ABC THE ART OF BEING A CHILD THE PARENTS MANUAL
Final product of Comenius multilateral school partnership 2011-2013 This e-book is the final product of the Comenius Multilateral Partnership “ABC The Art of Being a Child�, 2011-1-RO1-COM06-14672 according to the specifications contained in the common application form submitted by all partner schools.
Partners 1. Ysgol Capelulo, Penmawenmawr, Wales, The United Kingdom, Coordinator 2. Szkola Podstawowa, Sidzina, Poland 3. Istituto Comprensivo di Toricce, Italy 4. Trito Dimotiko Sxoleio Zografou, Greece 5. Zakladni Skola Bronzova, Prague, The Czech Republic
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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To everybody who, like all of us who worked for this project, truly believe that being a child is the most precious art ‌
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CONTENTS A message in a bottle …
page 6
An overview of our project
page 9
This is what we promised
page 10
The partner schools
page 12
Our partnership website
page 17
Chapter 1
page 18
Outdoor games & the world through children’s eyes in the future Chapter 2
page 36
Articles for the children’s magazine and children’s email messages Chapter 3 Treasure box of memories
page 40
Chapter 4 Masks and symbols from legends and traditional stories from my country
page 53
Farewell
page 58
Acknowledgements
page 60
References
page 61
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On Children Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
By Kahlil Gibran
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From Wales ‌.. The Art of Being a Child: a perfect title for our exciting project, exploring a child’s perspective on life. It made us think of everything we enjoyed when we were children and thus we began to think about the activities we would like to complete with our pupils. We found that many of the parents and grandparents used to play games similar to ours and at the same time, we realised that times have changed so much. Even so, children are still children who love to be active and have many varied interests. They enjoyed learning about their ancestral history and local myths and legends. They certainly rose to the challenges set and embraced the partner countries’ stories, with enthusiasm and without prejudice. We all enjoyed learning about the history of our school and how much that has changed over the last hundred years. We were fortunate to celebrate and share our learning with the local community as well as our parents. Most of all, we learnt how children prefer to learn-through interesting activities, today using the varied media available to them. As teachers, we are richer in the knowledge of how to motivate our pupils. As individuals, the children learnt to embrace the world outside their school, through the schools in Europe we communicate with. Within these pages, we have a mere glimpse into the importance of the project in creating tolerant and malleable minds.
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Taking a strange trip … “The Art of Being a Child” From Greece …. What a strange title, indeed! That was my first spontaneous reaction when I came across the title of the project. My very next thought was a question: Is being a child a kind of art really? Five schools from different European countries started working on the answer. Five different cultural and traditional backgrounds linked through the topic of childhood and the teachers’ desire to do the best for their students. On the one side of the road, kids. Across the road, teachers, parents, grandparents, people who deal with kids on a daily basis yet having left the memory of their own childhood behind. We set off! The ball of string unfolding and leading to the answer. Memories were recalled, the sweet nostalgic moments of our childhood came back reminding us of the innocence, the imaginative power, the carelessness, the joy, the tricks played on each other, the images of our heartedly missed beloved ones. A project which was full of the freshness of the morning dew, the primitive joy of life, our own memories. A project which verified the belief that experiential learning is the greatest teacher! A project based on collaboration and human contact which brought us closer by revealing our mutual characteristics and breaking down stereotypes and prejudice. Far away from those sweet early years of my life, running the fifth decade of my trip in life and having enjoyed every single moment of this two-year game I cannot but admit that the answer to the question set at the beginning is a big and loud “YES! Being a Child is Art, indeed!”
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From Italy ‌ The project has reinforced our European identity and has contributed to breakdown prejudices and stereotypes making all partners appreciate the qualities, similarities and cultures of each country. Our project has allowed us to learn from valued memories and knowledge of childhood. Through sharing memories and experiences, children, parents,staff and local community have been better sensitized as far as the generation gap is concerned and the bonds among them has been reinforced. The project has taught children how to gather information from different sources and how to use it, not only in their school but with children from other countries. Every child has improved the capacity of verbal and non-verbal communication so every child has given the better of himself. This is the objective of "The ABC project"!!
