Comenius projectCare for the environment at school

September 2010 – June 2011

Partners:• Colegio de Educación Infantil y Primaria de Lourido, Spain

• Ebi de Apúlia-Aea Esposende, Portugal

• Základná škola Piešťany, Slovakia

The first Project meeting was in Colegio de Educación Infantil y Primaria de

Lourido, Spain 14th November –18th November 2010

We agreed at common activities, own activities and final product

• Common activities and final product:

• Logo• Web page• Trip book• Own activities of each school:• Twelve months – twelve themes:

Environmental study, Christmas shop, Saving water, Saving electricity, Saving paper, Sustainable homes, Healthy diet, To eat fruits, Mobility, contamination, Reduce, Recycle, Reuse

• We planned the next meeting in Piešťany in February

We admired the monastery in Poio, old petroglyfs at the archeological Areaof la Caeira, the old village Combarro, water mill, Santiago de Compostela

and many others. Galícia is a beautiful part of Spain.

The second Project meeting was in Ebi de Apúlia-Aea Esposende, Portugal27th March – 31st March 2011

On the request of our Portugal partner we changed the dates of the meetingsin Slovakia and Portugal

• We informed each other about own activities that we have done

• and watched the video that was prepared by the school in Poio about their activities and a DVD about the activities of our host

• We were talking about difficulties

• We decided to meet in Piešťany in May

Children from 3 countries enjoyed beeing together

• Seven pupils from Slovakia, about 35 pupils from Spain and pupils from Portugal were doing artistic and sports activities together.

We enjoyed the programme that our partners prepared for us, admiredbeautiful places which we visited – wind mills, town Esposende and Porto...

Piešťany is about 80 km north-east from the capital Bratislava

Piešťany is famous for the spa – the bronze statue of the Crutch-breaker isthe symbol of the town

Surge et ambula – Stand up and go - says the inscription at the bridge, after treatment in the spa you aren‘t ill any more

The first notice about the town is in so called Zobor document in the year1118

The banks of the river Váh and the nature around the town provide manyopportunities for relax – walking, cycling, roller blading, feeding birds,...

Základná škola Brezová 19, Piešťany

The playground, the atrium and the property around the school

We‘ve got two gyms but when the weather is good we go out on theplayground at PE lessons and breaks

Time for exercises and having a rest at break time

Work of the young pupils in the classes

... other classes and the dining room

Fundaments of Ecology was the first activity we started with. It was theproject of the newspaper SME.

During Gardening lessons our pupils take care of the environment around theschool

A lot of work is especially in autumn and spring

A Geography trip to the nature around Piešťany ...

... was a good way of learning. Personal experience is the best and a goodsource for making projects about the nature around Piešťany and interesting

places

Projects about interesting places, the river Váh, the mountains

Považský Inovec,...

the spa, bridges, the winter stadium...

Reuse - many Christmas decorations at Art lessons were made from usedmaterials – paper, metal tins...

... plastic yoghurt cups

... and textile

Little pupils made Christmas cards and together with their teachers theywent to the centre of Piešťany...

...and gave the cards to the people who they met in the street wishing thema Merry Christmas

They also visited the Hospital – the department for children and the Oldpeople‘s house, sang Christmas carols and gave the old people Christmas

greetings

Projects about Christmas contained traditions, customs, sayings,

... wishes

... advice how to choose a good present and also advice what to do when youwant to return not suitable present back to the shop

Betlehem baked from gingerbread or made from natural materials

... all were at the exhibition in Piešťany information centre and in the hotel Sĺňava

Young pupils learned how to make Christmas decorations

Christmas carols were sung for the big audience

Recycle or How to deal with plastic garbage – press plastic bottles and throwthem into separate waste – project of the class 3.D

Saving water in the households and the water in the nature

Quiz about water was done by about 60 students of 8th and 9th class

• 1. Where is the greatest consumption of water in the household?

• a) in the kitchen b) in the bathroom c) in the garden

• 2. Where is the biggest consumption of the water in the bathroom?

• a) toilet b) shower bath c) washbox

• 3. What detergents are more ecological?

• a) powdered b) soap and gel c) it is nearly the same

• 4. Name two universal ekological detergents which can be used in household without environment deterioration.

• 5. What does mulching mean?

• 6. How many percent of water consumption can represent trapped rain water?

