Adopt a Site
COMENIUS 2012—2014
2
The slogan of our Comenius project is Plan to Preserve this Pretty Planet. Comenius partners from Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Romania and UK have adopted a site from their own surroundings in order to improve it. During the activity we all have learned to respect and cherish our environment. 3
4
Finland
Kyรถsti Kallion koulu 5
Paint room
Sketching and painting.
This is a picture of the paint room in our technical work class. Over the years the walls have been splattered by paint. The walls will be repainted with pupils’ art work. 6
By doing the process the children learned to appreciate the surroundings and thus to keep them clean. 7
8
France
Collège Charles Péguy 9
Un terrain en friche
The 60 square meter area to fit out is situated near the dining hall in the school playground.
After the renovation of the school, this area was left fallow. So the idea is to create a medieval garden there and an exhibition on the relationship between Man and plants as far as food is concerned ( phytotherapy ). Teachers have deposited a case of financing to be able to create this garden.
Sowing hops, a plant used for brewing beer. Adding amendments and planting a plot with box trees. 10
Not any water during 2 months, only the sun ! It's necessary to water trees.
Weeding the kitchen garden (where fennel, angelica, and rhubarb are growing) Mulching the plants before summer vacation, to protect them from dry weather and weeds.
Recup'art in the garden : specials frogs. 11
12
Ireland
Ovens National School — Mr. O’ Sullivan’s Class 13
Our Tranquil Space
The school garden is located in the courtyard of the school.
Our plan is to tidy up the garden and courtyard by replanting the garden boxes and flower pots.
We allocated fruit, herbs, vegetables, and flowers to each garden box. We selected and purchased each plant we wished to grow and these were planted prior to the Easter holidays
We first pulled out the weeds and plants which had died, and cleaned and swept the courtyard. This made the whole area a lot more presentable and workable. 14
Finally we planted a sunberry plant and a gooseberry plant . The sunberry plant flowers produced small white petals, while the gooseberry plant flowered and produced big green berries.
In the first box we planted a range of flowers including pansies and snapdragons. These responded fantastically and grew very well.
We made homemade signs and signposts to show what was in each box. One girl made a scarecrow for the garden and we got an outdoor garden painting to hang on the wall. These little extra touches added greatly to the garden to make it attractive and welcoming. 15
16
Ireland
Ovens National School — Ms. O’Rourke’s class 17
Planting Trees
‘Messy weeds’ – The floor in the woodland it covered in weeds.
‘Trees growing in the woodland’ - Trees are too crowded, very big. They need to be thinned out.
‘Planting wild flowers’ - Planting of wild flowers in April 2013- is a great success. 18
‘Planting bulbs’ - Bulb- planting. Planting bluebells and daffodils in the wood.
‘Children look at wildflowers’ - Wild flowers in our woodland. We will plant wild flowers again in April.
‘Children study butterflies’ – The children look at all the different colours of the butterflies.
All the colours of the rainbow in our Irish country garden. Don’t we make this planet pretty? 19
20
Italy
Frosinone
Scuola Secondaria di Primo Grado “Luigi Pietrobono” 21
Our school garden
Our aim is to turn this corner in a school garden, where to plant shrubs and herbs.
Inside our school building, next to the river Cosa, there is a small area (approximately 50 square meters) severely degraded and neglected.
After studying suitable plants for that damp soil, we began to collect shrubs and herbs. We started to arrange the plants to find a precise location.
First we decided to clean up the area, removing weeds and mow the lawn. 22
For Christmas we decided to decorate our taller plants with decorations made from recycled materials.
We rearranged and painted the walls of the garden. We planted grass and designed flower arrangement.
We chose plants and flowers best suited for this type of soil. We set up small flower beds with gravel where we placed plants and flowers. 23
24
Italy
Lonate Pozzolo
Istituto Comprensivo “Carminati”; “Brusatori”, “Dante” and “Volta” Primary Schools 25
Vegetable garden
Our idea was to create a vegetable garden in each of our three Primary schools. We chose a neglected area in the courtyard of each school. We asked the granddads of the local senior centre to give us advice about gardening. They helped us plough and seed.
Second grade students are preparing the ground with the help of the elderly people of the senior centre.
We’re taking care of our vegetable garden. We planted fennel, salad, cabbage, turnip, herbs and we learned their names in English. 26
We picked up the fruits of our labour and we learned the properties and the benefits of our vegetables.
We cooked a tasty pie and we learned that vegetables are yummy!
The scarecrow, made by children, protects our seedlings. 27
28
Malta
St Joseph Junior School 29
Yard
The garden is bare and new plants need to be sown.