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An overview of our project Through this project we propose to nurture and develop children from the partner schools through the development of positive factors that they come across during their childhood. These will be developed through looking at nature, the expression of feelings through playing games, taking part in theatre, building models and communication in its various forms. These positive influences will come from both the schools and the wider communities that they live in. The activities of the project will also involve parents. Parents have a very important role together with the school in reducing the influences of factors which have a negative effect on the children’s lives; things that the project proposes as an objective to tackle: excessive use of computers and TV. The project also proposes to develop communication skills in foreign languages. Through this we propose to break down barriers and to develop children’s knowledge and understanding of wider European cultures and the problems faced by others. The development of languages is also a factor in advancing trade and entrepreneurial activities across Europe, another area we propose to develop through the creation of products to showcase the project. The children involved in the project and the other students that benefit from the final products – brochures, magazines, web page, curriculum, together with their parents can develop an optimum communication channel, can relate correctly to this period, necessary conditions for becoming citizens that are integrated in a correct system of values. Through all these, the project will help the children, parents and teachers in creating a vehicle, teaching them to approach childhood like an art, “the art of being a child”.
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This is what we promised … In the social and economic context of today’s Europe in which the parents are very preoccupied by their jobs and family incomes, children are more and more isolated, spending more and more time on individual activities or in virtual reality worlds of computer games. In doing this they lose the contact with other humans who can provide positive role models for them. Also there is a tendency for today's children to lose their childhood because of the high level access to information of all kind, because of the influences not always positive of groups of older persons(youths) on children. The project proposes through its activities an approach to the period of childhood which focuses on direct human relationships (child-child, child-parent, child-teacher) and on the advantages these offer, on playing in nature, on ways of spending their spare time with parents, on creative spirit, on realizing and respecting universal values like traditions, habits, symbols, the environment, human cooperation- things that exist in insufficient proportions in current school activities. The students will have an active role in this project and in self-development, expressing feelings, whishes, aspirations; they have to manifest their capacity of doing certain things, of highlighting their creative spirit. The project covers through its activities the aspects directly involved in children’s forming. Sometimes it is hard to find as a parent, without studying speciality documents, on raising children, but the activities of the project and the final products come to help the factors that are involved in educationoffering these educational alternatives. The project sets the place and role that new technologies should have in children's lives trough exemplifying advantages and disadvantages brought by these. Given the importance of childhood in one’s life, we will try to promote ways of experiencing the best moments of this period, cherish the advantages and celebrate as well as share the value of this with parents, grandparents, teachers and other members of the local community.
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The project will reinforce our European identity and help to break down prejudices and stereo-types making all partners appreciate the qualities, similarities and cultures of each country. Our project will allow us to learn from the valued memories and knowledge of our grandparents such as learning about the way children had fun and communicated through games in the past. Through sharing these memories and experiences, children, parents, staff and the local community will be better sensitized as far as the generation gap is concerned and the bonds among them will be reinforced.
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The partner schools Szkola Podstawowa, Sidzina, Poland Sidzina is located in a beautiful valley of Bystrzanka river at the feet of Babia G贸ra (1725 m above sea level). Its unique climate and outstanding beauty of the landscape, picturesque location and lush forests, rich in wild berries and mushrooms are great trumps, that make this land very attractive for tourism development. Sidzina is a small village situated in Beskid Makowski, about 70 km south from Krakow. It is typical agricultural region, where the most people support a family working on a farm. Many of our students come from families whose economicaland social situation is bad. Among children there are some with dysfunctions (hard-of-hearing, mental disability) and children from the dregs of society. Our students can use the new technologies. Our experience connected with working in previous Comenius project showed us how much they achieved while realization. Our school has 9 rooms including 6 classrooms. A computer room, small gym and a library. At the gym it is possible to organize interesting games and many different sports competitions. Outside the gym there is also the school field which is utilised as a football pitch and the second one is our small school stadium about 400m far from school. The school is equipped with many accessories and appliances which enable us to carry out interesting activities in summer and also in winter. Because our school is situated in mountainous terrain, we can organize the winter fun activities for children in the snow or ice as well as many other activities in summer or in other season of the year.
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Trito Dimotiko Sxoleio Zografou, Greece
Our school is situated near the centre of Athens
and
the
Athens
University
Campus. It is a Primary school with a long tradition in Environmental and Cultural projects while in the past we were the coordinators of a Comenius multilateral project.
