NATURE LOVING KIDS
About Us
Meet The Team
Hungary
Ban Zsigmond
Presbyterian Primary School and Kindergarten
Our School (Ban Zsigmond Presbyterian Primary School) is located in the east of Hungary in Tiszafured. This is a small rural town near the second biggest river of Hungary with approximately ten thousand inhabitants, Near Tiszafured an artificial lake was built and this lake has become a tourist paradise for the fans of fishing and water sports. The school is situated in the heart of our town in newly reconstructed buildings. There are almost 300 students in the primary section. We have a lot of students who are socially disadvantaged, most of them live in the nearby small villages. They are taken to school by our own school bus services. There are four mixed groups in our nursery with altogether 104 kids. Each group has two teachers who works in morning and afternoon shifts. Their work is helped by four nurses. The main methodological approaches of the nursery school are the Presbyterian and the artistic education. Both include the knowledge of traditions. Every year three concerts and three exhibitions are organized where almost every child participates. A high rate of our children are in socially disadvantaged. There are three children who are mentally disadvantaged, they are given special care by specialists. Having a primary school is very advantageous because teachers from the 1st grade can regularly meet the nursery kids to improve their talents making the transition easier for them. Since September 2018 our IT teacher provides Robotics workshops for the kindergarten and these activities enjoy extreme popularity. Also, kindergarten children have regular English lessons with a lot of songs and dances. We follow the national curriculum but our profile is greatly shaped by our specific programs in science, practical life-skills, reading, art, foreign language and nature programs. We often try to introduce nature-related activities. Till now, we have developed some environmental projects with achievements in changing children's and their families' attitudes towards nature, taking the classroom into nature and bringing the nature into the classroom. This project will help us find new ideas and practices to be shared with colleagues during the workshops, meetings in each partner school. Social skills play a big part in the preschool education, thus nature programs promote positive relationships with nature and prepare the children for the real world. Through this type of active learning, children gain a healthy respect for nature, their communities, themselves, and for one another. The project activities will help teachers to offer higher quality education for pupils. The coordinating team is made of 6 teachers, led by the nursery teacher administrator. In case she will leave this role, any other member of this team is prepared to carry on the roles and responsibilities implied by her position and ensure the continuity of the project.
Poland
Przedszkole Miejskie Nr 206 z Oddzialami
Integracyjnymi w Lodzi
Kindergarten No 206 with Integration is an institution in Łódź, which provides full time care to 225 children aged 3-8 including 30 children with special educational needs. Kindergarten has a well-equipped gym, a rich and varied educational facilities , attractive corners of interests and activities that give children a choice of activities. The advantage of the preschool is huge, partly wooded garden with a didactic path and an attractive playground that gives a lot of interesting possibilities for classes and outdoor activities. There are 34 qualified teachers, including 8 special educators, psychologists, 2 speech therapists, art therapist that all allow to organize stimulating effects, to improve , to compensate for disrupted or delayed psycho motor functions in children. Teachers employed in the kindergarten are the authors of academic books and many methodical studies, promoting various types of therapeutic work e.g. dog therapy and therapy using fairy tales. Their work is supported by 21 administrative workers. The aims of our school activities are: -teaching children with SEN (Special Educational Needs) and SLD (specific learning disabilities) using strategies that help to achieve self-sufficiency and self-esteem -encouraging the potential and talents; reinforcement -increasing the knowledge of English and ICT -promoting initiatives to arts -promoting a path of peace and success, especially for pupils who have learning difficulties due to socioeconomic and cultural problems; -educating to healthy food; upgrade teachers' knowledge and their training on the emerging problems. The kindergarten also specializes in art education and creative teaching method projects, environmental education, regional and bilingual education and CLIL methodology. It implements unconventional methods of mathematical education, offers a wide range of cooperation with parents and the local community. It promotes reading and healthy eating among children and parents. We are close to pro-health action and develop physical activity among children. Projects team: Agnieszka Kucharska – The General Director - Master of kindergarten and preschool education - Experience in art and art therapy -Coordinator of many projects within the Erasmus+, European Social Foundation, ecological and art education Aleksandra Skonieczna –Psychologist -Supports children in their development , cooperates with their families - Experienced in family psychotherapy and work with autistic and disabled children Paulina Dubilas - Teacher of the 7-years-old group - Master of kindergarten and preschool education - interests: music, art, ecology, therapist. In the kindergarten, there is 10-person project team. The headmaster is responsible for this project, whose term of office finishes in 31,08,2023 so there is no threat to the implementation.
