Lesson 5 - Junior Landcare Grant and Cheese Chase2
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Junior Landcare Grant application and Cheese Chase2 Lesson
| Lesson number | Step by step instructions | Dropbox video link | Teacher resources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lesson 2a | #Junior Landcare Grant Application | 
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| Lesson 2b | #Tiny House Update | 
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| Lesson 2c | #Cheese Chase2 | 
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Scratch Cheese Chase classroom lesson video |
Junior Landcare Grant Application
- Every year a Junior Landcare Grant is offered to Primary Schools which is supported by Woolies [1].
- The grant was open from the 8 Feb 2023 and closed on Friday 17 March 2023.
- Mernda Park Primary School applied for a $1000 grant to plant native plants around the Eastern perimeter of the school. See map below.
- The distance was measured to be around 284m.
- See measurement details below.
Native plant selection
- Native plants can be planted as close as 1m apart.
- Native grasses can be planted much closer together. Between 6-8 plants within 1m2.
- Larger native bushes, shrubs and trees can be planted up to 3m apart.
- Native vegetation can be pruned later and sometimes it is better for wildlife if shrubs and trees overlap to create denser spaces.
- A quote was obtained from La Trobe Inigenous Nursery to supply plants to the school.
- The nursery can be contacted by phone (9479 1206) and orders can be placed by email ltwsretail@latrobe.edu.au
- The plants selected are very hardy and can cope with dry and boggy conditions.
- They will create habitat for small woodland birds such as finches, pardalotes, New Holland honey eaters and wrens.
- River bottlebrush (Callistemon sieberi) - Open shrub. Bird friendly. Can be pruned.
- Rock Correa (Correa glabra) - Shrub 1-2m high, 2-3m wide. Long flowering period. Tolerates pruning.
- Woolly Tea-tree (Leptospermum lanigerum) - 2-4m high, 1-3m wide. White flowers in spring and summer. Can be pruned. Bird friendly.
- Spiny-Headed Mat-Rush (Lomandra longifolia) - Large tussock. 1m tall, 1m wide. Butterfly and bird friendly.
- Swamp Paperbark (Melaleuca ericifolia) - 3-6m high, 6m wide. Large bushy shrub. Bird friendly.
- Tree Violet (Melicytus dentatus) - 2-3m high. Small shrub. Has spines and produces purple berries. Bird friendly.
- Kangaroo grass (Themeda triandra) - Large tussock. Flowers with rusty and gold coloured seedheads in summer.
- Native plant tube stock is delivered in foam boxes.
- These boxes can be returned to the nursery.
- Native plants can be maintained for many months.
- Keep in a cool shaded location such as under shade cloth or under a tree.
- Avoid direct sun exposure.
- Water every second or third day using rain tank water.
- If using chlorinated tap water allow to tap water to breath and release the chlorine smell for 12 hours before watering.
- Native plants need to be planted in the cooler months of the year, in Autumn, Winter and Spring.
- Plants can be watered in with Seasol and can be watered weekly during summer.
- Use a Hamilton tree planter tool to make a hole in the ground for the tube stock.
- The ground should be moist and easy to dig.
- Remove the tubestock from the pot and press firmly into the ground.
- Water in with Seasol added to water if available.
Junior Landcare Learning Modules - Biodiversity
- A range of Junior Landcare Learning modules are available for schools at the following address.
- https://juniorlandcare.org.au/learningcentre/
La Trobe Nangak Tamboree Wildlife Sanctuary
- You can go for tours within the La Trobe Wildlife Sanctuary.
- The mural below is a native blue-banded bee [2].
- This mural is for a Krefft's glider (Petaurus notatus) is a night-time gliding possum that lives in trees [3].
Tiny House Update
- Tiny Houses are currently experiencing a wave of popularity.
- Their popularity is driven by a combination of factors such as:
- The high cost of modern houses
- High energy costs and living costs
- People wanting to downsize or live simpler and debt free lives
- Tiny houses are a viable option for people who cannot buy or rent.
Minitopia
- There is a small village in The Netherlands called Minitopia which is a trial site for a Tiny House community.
- On 16 October 2019 a Skype meeting was held with the founders of Minitopia (Tessa Peters and Rolf van Boxmeer) to understand the workings and philosopy of Minitopia.
- A summary of the transcript is available here Minitopia notes
- The broad aims of the project are:
- Improve housing affordability
- Experiment with a range of different housing types
- Societal change - question standard assumptions about housing
- Better housing to meet the requirements of people (not building regulations)
- The building industry cannot keep up with the demand for new housing
- To lessen the impact on the enviornment by making housing that requires less energy and resources
- Tiny houses can be built that are:
- Cost no more than $60-80k.
- Self-built.
- Energy efficient and relatively cheap to heat and cool.
- Be powered using off-grid solar PV electricity systems with battery storage.
- Use waterless (dry / composting) toilets to conserve water and reduce wastewater.
- Minimise ground disturbance by requiring only potable (tap water).
- Can be built to Passive House standards by optimising air tightness, insulation, thermal heat gain and thermal mass.
- By locating services such as washing machines and kitchens outside the immediate living space.
- Using electric bikes and shared transport to minimise the requirement for roads and car parking.
- Significantly cheaper to maintain and operate (e.g. Council rates)
What is a Passive House?