There are no
children with special needs in our school and the percentage of immigrant pupils is very low. As we are an urban area, we are trying to exploit every possibility for projects which might benefit our children as far as their attitude towards nature and cultural diversity is concerned. Our school community takes pride in the collaboration among all stakeholders and in the continuous pursuit of participating in collaborative working schemes on various topics.
Ysgol Capelulo, Penmaenmawr, Wales, United Kingdom
With uninterrupted views of the mountains and the sea and fine panoramic seascape views of the Great Orme, Ysgol Capelulo is a daily,
bilingual,
co-educational
County
Primary School (Nursery / Infants / Juniors) for 3-11 year old children. The school serves the villages of Dwygyfylchi and Penmaenmawr, situated just off the A55.To the east is the town of Conwy and to the west is Bangor.
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There are five busy and inviting classrooms, a library and a teachers' resource room. The school has a hall that is used for P.E. lessons, collective worship and as a dining area. The school is fortunate to have large grounds. The school field is utilised as a football/rugby pitch and an athletics track is added during the Summer Term. The hard surface area/ school -yard is marked with a netball pitch. Other hard surfaces are painted with grids and number lines for children to enjoy a variety of games. The school’s commitment to the Healthy Schools Project and Eco-Schools, has meant that we have looked at the school environment and are fortunate to have a varied school environment which we are able to use to enrich the children's experiences. There is also an outdoor classroom area used by the whole of Key Stage 1. Welsh is taught as a second language but we aim to increase to teaching up to 25% of the time through the medium of Welsh. We saw the benefits of working closely in collaboration with European schools during or last Comenius project, therefore this opportunity will enable us to further these links and communicate with a wider audience. The project content will also enhance our pupils' understanding and tolerance towards other societies and abilities.
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Istituto Comprensivo di Torrice, Italy
Our school is a Comprehensive School which welcomes children from 3 years to 14 years and has three school types: childhood, primary and secondary level. The socio-cultural-economic environment in which the school is situated is diverse, rich in tradition and folklore and there are no phenomena of petty crime and drug addiction. The town of Torrice is located in a privileged geographical position just because it is located 6 km from Frosinone, Ciociaria, an important city, home of the main public institutions and large commercial centre. Not far from Torrice is Rome, our capital, just 60 km away. Naples and other tourist resorts and mountains (Sperlonga, Terracina, Gaeta, Formia, Fiuggi, Roccaraso, Pescosolido, Campocatino) and many others that, not only offer beautiful landscapes, but they are evidence of our artistic and cultural heritage. Our school has never participated in European projects.
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Video of the presentation of our school: http://youtu.be/Jhz8CrcUABs
Zakladni Skola Bronzova, Prague, The Czech Republic
The school is a basic school with extensive education of foreign languages. The school is situated in the suburb of Prague where different social groups of people live. One third of the pupils at the school are immigrants from different countries. Pupils with specific needs attend there too. We offer a good level of education for students with good socio-economic structure. Usually because of parents who work long hours, a vast majority of children stay away from the natural environment and social life. Children living nested with technology, spending most of their time chatting on the computer and playing games on the computer, have weaknesses in their relationship with friends, social relations, tolerance,
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solidarity and skills. Also the playgrounds are very limited both at school and outside the vicinity.
Our partnership website
All products of our collaboration can be found in our common website (http://abccomenius.eu), the place where every partner school published pupils’ work, photos from school visits and everything else that we would like to share with the world. Links to this common website were to be found in every school’s site or blog so that this could be accessible by parents or other interested parts.
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Chapter 1 Outdoor games & the world through children’s eyes in the future “Play, while it cannot change the external realities of children’s lives, can be a vehicle for
children to explore and enjoy their differences and similarities and to create, even for a brief time, a more just world where everyone is an equal and valued participant.”
Patricia G. Ramsey Contemporary American educational psychologist
Being a child is synonymous to playing! Just go back to your childhood years and try to recall the happiest moments. Surely these were related to toys and games, outdoor activities and being with your friends making up stories and acting out the roles of heroes and heroines. The children who took part in this project played a lot! Teachers enjoyed watching them in the school playground and shared with them joyful moments.
Children in Wales enjoy playing the parachute game outdoors with their friends. They try to roll the ball to each other without dropping it. They have to use their coordination skills to help them to do this. They have a lot of fun trying!
