MAP

Landcare Camps

MAP Landcare camps are an integral part of the Montessori stream, as they provide an experience unique to Montessori and give our students the opportunity to care for the Earth and environment.

The MAP community went on one of these Landcare camps earlier this year to the wonderful Black Barn Farm. At Black Barn Farm, students were able to do a variety of jobs around the farm such as planting rows of raspberries, sanding barn doors, pickling, making bread, mulching, painting, and so much more! These experiences shape and influence our young children to care for our planet and get their hands dirty. Landcare camps are also a place for the students to connect and form lifelong friendships.

Theatre Tour

Theatre Tour is our four-day-long camp where we perform at eight different schools around Victoria. We perform anything from fairytales to Shakespeare, always with some kind of spin. This year we did What If Children’s Literature, where we took well-known stories and put our own demonic spins on them, written almost entirely by us, the students, with as little staff intervention as possible. Over the term, through writing exercises, we write the scripts, we organise our own times to rehearse in groups, we make the costumes, and we give each other notes on what we can do better each time we perform. It’s a great team-building experience and a massive undertaking. Having achieved something far bigger than anyone could do on their own creates this amazing sense of cohesion and a sense of appreciation within the community. This is part of our Language Arts subject, but in the last couple of weeks before camp it becomes our entire curriculum. The majority of students have never engaged in theatre before, other than that one school play in primary school where they stood in the corner with no opportunity to contribute. Around here, every student gets to contribute, no matter their experience or ability. This is an example of real work, work with meaning and outcomes, work that will make a difference. – Caden Palmer

We didn’t start our idea/script for a very long time, with Landcare Camp interrupting it. Once we finally had an idea and a script, it was quite difficult to rehearse as there was not one class where all our group members were together. Finding costumes was quite simple, as we just used old costumes from the lockers outside the staff room. Next time I will push to get the script done as soon as possible, as that is the most important part of it.

I really enjoyed making props, specifically my wand, and the results turned out fantastic. I think we could have rehearsed a bit more, and that would have made the performance run a little smoother. I did well with my projection, as when I talk on stage everyone begins to talk louder to match my volume, which makes the performance easier to understand.

The drives were a lot shorter than I expected, but that meant I didn’t get bored on the bus. I love sitting and talking with my friends on the bus. At camp, we became better friends with each other. The first night at Polana was fine, but the best place was the second night at Nagambie, it was such a nice place and everyone there was fantastic. The beds were so nice, and I loved getting a good night’s sleep. Food wasn’t a problem for me, as I always brought my own food on school camps. The third place, at Boomerang Ranch, was nice, and I enjoyed playing Blood on the Clocktower, although it had to be cut short.

Theatre Tour is a learning curve. The first performance is usually the worst, and that was the case for us, but as each performance passes, we get better and better. We all did a great job adapting when one of our group members had to go home, and someone else had to fill in.

We had put in a ton of sound effects for our performance, and that did not always go smoothly, as technical difficulties were unavoidable. Most of the performances didn’t work as we planned, but we managed to keep going with the show.

On the final primary school performance, when I was doing my final lines as Glinda, I usually asked the crowd, ‘What was the important lesson we learned?’ and this one kid was talking to me. It was fantastic. Then I ‘ding’ my wand (but the ding isn’t supposed to work). As I was waving my wand at the crowd, some of the kids started saying ‘ding! ding!’. It gave me a great idea, and I said, ‘Alright, we are all going to say ding at the same time!’ and I dinged at the crowd while they said ding. It was so surreal, and I wish I had thought of it sooner! Ding! – Zaria Schumacher