- A Passive House is designed to be signficantly more energy efficient than a conventional house.
- See Passive House explained in 90 seconds
- The key elements of a Passive House are:
- The building envelope is air tight. Special membranes and tape are used to wraps and seal the house.
- Thick insulation is used to minimise heat gain and heat loss. The higher the R-value (K⋅m2/W) the better the insulation.
- Windows are double or triple glazed. Overall window area is minimised because even the best windows allow too much heat in and out. Windows are however important for heat gain in winter.
- No thermal bridges. Metal window frames and pipes can easily let heat in and out of a building.
- A Heat Recovery and Ventilation System (HRVS) is required to let fresh air in but reduce heat gain and loss during ventilation [4]
- Windows should be north facing (in the southern hemisphere) to capture the sun's warmth in winter. This heat gain should be captured in thermal mass (e.g. concrete pavers on the floor).
- The house should be shaded using trees and vines on the east and west faces. The roof should overhand the structure to prevent direct heat gain through windows in the summer.
Tiny House Example
- The following floor plan can be used to plan the Tiny House.
- The plan can accommodate a family of 3.
- Cooking and laundry facilities are separate from the Tiny House to simplify the design.
- This Tiny House has one large sliding window to the North and a standard door entry to the South.
- The overall floor dimensions of the Tiny House are 4m width x 8m length, similar to a shipping container.
Tiny House Photos
- Tiny house interior looking south.
- Shows couch/bed to the right.
- Flat screen television mounted to the wall.
- Standard door visible in the background.
- Tiny house interior looking south.
- Tiny house interior looking north.
- Tiny house interior looking north.
Tiny House Wall calculations for Model
- Tiny House calculations were made for a single wall. Wall dimensions were 4m length x 2.7m ceiling height.
- The following build material selections were made:
- 18mm plywood for all walls and wall supports
- Insulation bats were 430mm width x 1160mm height x 200mm thickness Bradford Polyester insulation bats R4
- Tiny House dimensions were scaled down to 1/8th scale so that this could be modelled as a cardboard box with base dimensions 50cm x 50cm.
- The box height was cut to 33.75cm (1/8th of 2.7m high ceilings)
Tiny House Cardboard Model
- A Tiny House was built using a 50cm (base) x 50cm (base) x 40cm (high) cardboard box.
- The cardboard box is 1/8th size of the real Tiny House.
- The following materials were used to construct the cardboard Tiny House.
Special materials used to Construct Model Tiny House
- Special materials typically used to build a real Passive House were also used in the construction of the Tiny House model.
- Cardboard box cut to size.
- Pencil used to mark lines to show location for vertical studs.
Cheese Chase2
Make the Cheese Sprite
- Click on Paint new sprite
- The Paint Editor window will appear.
- Select the circle shape.
- Make sure it is a full or filled circle
- Then select the colour yellow.
- Now select a dark colour.
- We will use this dark colour to makes some holes in the cheese.
- Select Set costume centre
- Cross hairs will appear in the Paint Editor on the sprite.
- Make sure that the cross hairs are in the centre of the sprite.
- This tells the computer where the middle of the sprite is.
- Click on OK when finished.
- Name the cheese sprite cheese
- Click on the Shrink sprite tool to shrink the cheese sprite.
Adding a Score board to the game
- To add a Score click on Variables
- Then click on Make a variable
- Enter the name score as the name of the variable.
- Make sure that the variable is For all sprites
- Then click OK.
- New score blocks will now appear.
- And a score board will appear in the game window.
Make the Cheese move randomly on the stage
- Build the following code for the cheese sprite.
- This will make the cheese jump to a random location on the stage every time the forever loop repeats.
- Test this code by clicking on the code block.
- You will see the cheese jump to random locations very quickly.
- Add some additional code to the cheese sprite.
- Wait until will force the cheese sprite to wait until the mouse touches it.
- When the mouse does reach the cheese the score will increase by one.
- Then the cheese will jump to another random location.
Game improvement - remove Stop All
- When the ghost catches the mouse the game stops.
- This is because there is a 'Stop all block in the ghost sprite code.
- Removing the stop all block will keep the game running all the time.
Add a Timer to the Game
- Click on Variables
- Then click on Make a variable
- Enter the variable name timer
- Make sure it is For all sprites then click OK.
- Position the timer to the top right of the game stage.
- Click on the cheese sprite
- Add the following code to the sprite.
- The timer will initially be set to zero.
- Then it will increase by one every second.
Making a Timer count down
- To make a Timer count down (rather than up) make these changes.
- Set timer to 60. This will start the Timer at 60.
- Change timer by -1. This will make the Timer count down.
- We can add a conditional statement within the forever loop to check the score.
- The code checks if timer = 0 then it will stop all code and the game will end.
Stop the Mouse Glitching
- Sometime the mouse gets stuck on the walls of the stage.
- We tried trimming the mouse tail, but this hasn't helped.
- Modify the mouse sprite code to use when space pressed
- Change the space key to either up, down, left or right for each of your code segement.
- The code won't glitch anymore, but the mouse is a little slower to move.
- Perhaps the mouse can move 15 or 20 steps, rather than 10.
Make the cheese change colour
- You can make the cheese change colour every time it jumps to a new location.
- Select the cheese sprite.
- Add the Change colour effect by 25 block to the cheese code just beneath the change score block.