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During the project in Wales the children showed the teachers some of their favourite outdoor activities and tried games from the partner schools. It’s a pity photos can show only a small part of these joyful moments in the playground Of Ysgol Capelulo!
Games in the past!
The children worked with a local historian to experience then games plays by their older relatives at school.
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Click on the photo story to see wonderful examples of our children in Ysgol Capelulo and their imaginative ideas for their own games and developing their skills in sharing and fair play.
PhotoStory1_1.wmv
Children from the Greek school followed their teacher’s instructions to make a kite. Flying a kite is still a particularly enjoyed activity in spring time.
Children usually gather in groups and have competitions to see whose kite will go higher. The whole procedure requires team spirit, hand dexterity and love for adventure! Kites may land everywhere!
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Apart form this, pupils worked on collecting the most popular outdoor games they play at school or in the park.
They also put down the instructions for playing their own favourite outdoor games in an e-book to share them with their peers in the other schools. You can see two Welsh pupils trying to play with the elastic band just like her Greek friends do!
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Click
on
the
link
to
see
how
you
can
play
hopscotch,
mantilaki
and
many
more!
http://issuu.com/juliegy/docs/the_outdoor_games_we_played?mode=window
And what about the games in the future? How different will games and toys be after ten or twenty years? Judging from our own experience things do change rapidly! In Sidzina, children discussed what toys they will play with their children and grandchildren in the future and they designed them. They worked in groups on large sheets of paper using different methods and styles.
All pupils seemed to agree that computer games will spread even more! At Ysgol Capelulo, they have been looking at the benefits of using computer games to aid learning. Here are photos from the course of their studies on computer games.
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Heading south to Greece, children tried to foresee what games will be popular with kids of the next generation. Let’s have a look! Chryssilia, a 12-year-old pupil says …. “I believe that children of my age won’t be playing games with a ball or dolls as they do today. Electronic games will be widespread. I am afraid that children won’t get out of their homes to play but sit in front of a screen or play with the smart robots scientists will have made. Children’s friends will be robots in a far away place which will be their game partners in online battles.” On the other hand, Irene claims that in 30 years from now Greece will be full of Chinese people so everybody will be playing “Chinese”. We need a piece of chalk to draw two circles, a small one inside a bigger one. Then we use our chopsticks to pick up a stone from the big circle and put it in the small circle. The player who does that in 1 minute is the winner who is awarded a medal! While John a 9-year-old boy describes in words and in painting a game of the future called “The human target”
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Equipment: a piece of chalk, 1 ball Children draw two circles on the ground, one 5 metres away from the other. They throw the ball onto the ground so that it hits both circles and bounces back. If they fail to do so they have to chase the opponent and hit them with the ball. The player who gets hit will take their turn to throw the ball.
At the meeting in Wales, children carried research activities to learn some traditional outdoor games. They have interviewed parents, grandparents and then, they were invited at school to teach the children games of their childhood. Children practiced some traditional outdoor games and then we have created a video and wrote a rules' manual. Children have made posters, banners, flags. They have worked with enthusiasm and commitment and a spirit of collaboration. VIDEO GALLES DESK:http://youtu.be/KPUAxQ-N3fM
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Torrice’s school Italy - Traditional Outdoor games - New games - Modified games
Participants Number: Two teams numbered, with 5 children on each team. The playing field is formed by two lines equidistant from a central line. The game master, stands at the center line equidistant from the two groups about four feet, holding a handkerchief (the flag) and calls a number such as the number one. The numbers one of the two teams that have faced, they run quickly to the flag and be able to pick it up and bring it into their field without being touched by the enemy number one. If you succeed, you earn a point. The team that arrives first to ten ,wins.
Traditional outdoor game
Participants number: 7 or 8 children. You can play by yourself The strummolo is a truncated cone with an iron tip inserted inside. The game can only take place on a flat surface where it can turn. Before being launched, around the strummolo is turned a piece
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of string (“spear"). The spear,turning faster, turns the strummolo. The children, after the count, wrap the spear around the strummolo and throw it on the ground to make turn it. The winner is someone turning the strummolo the longest.. The super winner is someone, after having started it, can take on the hands continuing to turn it.
Traditional outdoor games with rhymes
Participants number: six children
Children group chooses a Queen. Children will have five meters from the Queen, all on one line.
