Fruit and Veg Day for Farmers

On Thursday 13th SEPTEMBER our school hosted a Fruit and Veg day for farmers.


Our goal was to raise money for drought relief as well as promoting the horticulture industry.


Children came to school dressed as farmers and donated a gold coin as well as non perishables for food drop for farmers.


We also had a whole school crunch and sip where we came together and enjoyed fruit cups filled with mixed apples, manadarins, bananas and watermelon. All the fruit was donated by the Wollongong Woolworths store. Teachers dressed up for the occaision in fruit and vegetable costumes from The Illawarra / Shoalhaven area health.

For lunch we had a meal deal on offer where the children could purchase corn on the cob or a potato with  sour cream and cheese.

During the middle session we worked with our buddy classes doing  activities about farming and Horticulture. The children had lots of fun planting sunflowers, painting bees on rocks, playing games about fruit and vegetables, making fruit characters, fruit and veg rainbow.

         What a great day was had by everyone and we also raised over $500 for drought relief.
                                                        Well Done Gwynneville!!

Our School

Gwynneville Public School

Our School Motto is a "Caring School".


Our school is Multicultural with children from over 35 different cultures.


We are nestled between the mountains and the sea and have lovely tree lined grounds and large playing areas.


Our buildings  are old but we are in the process of rebuilding a brand new 21st century school.


We have about 240 students and participate in a wide range of extracurricular activities.










Our Team
                               

 

This year our Archibull Team is 6 Purple. There are 24 students in the class who will all be working on our Archie.
We have discussed all of our strengths and what we would like to do to as a part of the journey.


The roles included artists, technology, animators, reasearchers, singers, actors and reporters.
For us to be able to do the best job possible it would require all of us working together as a team to complete all components of our journey.
                                       

Careers in agriculture

Careers in Agriculture

Being a farmer isn't the only job that you can do in Agriculture. There are options available to both males and females. Today the options in the Agriculture Industry are numerous. Below is a short list of some of the jobs you can do.

Agronomist                                  

Banker                                            

Biologist                                        

Biochemist                                    

Bug Checker                                 

Crop Consultant

Classer
Developer Designer
Driver
Diesel Mechanic
Economist
Farmer
Farmhand                                                                                     (Biochemist)                                                                 

Financial Planner                                                           

Grower Services

Gin Manger
Hydrologist
HR Consultant
Job Coach
Journalist
Knitter
Lobbyist
Land Valuer
Logistics
Merchant
MYBMP Auditor                                                    
Natural Resource Manager
OHS Adviser
Plant Breeder
Picking  Contractor                                                                           (Plant Breeder)
Researchers
Soil Scientist
Sales Rep
Tractor Driver
University lecturer                                                    

Water Quality Tester

WHS Yarn Buyer                                                       

Regional Manager

Unit Manager 

Zoning Specialist

Insurance Advisor Trainer

Job Coach

Yield Advisor

Yard Supervisor

Can you see something that you might be interested in pursuing as a career?                                                                                               (Agronomist)

Farm Technologies

 Why is Agriculture important?

Agriculture in Australia provides employment opportunities for rural people on a large scale. It is an important source of livlihood for many of our regional communities.

The Importance of Technology in Agriculture

Over the past seven decades the Australian Agriculture has made massive leaps in Technological development and innovation. From the invention of the first plough and hoes farmers and growers have been using science, engineering and technology to impove crop production.

Rapid technological advancements are radically reshaping agriculture within Australia, from automated robots able to weed vegetable crops to computer operated gates, virtual fencing and the use of drones. Todays farmers are continually trying to find ways to make farming production more efficient.

Agricultural Technology

Agtech is changing the face of farming in Australia.

What is AgTech?

AgTech is any technology used to enhance Australia's Agriculture.