• a) 40 % b) 60% c) 75%

• 7. Do geneticaly modified plants ballast water?

• a) yes b) no c) no markedly

• 8. What is the best way to defrost food?

• a) under fluent cold water b) under fluent warm water c) the day before

• 9. What bottle do you usually buy water in?

• a) plastic b) glass c) doesn´t mater

• 10. I have more often a) a shower b) a bath

• 11. What do a lot of trouts and crawfish reflect in the water?

• 12. How do these influence water:

• a) air transport

• b) water transport

• c) household products

• d) waste dump

• e) factories

• f) acid rains

The greatest consumption of water in the household is:

in the garden; 11,1 %

in the bathroom;

80,1 %

in the kitchen; 7,7 %

Results of the quiz

According the statistics the average Slovak household uses the greatest amount of

water in bathrooms for bathing and showering.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

toilet shower bath wash box

The biggest consumption of water in the bathroom is:

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

powdered soap and gel nearly the same

More ecological detergents are soap and gel.

Name two universal ecological detergents which can be used in

households without environment deterioration.

What does mulching mean?

Pupils didn't know that mulching is covering the soil with some materials to retain

moisture, reduce erosion and provide nutrients.

The materials used can be organic residues, such as grass, leaves, compost,

shredded wood, rubber mulch, etc.

Correct answers: lemon, soap, vinegar

How many percent of water consumption can represent

trapped rain water?

40% 34,50

60% 44,20

75% 9,60

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Yes No No markedly

Do genetically modified plants ballast water?

Genetically modified plants ballast water

- correct answer is Yes

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

under f luent cold w ater under f luent hot w ater the day before

The best way to defrost food is:

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Plastic Glass Doesn' t matter

I usually buy water in the bottle:

Slovakia belongs to the

countries where you can get

drinking water of high quality

just by turning the tap. It is

difficult to understand why so

many people buy bottled water

in supermarkets. Well, success

of advertising.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

a show er a bath

I have usually more often:

Having a shower is not only

more ecological but also more

hygienic.

A lot of trouts and crawfish reflect in the water:

All the pupils knew that the existence of trouts and

crawfish means that the water is clean.

How do these influence water:

air transport

water transport

household products

waste dump

factories

acid rains

Most of the children didn't answer this last question.

Conclusion:

We could say that our pupils have quite a lot information

about responsible consumption but there are many

things that we can improve in our behaviour.

Cleaning of the banks of the river Váh and the lake Sĺňava was the project

of the Town Hall, Dino and Povodie Váhu

„Gesture for the clean town“

When we filled plastic bags with the garbage, two friends cycling alonghelped us to carry them to containers

We thank you for your help at cleaning the town

Reuse and help

• At the beginning there was the effort to help the children in Kenya

• The students of Social work from the University in Trnava who were going to Kenya at the mission for half a year were willing to carry extra luggage – clothes, toys, pens and pencils – for Kenya children.

• So they applied to Turkish airlines with the request to enable them to transport these things.

• Our children collected their clothes and things that they didn‘t need any more, added things for school and with the help of all participants children in Kenya could use them.

When we join together impossible becomes real

Our children are proud that they could help those in need

The rights of the tree – without trees the whole ecosystem would be broken– a project of the class 2.C

... therefore it is important to protect the trees

Tree has the right to grow in clean soil, has the right not to be broken, has theright to live...

The first projects about the climate changes on the Earth were made at Civicslesson

And how the people change the environment

The Earth – what we are doing and what we should do...Don‘t destroy Protect

... and we should know

The story of the dead wood in the forest – its function.The lecture for the ninth classes in the Library

The Easter - traditions and customs

Making the whips from thin willow branches ...

... and decorating the eggs beloged to the preparations before Easter

In the manufacture of the hand made paper children could not only seeparchment and papyrus, the cotton plant but also how the original

manufacture looked like.

Cotton from the cotton plant is used for hand made paper now.The whole process looks like this:

• From the big bath filled with water and paper mass take ...

• ...a small amount of the mass on the framed sieve and shake it carefully so that water would pour out and the paper would be equable

beatifull, isn‘t it?

• tilt the drained paper mass from the framed sieve on the felt-covered pad and press it

• dry slowly

• If you add flowers and leaves into the bath, you will get such a beautiful sheet of paper

Finally children could make their own special piece of paper with flowers. A few days later they obtained their own dried pieces of paper that they made

themselves

Hand made paper has special structure, it is used for special occasions and isdemanded by many organizations

All about paper

Projects about the paper, its history, production, use, recycling...