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One by one, her face must recite a nursery rhyme that says: " Queen, little queen how many steps will you give me to get to your castle with faith and with the rings on the tips of the knife, riding the donkey?" The Queen replies to her liking: "Three like a lion" or "one like an ant , ten like a shrimp "etc.etc ...The steps are made forward and backward. The child who first can reach the castle leads the next game.
Traditional outdoor games
Participants number: from 2 to an indefinite number of participants Establish a path and define the finish line. The game consists of a rush to jump made with a sack around the legs to the waist and held up by the hands of the same competitor. The winner is the one who arrives first at the finish line.
Participants number: from 5 to 10 children The children make the “count� to start the game.
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The children begin to play, saying: Moving, moving Standing still With a foot With a hand Clap your hands The zigzag A violin A little kiss Touch the ground Touch again Touch the heart Kiss of love The child who doesn’t drop the ball, wins the race
Traditional outdoor game Participants number: you can play by yourself to become more able or with 3 or 4 children. prohibit others to enter Drawing a large rectangle on the floor, divided into six small rectangles numbered from 1 to 7 (the last rectangle is divided into two square-numbered 6-7). First Phase The current player throws a stone into small rectangle number 1, if the stone falls into it,jumping on one foot into the first box, takes the stone, bending the leg that is in balance and continue along the same foot to leap forward in rectangles 2-3-4-5,at the sixth, he takes a half turn in the air and returns on feet together in perfect balance, immediately returns on a foot (changing it) and comes back. All this without stepping on the lines drawn on the ground.After the first box, throw the stone in box 2 and start over until you get to the box 6-7. Second Phase The stone is not launched, but resting on one foot, you must walk passing a box with every step, if the stone falls, the player must give way to his companion that follows and then resume when he made a mistake.
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Third Phase Repeat the path into the stone resting on the back of the hand. Fourth Phase As the third, taking the stone placed on the index of the left hand. Fifth Fase (the "blind") Do the path with your eyes closed without stepping on the lines. Last Phase The player who has passed the "blind" phase, turns his back to the bell,throws the rock and
the
box
where
it
falls,
it
becomes
his
(the player
builds a "house").
The player who owns a house can prohibit others to enter.
Traditional outdoor game with rhymes Participants number: from 5 to 10 girls The girls are all on one line and sing: “The five dancers of the carillon on on will meet at the station on on the train goes by and they aren’t there
r
r
The five dancers of the carillon on on”. While they sing, they jump on one foot, crossing the other foot out and inward.
At
the
end, one
at
a
time,
the
the
city.
dancers dancing present themselves. “I
am
the first,
the
prettiest in
I am the second, with the curl in front of the city.
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I
am
the third
with the
I
am
the fourth, good
I
am
the fifth
The
game may continue
if the
flower on the
head of
seamstress in
the the
city. city.
who painted most of
the
girls
and mimic them.
invent other trades
city”.
New Games
Rules
Participants number: from 2 to 6 Drawing on the ground a ” little street” and establish a start and a finish line.
One by one, competitors must push the cap with a finger only without leaving the lane. If the cap comes out of the “little street”, the competitor stops where the cap is released and starts to push it when all other competitors have passed their turn. The winner is who is first to the finish.
Participants number: from 5 to 8 Participants
Draw on the ground as many circles as there are participants.
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Every child is inside a circle, and inside it is written the name of a city or nation. A
participant representing the
world, he
is also inside
the
circle.
The game begins when the "World" says: I declare war on ... "and pronounces the name of a city or a nation. The child who is into the circle appointed, runs away and tries not to get caught by the world. The child who runs away, may seek help from other cities, so the "world" must work harder. The game ends when the "World" manages to catch all the cities, or when taking a single city. This rule is established before you start the game.
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Bouncy boy For this game you need a piece of chalk and flint. Use chalk to paint a dummy line, which begins the play. If you are not sure how the dummy looks, we have prepared a diagram below. Rules: The first player stands on the line and throws pebbles at the first field (the field with the number 1). Then start on one leg jump into the fields / sections, and progress through gradually according to numbers. The player has to skip the field where the stone landed. Where there are two fields next to each other (figure 4 and 5), jump with both feet at the same time). In the next field, continue on one leg, then end with both feet at once. Once a player reaches the end they turn 180 degrees and return the same way back. Again miss the one with the pebble/flint, collect the pebble (standing on one leg) and return to the beginning. The game continues in the same manner, each player taking turns to throw a stone one space further (ie to second, then third box, ...). If a player makes a mistake (stepping over the line, bad jump, stone misses, etc.), next player takes the turn. The next player continues from the box where the rock landed. When the game ends, you can play backwards (start from box number 8), or change to the left leg to hop along.