Romania
GRADINITA CU PROGRAM PRELUNGIT
NR.2
The kindergarten, located in an urban area, is one of the largest preschool organizations in the city of Braila. It provides early education programs for children aged 3 to 6 years.This school year areenrolled 225 children. The most children have a normal psycho-physical development, but there are children with special needs (8% ADHD, autism, mental retardation, 3%). The total number of staff is 34 people (which 19 are teachers). The mission and vision of our organization is to provide welcoming, attractive, stimulating and secure learning environment. Working with our partners on this project, we anticipate achieving open communication and argumentation on the topic of healthy education in nature, creating an active cooperation. Raising the awareness for a healthy lifestyle, learning a foreign language may seem ambitious targets for preschool age, but now their mental operational structures are flexible and learning all this in kindergarten aims to generate interest and delight children of 3-6 years old. If first steps in this direction are made earlier, the more chances of success are higher. Knowledge of this topics is an open gate for new information, is facilitated mutual communication, understanding, tolerance and appreciation of diversity. Between 2015-2018 we applied for Erasmus + program with one strategic partnership, one cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices project and a project key action 1, school education staff mobility where we gained experience in managing this type of partnerships, especially we understood the importance of the EU dimension in teaching of educators by sharing with our partners best pedagogical and methodological practices, by promoting multicultural education and active citizenship by cultivating key competencies to improve language skills in English, the use of digital skills, using modern tools, technology, resource by both teachers and students. Concern on promoting continuous innovations in teaching, our colleagues designed new teaching materials and they also improved curriculum at school decision with programs of optional activities carried out in the kindergarten (” ABC of Health Nutrition”, "Art, joy and light for heart", “English is fun” and ”The Mysteries of Outdoor Learning”). Our preschoolers have always been encouraged to participate in various activities, educational projects and competitions where they have won numerous awards. Key people in charge will be the coordinator, who is responsible of commission for quality assessment in education for our kindergarten. In case of leaving the post, the role will be taken by responsible for European program and projects in school, who is a member of the project team. Because we have an expertise in outdoor education through KA1 mobilities, we could share our experiences and examples of good practices with our project’ partners.
Italy
Istituto Comprensivo "Lombardo Radice-
Pappalardo"
The "Lombardo Radice-Pappalardo" Comprehensive Institute includes six school complexes: 2 kindergartens, 2 primary schools, 2 grade secondary schools. The plexuses are located in the historic center of Castelvetrano. The institute is attended by 1062 students aged between 3 and 14 years. The kindergarten is home to 137 children between the ages of 3 and 5. The teaching activities are designed and implemented by 14 tenured teachers and 2 support teachers. The kindergarten school welcomes students from different social backgrounds, foreign students, pupils with special educational needs (cognitive deficit, educational difficulties and social obstacles). The school's psycho-pedagogical model is based on the theories of cognitive and meta cognitive education. The school uses a laboratory methodology to meet the needs and rhythms of learning of the pupils, giving great importance to the life of relationships, to the game and to the activities of research, action and exploration. The teachers are very motivated and predisposed to innovations and to teaching and methodological experimentation and particularly sensitive to environmental issues and sustainable development. The school stands out for its separate waste collection and for the activation of laboratories on environmental education topics. Some activities are promoted through the collaboration of environmental associations. Every year planting interventions are carried out and education is given to the importance of the practice of separate collection and recycling. The school adheres to the "tree day" promoted by Legambiente and participates with excellent results in competitions on the recycling of plastic and glass; participates in the UNESCO week on sustainability education. The school organizes meetings to bring pupils closer to the concept of recycling. Over the years vertical gardens have been built within the school complex, this year in collaboration with the Lions club service an educational vegetable garden is being built. The school is chosen by parents for the educational attention it gives to their students and for the variety of activities they offer. We think we can offer our work experience to our partners on environmental education activities, we expect to create with them a serene atmosphere of collaboration and mutual exchange of good practices. The ERASMUS + KA2 team includes highly qualified teachers on the subjects of design and didactic innovation. The management of the activities will be entrusted to the intersection coordinator, in his absence will be replaced by the teacher referent for the kindergarten, the work team is endowed with excellent organizational skills and skills in group work. The team includes an English teacher and a teacher with previous experience in the coordination and management of Erasmus KA2 projects.