Eco footprint – Certificate for our school and the survey

The Day of the Earth was prepared by the students of the High school ofgardening with lectures, games, competitions...

Our pupils won the first prize – arranging from the litter

Comics: Who is protecting the environmentMade by pupils in 7.B

Will we learn how to protect the environment?

Will we be more responsible?

Ivana Kučavíková

The lecture of the pediatrician about a healthy diet

Projects – healthy diet and health problems

Thirty healthiest kinds of food

and drinking regime

„Eat healthy as our ancestors ate“ recommends Prof. Mudr. Viliam Bada

• Eat fresh fruit and vegetables

• Eat more beans, peas, lentils that contain a lot of fibre

• Eat butter not artificial margarine

• Drink goat, sheep or cow milk –contains anti-cancer substances

• Eat cheese, bryndza – excellent products with probiotic effects that support immune system

• Don‘t be afraid of eggs and pork, the source of vitamin B, zinc and selenium

• Don´t go to a fitness centre, exercise in the nature – walking is the best

Before pupils started work at the projects about beavers they had a lectureabout these rare animals

Recycle - reuse - collecting the paper waste in May

• At the end of May our school ordered a container for the paper waste that children together with their parents collected during the year

The first one was full in a short time

... and we needed 2 more containers for 22 036 kg of paper waste which wassent to the collecting centre for the paper waste in Trnava

The conference EKOSVET (Ecoworld) was held in the High school of chemistryin Bratislava - 3 pupils and their teacher actively participated with posters

about saving water at school and in the households

There were also interesting lectures about the attack of xenobiotics

... fatal environmental decisions in the history of mankind and about otherproblems

Batteries on the right place – this activity is a part of the competition of thepictures painted for The Day of the environment

The fifth of June is the Day of the environment in the world - our pupilspainted pictures for the competition

Projects about renewable and non- renewable resources of energy weremade at Physics lessons

• More than 50% of electricity in Slovak republic is produced in two nuclear power plants

• There are 25 bigger and 201 small hydroelectric powers that can produce 6 600 GWh a year. It is about 18% of produced electricity

• In thermal power plants coal and gas are used for producing electricity

• Solar energy is mostly used for heating houses

• There are only 3 wind parks in Slovakia: Cerová, Ostrý vrch, Skalité

• Geothermal energy is used in spas and for heating houses in some places

Projects about non-renewable resources of energy. More ironore mines and coal mines have been closed

Energy from nuclear power plant is clean but radioactive waste is ballast forthe next generations

Water energy belongs to renewable resources. It is clean without anyconsequences for the next generations

Geothermal energy is widely used in spas for treatment and in recreation

Wind energy – 3 small wind parks in Slovakia produce 5.1 MW – it isnegligible amount

Slovakia has good conditions for using Solar energy – energy falling on 1 m2 in our area reaches 1 000 – 1 250 kWH a year, it is approximately 5 GJ

Projects about Biomass – source for the future?

New photos from the mobility in Portugal

Non-renewable resources are limited. Excursion to one of the mines in Banská Štiavnica that was turned into a museum

Gold and silver were mined here but some coal mines had similar fate, aftertheir resources had been exploited, they had been closed.

The third Project meeting was in Piešťany 18th May – 22nd May 2011

• We informed each other about

activities that we have done with

our students

• We prepared and showed our

partners the presentation about

activities that we have done at our

school in Piešťany

• We added one more theme -

Gardening

• We agreed about the next meeting

in Portugal in November 2011

We showed our partners the town, the spa, the museum in Trnava, some

interesting places and the capital of Slovakia

Our guests visited the school, pupils prepared a shortprogramme and a workshop for them

And most of all we enjoyed the time being together, sharing our ideas, inspiring each other for the future activities

The article about the project meeting in Piešťany and previous ones in Spainand Portugal was published in the local paper Piešťanský týždeň

The article about our first meeting in Poio, Pontevedra was published in Farode Vigo and Diario in Pontevedra

The local newspaper PALAVRINHA informed about Comenius project and ourmeeting in Apúlia, Esposende

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph

is for good men to do nothing."— Edmund Burke

Thank you for your attention