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Balls This very popular game, of course, need a ball and socket. There are several variants, depending
only
on
what
the
players
agree.
One
example
is:
The game begins. Everyone throws the ball as close to the hole. Whoever is closest begins: He/she throws all the marbles (forward, determine their number, usually played with ten) toward the hole. All other players follow and take their turns. Then it is their task to help the marbles by flicking them with their fingers (not pushing) to deliver balls into the hole. The winner is the one who has all the balls in the hole first. Note: Each player should have different coloured balls to make them known.
Johnny,
get
up!
First, mark the start and finish line (distance depends on the agreement by the players). Players agree or draw a line that will be the destination, and back to the start. There is one crier. All other players stand at the starting line. To begin, the caller speaks to one player after another, saying, "Johnny, get up!" They say, "What time is it?" The caller will answer one of the following (see below) that a player will have to do (imitating animal): One One
stork
-
one
frog
-
long
step the
with
raised
player
knees jumps
(imitating
the
like
a
stork) frog
One elephant - a big step forward (like an elephant, do not forget the trunk) One
chicken
One
ant
One
crayfish
-
-
one -
one
step
small a
back
step
foot
tiny (possibly
after
in
length
step four)
back
forward as
crayfish
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The number of steps can change (i.e., two elephants, four kills, ...). You can also use other commands, depending on what is agreed and on the imagination. The caller alternates one player at a time. The winner is the one who is first to arrive at the finish.
Blind man's buff Choose one player to be blindfolded with a scarf (so they can not see anything), and the others turn him/her around several times to lose orientation. As a rule, this is done accompanied by the rhyme:
Blind Babo where you doing? Into a corner What do you see? Cock. What's more? Nothing. So to me, the blind Babo, catch! Others then run around the "blind man" to tease him/her. If the "blind man" catches someone from the players and says his/her name, then they change places.
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Stork lost cap This is a great game just for little kids who are learning to recognize their colours. Players stand in a circle, one in the middle (CAP) and says, "Stork lost the cap, the colour of the paint xxx" (they put in the colour). Everyone in the circle must find the right colour clothing . The piece of clothing can be used only once (i.e. when repeating colours must find another item of clothing). The game can be varied by children looking for the colours of not only clothes, but also for example the objects in the vicinity and the like.
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Chapter 2 Articles for the children’s magazine and children’s email messages “Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow.” Lawrence Clark Powell, American bibliographer and author
Children must be able to express themselves in any possible way. Children must be given the chance to communicate their thoughts to others and also read other
people’s
thoughts.
Communication was a significant part of this partnership. Sometimes,
technology
made
it
easier for us to communicate! Skype meetings held the team spirits high! Pupils of the 3rd Primary School of Zografou had the chance to see some of their Comenius partners from Poland, Italy and the Czech Republic and exchange information about the end of the school year and sing to them a traditional song from the islands. Our first skype meeting took place on Friday June 8, 2012. However, we wanted to promote other ways of making ourselves heard so we asked kids to make magazines, write letters, make posters, publish and advertise their ideas on several issues. Children in Italy made a fantastic magazine with articles! Click on the link under the photo and enjoy a good read!
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http://www.youblisher.com/p/445404-ABC-the-Art-of-Being-a-Child/
Pupils of the Greek partner school wrote articles focusing on their thoughts and feelings about moments of their childhood. Click on "our e-magazine". http://issuu.com/juliegy/docs/_____________________?mode=window&backgroundC olor=%23222222
But communication in the modern world can be dangerous! Children today make use of many technological facilities and it is their parents’ and teachers’ duty to remind them of the risks of internet surfing and what communicating electronically entails. Esafety campaigns were run in every partner school. Here are some examples:
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From the Welsh school ‌
http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d7a4d304f4445314e6a553d0d0a&blogview=true &campaign=blog_playback_link
The Greek one ‌
And how about the little ones? Do they know much about computers? You bet!