This yard is in need of embellishment, as it is rather dull and unattractive. This area is used for assemblies and break time. The wall and surrounding area look shabby and abandoned. A splash of colour and some decorating ideas would give the yard a much-needed uplift.
The school contacted a parent who works as a galvanizer and he offered to donate 12 tires which were damaged. The tires were afterwards painted in different colours. These tires are going to have soil inside and they are going to be used as planters. Children will be planting plants inside these tires in order to embellish the Adopt a site area. Different plants have been sown in the tyres and also in the garden. 30
As part of our Adopt a site project we have launched an Art Competition for all classes within our school i.e from Pre-Grade to Grade 6 with ages between 4 and 11. The selected designs will be transferred to laminated sheets which are weather proof. The pupils were encouraged to be as creative as possible. While the work should be mostly that of the pupils, parent assistance was allowed. The designs were presented on an A4 size sheet. Any colouring medium that could have been used was crayons, colour pencils and poster colours. The selection of winning entries was carried out by an independent panel of judges. The wall surrounding the Adopt a site Area, were the laminated designed winners are going to be hung, had to be painted in bright blue. This was possible with the help of children together with school staff. Plants were planted to embellish the area and also to make it safer for the children to play as they are placed in corners. Children also take care of the plants by watering them.
Different local plants have been planted to embellish the Adopt a site area. This was done with the help of children, staff and also the school gardener.
The Winning Paintings of the Children’s Art Competition were printed on a laminated sheet ( weather proof). These cuttings where after hung according to the animal habitats. 31
32
Romania
Liceul de arte plastic “Romulus Ladea” 33
School yard
This is the eastern side of our schoolyard. We planned to plant 4 oak trees here. It will be difficult for them to survive as this is the sports ground and our students are playing football all the time.
Boys are digging.
This is the eastern side of the sports ground and we are hoping we can plant another oak tree here to have some shade during hot summers.
One of our students pulled this oak tree from the Faget forest and we dug a half a meter hole to plant it. So girls are planting. 34
At least one of the trees we are planting here will have a square bench around it just like the ones we saw in Nivala.
This is a happy time for all of us.
This very little tree germinated from a seed planted by the 5th grade last autumn. It is as small as the children who planted it and our experiment is a comparison: when children finish school how tall the tree will be compared to them.
This tree, a walnut resisted through the winter so we decided to protect it aginst the football players in the schoolyard using a metallic net. 35
36
United Kingdom
Yarnfield Primary School 37
Our school Allotment
Before it got too cold we had to prepare our plot, pick the weeds and till the soil.
First we prepared the soil ready to plant seeds. We planted seeds to grow fruit and vegetable.
During the winter the soil was too hard and the frost killed any living plants
We also planted seeds for wild flowers from around Europe, to make out Allotment more colorful. 38
Once it became a little warmer, we built planters ready to plant some of our vegetables into.
In September we enjoyed harvesting the fruit and vegetables. These included beans, rhubarb, black berries, strawberries and cabbage. Back at school we cooked the food we harvested into a delicious soup and a sweet crumble.
Now even more children have the opportunity to visit our Allotment and enjoy learning outside.
As the seasons changes our allotment adapts; weeds to pull out, new seeds to plant, plants to care for. And so the cycle repeats.
39
40
Table of content
41
5
Finland
9
France
13
Ireland — Mr. O´Sullivan´s Class
17
Ireland — Ms. O´Rourke´s Class
21
Italy—Frosinone
25
Italy—Lonate Pozzolo
29
Malta
33
Romania
37
United Kingdom
——— Comenius project 2012-2014 — Plan to Preserve this Pretty Planet ———
Partner schools: • Ist. Comprensivo C. Carminati (Scuola coordinatrice) Via Dante, 4 - 21015 Lonate Pozzolo (Varese), ITALY
• Kyösti Kallion koulu Tarhinkuja 4, 85500 NIVALA, FINLAND
• Collège Charles Péguy Avenue Charlemagne - 57640 VIGY, FRANCE
• Ovens National School Knockanemore, Ovens, Co. CORK, IRELAND
• Scuola Secondaria di Primo Grado “Luigi Pietrobono” Via G. Puccini, FROSINONE, ITALY
• St Joseph junior school, Cathedral Street SLM 1526 SLIEMA, MALTA
• Liceul de arte plastic “Romulus Ladea” 56, Dorobantilor street, CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA
• Yarnfield Primary School Yarnfield Road Tyseley BIRMINGHAM B11 3PJ, UK
42