Living and working in a world bookended by COVID restrictions has meant that all of us have had to adopt in this new environment. In the face of the restrictions imposed by COVID -19 local distiller, Josh Walker from Timboon Railway Shed Distilllery, explored opportunities to keep his business open, not lay off staff and help provide an essential tool for health workers and the local community to keep people safe. Josh instigated a unique collaboration with the Timboon Railway Shed Distillery, pharmaceutical company Sun Pharma and SouthWest Healthcare to shore up a local supply chain of hand sanitizer. As part of the TAP, Josh's entrepreneurism is explored by the Year 7/8 Purple Patch commerce students during their investigation of COVID -19 business opportunities. Students will also research other examples of businesses that have been able to pivot and reposition themselves during this pandemic to hopefully come out the other side in a similar position or slightly better. Josh and his team have been very appreciative of the great public reaction and community support of this venture. In today’s Funky Fabric's lesson in 'iso' the students were challenged to dye fabric with foods from their pantry or garden. Gabby’s examples included garments that were dyed with tumeric, red and brown onion skins, beetroot, silverbeet and spinach. Students leant that the fabric had to be prepared by washing it and then placing it in a fixative or mordant such as salt or vinegar to help the fabric take up the dye more easily. After covering their work area students were instructed to use non reactive pots to simmer the natural material in water until a nice dark colour was obtained. The plant material was then strained out and the liquid was returned to the pot with the fabric placed in the dye bath. This was brought to a slow boil then simmered for an hour stirring occasionally. After assessing the strength of the colour the excess water was rinsed out of the fabric. Who knew that red cabbage, red mulberries and purple grapes tinted things blue, that onion skins, gold lichen and carrots dyed things orange while berries, cherries, red and pink roses, avocado skins and seeds dyed fabric pink?! ANZAC Day is an important time for us to come together and to honor the contributions of our Aussie and New Zealand veterans and service members. Although things are a little different this year, and most of us will be in ‘iso’ we can still come together in spirit. Accordingly, as part of their Year 3/4 Science unit students are currently studying ‘Beneath our feet’ which investigates soils, rocks and landscapes and how they change over time. Through the TAP, Mark Cuthell (Port Campbell Visitor Information Centre), Jo Birley (Great Ocean Road Regional Tourism) and teacher, Julie Broomhall, have helped us prepare resources around the SBS documentary, “The Story of the Road”. This is a recount of the soldier reemployment program that saw returned servicemen working on the construction of the Great Ocean Road for 13 years following the end of World War One. The Great Ocean Road is the biggest War Memorial in existence and provided meaningful employment and repatriation for Diggers who returned back to our region. Students learnt about the ANZACS, the purpose of a war memorial, the challenges involved in building and upkeep of the Great Ocean Road and the various landforms or terrain that the road was constructed on in our region. The documentary, which screened on SBS on Friday 24th April from 4:00-4:30pm, will also be available on SBS on demand for several weeks after the broadcast screening. Now ANZAC Day wouldn’t be the same without a few ANZAC bikkies to enjoy so several classes have been sent home with the traditional recipe. In case you are looking for an ANZAC recipe check out the George the Farmer link for his version. https://www.georgethefarmer.com.au/blogs/news/rubys-easy-anzac-bikkies Lest we forget Being in ‘iso’ hasn’t stopped the Year 3/4 classes as they investigate their science unit “Beneath our feet” this term. During Webex sessions teachers have encouraged students to learn about soils, rocks and landscape and how it changes over time. Students had to find and annotate different samples of soils and rocks and let soil settle in a jar of water to see how the particles stabilized. Structural engineering and artistry was then involved as students crafted a mud picture and a rock cairn. What a wonderful topic to have investigated during these restrictive times! Just because our Year 7/8 Funky Fabrics Textile elective students are undertaking remote learning, doesn’t mean that they can’t create unique and creative examples of natural pattern, colour and design using plants and natural objects! Textiles teacher Gabby Theologous lead a Webex session where she challenged students to capture the pattern or design of plants on material or on pages of their visual diary. Students watched as Gabby demonstrated various techniques on a chopping board that was covered with a sheet of gladwrap, using individual flowers such as Geraniums or Monstera leaves with a piece of material or diary page with on top. The bundle was flattened with a rolling pin to get the plant flat and to record the plant impression. A hammer or mallet was then used to reveal the shape of the plant below using subtle ‘iso aggression’. Students will record in their visual diaries at least 4 experiments with samples of the plant before and after the printing process and the resulting printed design with the learning task describing the process, success of the printing and descriptions of the results. Check out the results! The reaction to our TAP “We’re Going On A Bear Hunt” bear has been incredible! What started out as an opportunity to make people smile in these times of social isolation due to the COVID – 19 restrictions has received an overwhelmingly positive response. The Timboon P-12 School Facebook post has reached over 32,900 people, been liked 155 times and shared over 52 times across multiple platforms including the ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt – Southbank & CBD Melbourne’, ‘Corangamite What’s On’, ‘#Show some Dairylove’, ‘Victorian Association of Agriculture & Horticulture Educators’ 'ABC Landline' 'George the Farmer' and the 'Warrnambool Southwest District Kindness Pandemic’ Facebook groups. A reporter from the Cobden Times asked to write a story which was featured on the front page and the story appeared in a Colac newspaper. The bear was also introduced on the Ambulance Victoria Operations site as it has officially been adopted by the Nullawarre CERT as it’s mascot. A beary surprising outcome! Taking a leaf out of the popular children's book, 'We're Going On A Bear Hunt', young and old people have been placing teddy bears in their windows in towns for other people to spot when they're out for a walk as exercise while practicing social distancing due to the COVID-19 restrictions. So, we thought, why not extend that to rural areas too. In the TAP (Timboon Agriculture Project) hay is usually used to feed calves, as part of a cow’s diet, as a frame for garden beds or part of a compost mix but this time Sophie and her sister Ruby helped build a ginormous bear to give people a smile as they drive past. This isn’t just a city / town expedition! #socialdistancing #jointhehunt |
Archives
March 2024
|