Starting 17th July 2024

In Visual Art at St Angela of the Cross, the F-6 students eagerly waited to meet their Dairy Australia Picasso Cow, listening to how, with their help, she will find her permanent home in our school.  

Children from Foundation to Grade 2 were introduced to the American artist Grant Wood, whose work is known by two-dimensional forms, bold lines, and bright colors that reflect rural America. Students then created their own 2D version of the rolling hills and farms that they know from our local area and the icons and features that stand out most to them.

Students in Grades 3 to 6 were introduced to the Brazilian-born artist Romero Britto, known for his thousands of works, including public sculptures and murals worldwide. We drew inspiration from Britto because his art evokes joy with its simple styles and technique. His cubist style breaks shapes into fragments and reflects pop art, using bold colors and basic patterns to capture everyday life.

We compared these works with Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso and Australian artists, Anna Blatman, a modern impressionist, and Joan Blond, an abstract expressionist from Phillip Island. All of these artists emphasize color, bold lines, and a sense of playfulness.

Britto was our primary focus, not only because his work includes larger-than-life sculptures seen around the world, but also because his fragmented style allowed us to collaboratively piece together many of the children’s design entries. We look forward to sharing these with you.

Based on our prior and newly acquired knowledge of health, nutrition, and dairy farming, we engaged in class discussions to brainstorm what themes we would like to portray on our cow. Our aim was to create a design that would resonate with our Gippsland farming community and school community for years to come.

Some of the key ideas that were suggested included: our vegetable garden and playground, dairy products, a dairy farm, daisies, active, strong children, and a big smiley face to represent our local celebrity Holstein cow, Happy, who was born in Ripplebrook with smiley markings on him.

After gathering the children's submissions, we combined their ideas into a final design, incorporating the elements listed below:

In Term 3,  students at St. Angela of the Cross engaged with the  Vict Kids Eat Well Program, with our Health Promoters Beck and Lionel.  Provided through the  West Gippsland Health Care Group, the incursions focused on a range of topics about healthy eating and  targeted learning for students on making informed choices.

In Foundation Students students learnt about eating a Rainbow.  The concept involves students choosing  a variety of colourful fruits and vegetables, which can help ensure they get a broad range of nutrients and health benefits.

1. • Red: Foods like tomatoes and strawberries are rich in lycopene and antioxidants that support heart health.

   • Orange/Yellow: Carrots and oranges contain beta-carotene and vitamin C, which are good for vision and immune function.

   • Green: Spinach and broccoli are packed with vitamins K and C, folate, and iron, promoting bone health and reducing inflammation.

   • Blue/Purple: Blueberries and eggplants have anthocyanins and antioxidants that may help with memory and heart health.

   • White/Brown: Foods like garlic and mushrooms contain nutrients like potassium and immune-boosting compounds and drinks such as milk that contains calcium which is vital for healthy teeth and bones.

As a part of our physical education program children too part in a moving the body and being healthy, safe and active day.

Students were exposed to a series of lessons highlighting the importance of nutrition and identifying healthy food choices to support their growth and energy.

Visuals were used to explain the terms nutrition and why it's important, showing how food gives us energu and helps us grow strong.

A video (sourced from Dairy Australia) on how much dairy do kids need was viewed. This video covered the recommended amount children should consume every day as a part of a balance diet.

https://youtu.be/110ruRjJDJE

As a big group we engaged in the interactive healthy athlete game.

https://www.dairy.edu.au/resources/interactive-resource/athlete-interactive

Prior to students having the opportunity to paint Daisy, they were encouraged to create their own artworks on canvas, to get the feel of the design concept and to allow time to investigate and find a deeper appreciation for the dairy industry.

Students viewed many examples of Romero Britto's work and the work of other students their age focussing on the bright colours, patterns and shape in the works and the way they enhance the main subject.

They discovered that his work is known and loved all over the world. He combines elements of cubism, pop art and graffiti painting in his work. He uses vibrant colours and bold patterns as a visual expression of hope, dreams and joy.