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http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d7a4d304f4441344f44493d0d0a&blogview=true &campaign=blog_playback_link
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Chapter 3 Treasure box of memories Articles for the “Treasure Box of Memories. Exchange of the children’s letters. Examples of games, songs and poems about memories from the past. Invites to grandparents sharing their memories of school days and childhood experience. History of your school and its community school. Atrwork depicting historyof the school, teachers, pupils, parents.
At the meeting in Athens, children had fun discovering toys, songs and stories form the childhood of their parents and grandparents through photos, interviews and research in their grandparents’ attics. Children gained an insight into how our forbearers played. Children developed the skills to make some toys and then they had fun making them with help of their grandparents.
All materials have been uploaded in the magazine.
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Magazine - Treasure box of memories
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Poems and rhymes of Carnival For the Carnival, children researched about the most important masks, rhymes, customs and food.
Poems and rhymes
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Centenary song! The children wrote the lyrics and our music teacher composed the melody for our children to sing our centenary song to celebrate our school’s 100 birthday. Our song was about the history of our school and the teachers and children that have come through her doors over the years! Click on the link to hear our song!
Capelulo centenary song 2.wmv
Click on the photo story to see our school’s community sharing in our history in our school’s 100 years exhibition.
treasure box of capelulo's memories.wmv
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K dětství patří hry, které se dědí z generace na generací. Ať jste vyrůstali kdekoliv, nejspíš jste hráli tytéž hry jako děti i v jiných koutech země nebo dokonce jako vaši rodiče či prarodiče. Vzpomenete si ještě na ně?
Childhood games are passed down from generation to generation. It does not matter where you grew up, you probably played the same games as children in other parts of the country, or even the same ones as your parents or grandparents. Can you think of more of them? At home, I borrowed a student our school paper.
GAMES AND TOYS OF OUR ANCESTORS - Introduction
As you know, we're not just anyone. Our ancestors without toys were bored so they invented them. They were for example porcelain dolls, metal toy cars, etc. Someone had to have seen these and then those seen so badly wanted.
GAMES AND TOYS of my grandparents
I asked my grandmothers, (Although I do not know how this is possible, but the narrative the story-who knows if it's true). So grandmothers (one and two) jumped shot, I guess you know how to do it, then revolved around a pole (from which I Stangl was told) and then remained standing and said with them span the whole world. They played at being mothers and escorted porcelain dolls in the pram. And when it's broken, you do not wish know what occurred then. In the wood, they played the game, ‘Škatulata Batulata’ and it is played to this day. Not to mention the various Nursery Rhymes.
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GAMES AND TOYS of my parents
Mum jumped through the rubber and played "volleyball" over cords on clothes. Then, just like grandma did, jumping drink, play ‘Škatulata Batulata’ and dodgeball. And it was the same with rhymes. Dad played with his brother Thomas with tin toy cars from a kit- Seko and Mercurywith toy racing cars. He played card games, board games like ‘Ludo’, but unfortunately my Dad and his brother Thomas did not like outdoor games outside the care of their animals (I forgot to mention that they had a large garden) and it was the only outdoor-one might say-game they played.
What to say in conclusion? It's not easy. Unlike our toys, ancient ancestors’ toys are great. You know, it was a different time and with time almost everything changes. So should I give an example of grandfather’s Mercury Meccano. Meccano adapts time, so the new Mercury is literally the computer. Robots voice control and wi-fi ... have now taken over from these early mechanical toys. Small children have nowadays quite good computer skills, while our ancestors did are not quite sure yet. The computer was not invented when they were children. And maybe it's a good thing, because the computer can be dangerous. That you know.
David, class IV.A
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How to play mum My mother liked to play with a doll she received for Christmas when she was 2 years old. The doll was named Věruška. It was all plastic, had no hair and had bright blue, blinking eyes. Her mother took them to walk in the stroller with an embroidered blanket. Mum’s mother sewed Věruška a nice dress. We have Věruška still at the cottage. Mum does not play with her anymore, but I do sometimes even with a pony and a stroller and grandmother made a dress again. My mother had previously played with her nearly as much as I did when I was smaller.