Turkey
Kezban Mercan Anaokulu
Kezban Mercan Anaokulu is a public kindergarten located in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. Though our school is in the centre of the city, it is surrounded by trees, plants and wilds which give our children best places for play, learn and have fun. Our school is a single-storey building and it has a large schoolyard-about 5000 square meter. There is a mini zoo, layout for traffic education, mini garden and playground.
We welcome 105 children between the age of 3 and 6. They are divided into 6 groups depending on their ages. In each class there are different learning corners which promote independence and Love of learning. In our kindergarten we support involving all children playing and working on various tasks in the same classroom, under the supervision of 2 teachers. We aim to follow child-centred approach to teaching children by promoting Montessori tradition of letting children to be independent and investigator. Among our corners are Science, Art, Books, Maths, House. In addition to Montessori, we implement variety of activities with other approaches as well such as Reggio Emilia and Waldorf.
There is 1 principal and 12 kindergarten teachers. In addition to them, there are 6 part-time club teachers for Robotics, Gym, Chess, English, Woodworking and Mind Games.
Our kindergarten is very dynamic and enthusiastic about projects and events which focus on Environment, Ecology and Sustainability. Thanks to our ‘Healthy School Food Strategy’, we have been accredited as a ‘Healthy School’ for our home-made lunch and home-made snacks.
As an Eco school, we conduct ecological activities regularly:
For the 2 years, we worked on activities focusing on ‘Garbage and Recycling’,
For another 2 years, we worked on activities focusing on ‘Biodiversity Awareness’,
And, now, for the following 2 years we will work on activities focusing on ‘Climate Change’
‘Acorn and Oak Tree became the symbol for our kindergarten. For 5 years, our children have been planting acorns in barren areas to contribute to deforestation’.
‘Our kindergarten has Green Flag and Certificate for Learning about Forest’.
Latvia
Daugavpils pilsetas 11.pirmsskolas izglitibas
iestade
Our preschool plays a very important role in the education reality in Latvia. Our school is in the countryside, but near the city center. It's a lovely small school with 107 pupils aged between 1-7 and 14 teachers, that provides a warm and welcoming atmosphere.. We are a friendly team, who wants to know new methodologies, share experiences and activities and meet new cultures and people. The school pupils study Arts, Foreign Languages, Health Studies, preschool subjects. Our preschool has been implementing Positive Behavior Support Program since January 2017. Activities provide opportunities for exploration through nature, dramatic play, music, role-playing, toys and games. The school also welcomes different specialists, for active training courses in the classrooms: speech therapist, psychologist. The main reason behind the teachers' exchange is to learn methods and practices used in preschool education of different countries with focus on: - eco programs, creativity and problem¬solving, ensuring that children are successful not just in school, but throughout their lives; - developing and improving children social skills; - increasing tolerance - children are aware of differences and find them as values. Our preschool is situated in Green zone. This project helps us find new ideas and practices to be shared with colleagues during the workshops, meetings in each partner school. Social skills play a big part in the preschool education, thus nature programs promote positive relationships with nature and prepare the children for the real world. Through this type of active learning, children gain a healthy respect for nature, their communities, themselves, and for one another. The project activities will help teachers to offer higher quality education for pupils. The coordinating team is made of 6 preschool teachers, led by the teacher administrator. In case she will leave this role, any other member of this team is prepared to carry on the roles and responsibilities implied by her position and ensure the continuity of the project. Teachers, pupils and their parents have actively participated in Erasmus+ KA2, Nordplus Junior and different eTwinning projects since 2014. We are one of the partner of Erasmus+ KA2 project-Happy Kids- which aims to develop and integrate nature programs as an essential part in implementing the national curriculum at preschool and primary school level. We will have finished the 1st year of this project next September. Therefore, we feel ourselves strong and qualified to share our Nature-based education and curriculum development experience in this project.