With this in mind, children  sketched their design in greylead pencil and were challenged to fragment their work without compromising the main nutritional subject they are aiming to highlight. Using acrylic paint students were invited to select a bright colour pallete mixing their own desired colours as they went along. They spent a number of weeks building the layers before completing their finer detailed work in posca markers. 

It took students a few weeks to understand where their canvas work was heading, and to adjust to the medium but their intuition and persistance brought wonderful results and the confidence to transfer these skills when painting Daisy, our cow so successfully.

Extending from grades 3-4, grades 5-6 were given artistic freedom to create a canvas piece related to dairy farming, drawing inspiration from Romero Britto and previous lessons on Picasso. Students explored different aspects of farm life, including farm equipment, scenes, and animals and went with a subject meaningful to them. They were encouraged to infuse their artwork with energy by mixing and using vibrant colors, geometric shapes, and crisp lines to capture the lively essence of the pop art movement that Romero Britto is renowned for.

The junior students learned that our bones are like the strong frame of a house, they help us stand, move and protect organs like our heart and brain. 

When it comes to bone health, students learnt that there are 3 things to remember: 

1. Calcium

2. Weight Bearing Exercise

3. Vitamin D

They looked at how to keep their bones strong and healthy by eating dairy foods such as milk, cheese and yogurt because they give our bones calcium, which is the superhero to stay strong so we can run, jump and play. Otherwise our bones may become weak and break more easily. 

We talked about the tooth on our cow Daisy and how dairy also helps our teeth stay shiny and strong too! 

Children played the interactive skeleton game, and sung and danced to many healthy bone and food songs.

https://www.dairy.edu.au/resources/interactive-resource/build-a-skeleton-interactive-game

Together students in grades 3 to 6 have been gathering information in STEM on how farmers are adopting new sustainable practices in order to nurture the environment, look after the farm animals and surrounding wildlife.

Students began by completing a KWL chart to find out what they knew and what they wished to find out about sustainable practices in farming and followed up by viewing the following Dairy Australia video link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5qvZ2GqV0U

Children discovered that farmers are finding new ways to care for our natural resources by not overusing fresh water or depleting soil nutrients. Farmers are considering their local responsibility by looking after their workers and providing good quality produce and environments for their consumers.

Using Minecraft, children set their own discovery tasks and have created their own farms that adopt sustainable practices that they have been learning about, including the following ideas:

• Farmers are becoming more environmentally aware by finding efficient ways to care for the nutrients in their soil (e.g. grass crop rotation, testing the soil to ensure it requires watering, putting up wind blocks via planting the right trees etc.)

• Farmers are learning to better utilise their water supply on the farm by resuding their usage, recycling water (grey water from cows weeing) ect,

In performing arts the students used their new found knowledge to write a song about their Dairy Australia learning experience. 

The lyrics are as follows:

          There’s a field in a farm

And the farm’s full of cows

And the green grass grows all around all around

The green grass grows all around

And on that field

There is a shed

For milking cows

2 times a day

Oh the shed is in the field and the 

field is in the farm and the farm’s full of cows

And the green grass grows all around all around

The green grass grows all around

And in that shed

There is a tank

To store the milk

Nice and cold

Oh the tank is in the shed and the shed

 is in the field and the field in the farm

 and the farm is full of cows

And the green grass grows all around all around

And the green grass grows all around

And then that tank

Goes in a truck

To the milking plant

Where they make it right

Oh the milk is in the tank and  the tank is in the

shed and the shed is in the field and the field in the farm

and the farm is full of cows

And the green grass grows all around all around

And the green grass grows all around

And then the milk

Gets bottled up

And taken to

The shops to sell

Oh the shop sells the milk and the milk is in the tank

 and  the tank is in the shed and the shed is in the field 

and the field in the farm and the farm is full of cows

And the green grass grows all around all around

And the green grass grows all around

And then it’s made

Into yummy stuff

Like chocolate and ice-cream

Cheese is the best ( cheese!)

Oh the yummy dairy’s in the shop

and the shop sells the milk and the

milk is in the tank and  the tank is in the

shed and the shed is in the field and the field in the farm

and the farm is full of cows

And the green grass grows all around all around

And the green grass grows all around