The benefits of Agtech  include

• increase yield production and eliminate pests and weeds

• new International export markets
• increased revenue
• Sustainable use of resources
• new job creations
• improved productivity
• heightened investment in Australian Agriculture

Some of the exciting ways that Farmers are using Agtech

Robots in Agriculture

Robots or drones are used in  agriculture . The ways in which robots or drones are used include

• weed control
• cloud seeding
• planting seeds
• harvesting
• environmental monitorin
• soil analysis

Drones

• increase crop production
• monitor crop growth
• through the use of advanced sensors and digital imaging, farmers are able to use these drones to helpthem gather a richer picture of their fields 

Agbots / Agribots

• 
  
  Agbots are an autonomous robot used in farming to help improve their efficiency and reduce the reliance on manual labour

Autonomous Tractor

• Driveless tractors that deliver a high tractive effort at slow speed for the purpose of tillage and other agricultural tasks.It is considered driverless because it operates without the presence of a human inside the tractor itself.

• Accounting softare tailored for the Agriculture Industry
• Soil and Air sensors to monitor the conditions
• Robots who can perform tasks such as weeding and fertilizing atomatically
• smart devices are smaller, faster and cheaper meeting productivity and sustainability challenges
• Internet
• Automation of equipment

Farmers need to embrace Innovation, Change and Technology and meet the demand for more

sustainable agriculture production to feed the ever growing plopulation.

Robotics in farming from TracyDevlin2

Making Bees

As a part of our Archibull project we learn't about bees. We made some of our own that we will use  on our  completed Archie.


                                                          Making our Clay Bees
                                      

                                                                       

To make our bees we need to use clay. The following steps helped us in making our bees

1. The abdomen we rolled a small piece of clay into a ball,we then squeezed one end  to make it pointy

2.The Thorax - we rolled the clay into a ball

3.The Head - first we rolled the clay into a ball and then shaped it into a triangular prism

4.The eyes -  we made two small oval shapes
5. We wet our clay and cros hatched it to join the abdomen, the head and the thorax together
6. We then need to insert a piece of wire through the body to hold it all together
7.The wings - Using the wire we needed to make some wire loops, two small wings and 2 large wings
8. The Legs - 4 small pieces for the legs
9. Long Legs -
10. Antenna - wire for two antenna
11. Once finished need to let them set and then they are ready for painting.

Making bees from TracyDevlin2

Learning Activities

During our Archibull journey we were able to do some many activities related to our topic of Horticulture. The following powerpoint shows a selection of them.

Learning experiences throughout the archibull from TracyDevlin2

Crunch and Sip

Crunch 'n' Sip©

Crunch 'n' Sip is an organised time throughout the school day where kids stop what they are doing in class  to have a piece of fruit.

One of the reasons that the Crunch 'n' Sip program was introduced to school aged children was  to try and stop the growing effects of obesity in young children.

Gwynneville Public School  started this program about 7 years  couple of years ago and we have noticed significant changes in the children's healthy eating habits.

When the school canteen was taken over privately   they got on board with the Crunch and Sip Program and  now provide  fruit cups for crunch 'n' sip. These have been a great succes and our fuit ordes continue to increase.

Experts say that kids should have three serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables a day. For parents this can be  a struggle and this is  why,The Sydney Markets have brought in  a new fresh food program called "fresh food for kids". This program has promoted the canteen with almost double the amount of fruit they sell each day. From selling one tray -  two trays, the best part about this is that they are in Bio Cup. Bio Cups are carboneutural and biodegradable. This means they can be reused and they break down easily too. By using this method, we are reducing the amount of waste going into landfill dumps.

WE asked the canteen Managers the following Questions

How much fruit do you think you would sell in a day?

- One - two trays of fruit cups and the minimum of apples we would sell in a week would be 12kg.

What is the difference between selling healthy fruit and unhealthy food?

- More people are buying the fruit rather than ice-blocks and cookies.

Do you prepare more fruit than unhealthy food or vice versa?

- Forty serves of fruit and two trays of fruit a day, so more fruit than unhealthy food.

Who is your  fruit and vegetable supplier?

- Leisure Coast Fruit and Deli. Every week they deliver our school's fruit and goods.

At our school the fresh food kids promotion has been a huge success, and the canteen managers are now thinking of running their own program, to encourage kids to continue to eat fruit and veggies and to try something new.With the Sydney Markets' help, their profits went rocketing up.

At Gwynneville Public School we are well on the way to promting healthy eating and reducing the obesity problem in young children.