Living predominantly in a dairy area, after reading ‘George the Farmer Shears a Sheep’ some students from sheep farms took the opportunity to share wool and fleece fibres with the class so fellow classmates could broaden their knowledge and learn about sheep and shearing. Another activity to extend students’ understanding of the processes involved from raw product to manufactured goods, (Farm to Plate), involved inviting a local community member, Rocky Blair, into the classroom. Rocky brought in her spinning wheel, or ‘wool twirler’ as some students referred to it, and demonstrated how fleece fibres are spun into yarn. She spoke to the Year 3 class about her alpacas and the difference between sheep and alpaca fleeces with comparisons noted when samples were passed around for students to actually see, feel and smell for themselves. Through exposure to Simone Kain as an Australian author, students have begun a journey through real live situations, enriching their learning and opening their eyes to the many variations and types of farming.
After being introduced to Simone Kain, the co-author of ‘George the Farmer’, the Year 3 students have learnt about being an Australian author and they have been expanding their knowledge of agriculture, in particular the cropping and wool industries. Inspired by one of the books, ‘George the Farmer Plants a Wheat Crop’, several students decided that Mrs Moriarty and Mrs Hawkins needed introducing to John Deere and Fendt tractors and produced posters about farm machinery. Living predominantly in a dairy area, after reading ‘George the Farmer Shears a Sheep’ some students from sheep farms took the opportunity to share wool and fleece fibres with the class so fellow classmates could broaden their knowledge and learn about sheep and shearing. Another activity to extend students’ understanding of the processes involved from raw product to manufactured goods, (Farm to Plate), involved inviting a local community member, Rocky Blair, into the classroom. Rocky brought in her spinning wheel, or ‘wool twirler’ as some students referred to it, and demonstrated how fleece fibres are spun into yarn. She spoke to the Year 3 class about her alpacas and the difference between sheep and alpaca fleeces with comparisons noted when samples were passed around for students to actually see, feel and smell for themselves. Through exposure to Simone Kain as an Australian author, students have begun a journey through real live situations, enriching their learning and opening their eyes to the many variations and types of farming. Under the TAP banner, & as part of the Year 9/10 Commerce $20 Boss C45 elective, students visited Andy Martyn who owns Triple A Cycles. Andy outlined his career path which stemmed from his Year 10 work experience placement on small engines to work on Harley Davidsons and 4 wheel motorbikes. As well as describing the path to setting up his own business in Timboon, Andy advised students to offer to watch and help others engage in things they were interested in, to ask for advice and to work in a field that they loved.
The year 3 students were fortunate enough to host Simone Kain, the author of “George the Farmer”, during a skype session as part of their English classes on author’s intent and story-telling. Students had been encouraged to write a predictive piece about what “George the Farmer” could be about before they were introduced to the Landline story on George and his creators, Simone Kain and illustrator, Ben Hood. Further research was undertaken by the class as they studied how George was created to fill a gap in the childrens’ apps and books market about Australian farmers. After reading the books, ‘George the Farmer plants a wheat crop’ and ‘George the Farmer shears a sheep’, the students completed character profiles and developed other potential storylines about George and his family. Prior to the skype session students drafted questions to ask Simone about being an author, the creation of George, the authors or stories that inspired her, and asked for advice as potential authors or app designers of the future. George the Farmer even posted on Facebook about the skype session with his co-creator indicating that Simone really enjoyed the interaction with the Timboon P-12 Year 3 students. It’s not often that students in a rural school get advice from the creator of an itunes Number 1 selling app, thanks Simone and George! As part of their investigations into natural disasters, the Year 6 students viewed the “A day to remember…30 years on Ash Wednesday Bushfire Commeration” DVD produced by the Moyne Shire Youth Council who interviewed district people impacted by the Framlingham and Cudgee fires. Naringal CFA member, Kelvin Boyle, outlined his personal story in the events leading up to the fire, described the fire’s path towards Ecklin, Brucknell and Curdievale, the damage caused and the changes instigated after that very local natural disaster. Our Year 8 Science students participated in the Big Day Out celebration event in Hamilton with games and dairy quizzes as part of the Dairy Australia "Camembert in the Classroom" project. For the second year in a row, Timboon P-12 students successfully produced the best cheese as judged by Russell Smith, the Deputy Chief Judge of the Australian Grand Dairy Awards. The winning cheese, named "Dianne" was produced by Shannon Johns and Rose Deppeler. Part of the criteria was to produce an ad that promoted dairy and Jordan Footman and Zane Field received 2nd prize. We are very grateful for the community support of this activity to enrich it even further for our students, thanks Garth, David, Julian and Dianne. Congratulations Mrs Maxwell & Mr Mottram, cheese makers extraordinaire! Ridley Agriproducts is again sponsoring our TAP poultry program, so their local rep, Ben Boyd, came to school on Monday with the next supply of Layer Crumble and Golden Yolk grower food. Charlie from year six brought Liz, the chicken, while Molly and Luke brought Spirit and Midnight to show Ben, and be in the photos. Jack, Jack and Lewis brought the trays of wheat they grow and regrow to provide the chooks with green food. Zac thanked Ben, and Addie presented him with a certificate of appreciation from the school. We learnt from Ben that the grain isn’t grown in Terang but it is ‘milled’ there. Ridley have mills all over Australia so when their mill in South Australia was burnt down in bush fires in South Australia, other mills were able to take over the stock feed orders. We learnt from Ben that Ridley Agriproducts produce heaps more than poultry food. Did you know that they supply food for university laboratory rats, food for the giraffes at Werribee Zoo, food for the prawn industry to supply Asian markets, food for aquaculture and other pets as well as for cattle, sheep and pigs? Composed by Frances and Taj to present at the P-6 assembly The Year 4/5 SAKG students regularly record the growth of their kitchen garden crop and the garden on the ag precinct is progressing well. The dwarf broad beans, which were planted in late June, are flowering while the potato varieties- King Edward, Ruby Lou, Snow Gem, Russell Burbank, Dutch Cream and Desiree should prove an abundant harvest in 2017. Culinary delights prepared by Gabby and the SAKG students are still available weekly with the preordered canteen meals for teachers and students, don’t miss out! |
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February 2024
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