered under the TAP banner...A.K.A What can TAP help you teach in 2019!"

Look what we just received in the mail! Little Brick Pastoral - the Lego Farmer -  have created the 2019 Careers in Agriculture Calendar that showcases unique photos of Lego people as they work in diverse fields around Australian agricultural industries. These photos depict daily happenings on farms and industry and are designed to create conversations about farming in Australia. Creator, Aimee Snowden, was our guest at TAP's On! in 2018 and it was great to be able to show her how resources, such as this, can be used in the TAP curriculum, thanks Aimee! 

​Another way of showcasing their learning about Healthy Bones, Healthy Body, and the importance of good nutrition is evidenced by the healthy advertisement posters that the Year 3/4 students have designed. The advertisements feature messages about eating fruit and vegies, you are what you eat, balanced meals, beat the sweets and eating a variety of food. The classroom displays also feature smiling skeletons with strong healthy bones, what a great unit of work. 

​Today was the Year 8 students’ turn to view the world of Geologists and they welcomed Aleks Vujovic, Sean Howman and Emma Vagg, from the Geological Society of Victoria to Timboon P-12 School. Our guests described the spread of geological areas and minerals associated with them around Victoria, the different ways geological data was collected and the various maps that came from the data. With 3D glasses on students went ‘underground’ in the Otway Basin to see; the rock types and formations beneath their feet, the fault lines around our area and how the gas fields off shore are formed. Students learnt about the variety of careers that studying geology can lead to and were inspired by the variety of locations around the world where geologists play an instrumental role in science, the environment and business. We are very fortunate to have such engaging researchers and geologists demonstrating their area of expertise as part of the TAP and explaining the origins of the productive soils in our region, thanks Aleks, Sean and Emma. 

​​To consolidate their learning about nutrition and to help understand how complex, yet simple it is to cook a healthy meal, our Year 3/4 students watched the movie “Ratatouille” to learn about Remy’s path to become a great chef. After the movie, our Year 3/4 chefs planned, prepared, cut and cooked their own way into a scrumptious meal. Yum!

The year 7/8 ‘Purple Power’ Commerce elective students have made soaps to include their range of TAP lavender products. Students used a melt and pour base and added pure essential oil from our Riverina Alan lavender plants. Whilst the melting and pouring into the soap moulds was relatively straight forward, it was quite tricky getting the soaps out of the moulds. Once the soaps have been shaped and packed they fragrant soaps will join our range of TAP Lavender products available from the Timboon Berry Farm and Peterborough Antiques. 

​Inspired by a supermarket magazine, our Year 3/4 students produced some smiley faces as nutritional snacks. As well as having fun learning about nutrition, our students had to follow a procedure as they produced Super smiley faces, Cheeky monkey faces, Curly top funny faces or Sweet l’il owl faces - almost guaranteed to put a smile on anyone’s dial. 

Geologists, Roy Blake, Aleks Vujovic and Emma Vagg, from the Geological Society of Victoria introduced the Year 5/6 students to the Term 2 Natural Disasters unit with their “Old Dinosaurs, New Volcanoes” presentation. Students learnt about different types of volcanoes and their footprint in the Southwest such as Mt Leura, Tower Hill, the Stoney Rises and the rich, productive soil types in this region. Roy described how dinosaurs were originally perceived as large, elephant type animals but recent finds by geologists and paleontologists have proven that dinosaurs may have been quite nimble and possibly covered by feathers. Aleks showcased their 3D model “Understanding Victoria’s Geology from the Ground Down” which demonstrated the way geologists are building a profile to better understand the rock layers and structures below the surface. We were amazed to learn that there are dinosaur remains two km below Timboon! Our guests then outlined the various paths that someone can pursue as a geologist which definitely opened student’s eyes to the variety of career paths available. Rock on!

​After learning about the nutritional value and tastes of dairy products with Heidi Van Es as part of their Healthy Bones, Healthy Body science unit, our Year 3/4 students were challenged to create a ‘cool calcium product’. Students had to create a calcium rich product and design a 3D container or packaging format to best display their creation. Design briefs had to demonstrate plans for the front, side, back and top views of their product and our designers built 3D models of their containers using a net. This exercise linked Maths, Science, English and Design as students needed to work out the information required on a product nutritional panel, indicate serving size and reinforced the nutritional value of food. Great work Year 3/4.

Today our Year 7/8 CCC class were able to see agricultural technology in action when visiting the Whitehead and Powell farms. Renee and Mat Whitehead showed students one of their calf sheds which was a great example of the best way to house calves as outlined by Veterinarian Zoe Vogels - clean bedding, good airflow but not drafty, clean, individual feeders, and uncrowded pens with healthy looking calves. In a herringbone dairy that was converted into a calf shed, students were able to observe the automated calf feeders which were a huge labor saving device but stressed that calves still needed to be checked several times during the day. Renee showed students the feeding system which recorded the litres the calves were fed and which calves may not have received their daily ration of fortified milk. James Maxwell showcased the technology at the Powell farm that included the first rotary dairy in the district that was built 42 years ago and was still a very efficient way to milk cows. He outlined the way the Jantec computer system recorded the events associated with the cows and worked with the Cow Manager to alert staff to whether a cow was on heat, sick, or lame based on movement or ruminations. James described the way tasks were allocated to staff with a job sharing app which meant that tasks could be completed efficiently and staff could communicate with one another on the farm. It was a good opportunity to see technology such as this in real world applications, thanks Renee, Mat and James.