By Adéla, class IV.A
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Mum’s Beloved Toy When my mum was little, she got a big bear under the tree as her first Christmas present. He was so huge that it would not fit under the tree. It was bigger than my mum. They started calling him Yogi Bear. He was all white, had black beady eyes, big ears and growled. She had great joy with him, and because she had no siblings, she considered him her older brother. She went to sleep with him, playing, talking, pulling him by the ear and they always had to be together. Everyone liked him and they could not help but have him as a member of the family. What she liked most was that he could growl. When my mother went to school, she taught Teddy to write, count, read, and told him tales. One day, her mother said “Eva, the Yogi Bear is grubby and dirty and must be cleaned.” She carried him to the cleaners, and he picked him up and they were very surprised that Yogi Bear had stopped growling, had a torn ear and eye. My mum saw it and started crying. She had him into adulthood, but had to be careful in case it fell apart. When I was born, I had her beloved teddy bear all the time. The tradition repeated itself, as I also got a big bear for my first Christmas. The two bears sat next to each other for years. Then we had to discard Yogi because he became too old. Yogi Bear lived an incredible forty years!
By Eva, class IV.A Dearest Daddy’s Hobby When dad was little, he got the ball in his hand. He began toying with it differently at home and then outside. He liked the ball because it was a beautiful black and white, full leather ball. When my dad was bigger, he found friends who went with him to the playground, where they tried to play football. Since they did not know the rules, they were playing just for fun. The course was all cinders, so you can imagine what they looked like. They went home rubbing and black from the slag. The field had two gates, played with ten players plus one goalie on each side. Dad was so excited about football that when he was older, he began to devote himself to the sport. First, he played in the minors, and then for SK TATRA Smíchov. Finally, he suffered a severe knee injury, so he could not continue in this sport. And thus ended his favorite hobby.
By Adam, class IV.A What my grandmother was playing My grandmother's favorite toys were a doll in traditional costume and a small teddy bear. The doll was named Andulka and the teddy bear was named Misha. She went with these toys everywhere, talking with them, feeding them and falling asleep with them.
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In addition to these toys, she liked to play with small tin carriages, in which there were tiny dolls. Also, my grandmother's other favorite toy was a wooden living room and kitchen. When it was raining outside, she was able to play all afternoon. She preferred to climb up to the attic and no one knew her whereabouts. She had her beautiful kingdom of toys- and small doll furniture to fit nicely. She even played during the holidays with all the toys and of course also enjoyed a wonderful little place tucked away in the attic. My grandmother gave her daughter , my mother today, her teddy bear named Misha, a small kitchen and obýváček.
By Šárka, class IV.A
Pethau Zdenka\Náš+kalendář.ppt
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Me and my family scrapbook
http://www.youblisher.com/p/563560Me-and-my-family/
Looking at photos
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http://www.youblisher.com/p/563566-Looking-at-photos/
Our childhood songs
http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d7a557a4d6a55344f54673d0d0a&blogview=true&ca mpaign=blog_playback
Our 6th graders travelled back in time and tried to remember songs they used to sing when they were infants. Some of the ones they found were even older!
Lefkoma
Some years ago, when teachers of our school were pupils, children used to keep a kind of diary, a collection of memories and thoughts of the moment concerning school, friends and family life. Some of us still keep this childhood treasure of memories as something valuable. The teacher of second grade shared her own with her pupils and the little ones did their best to create their "lefkoma". Soon you will be able to view the English version which will be coloured and binded in a book form and kept in our school library.
http://issuu.com/juliegy/docs/b_class?e=4750049/1277753
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My memories collection Here is a collection of childhood memories written by pupils of the 4th grade of the 3rd Primary School in Zografou, Athens, Greece. Paintings and texts were created in class after a brainstorming activity and discussions the pupils had with their teacher on the topic. http://issuu.com/juliegy/docs/_______1_?e=4750049/1276775
The Greek e-magazine Pupils of the Greek partner school wrote articles focusing on their thoughts and feelings about moments of their childhood. Click on "our e-magazine" below and read their reports. Our e-magazine
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Making our kite
Making your own kite with wooden sticks and paper used to be one of children's most loved habits during the carnival period in early spring. Teachers who spent their childhood in villages around Greece still remember the pride they took in being able to make the best flying kite and winning the competition usually held on Ash Monday. Children at school were very keen on trying to make one in the traditional way. They did fine!
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Chapter 4 Masks and symbols from legends and traditional stories from my country CZECH myth:
Krakonoš - the good spirit of our mountains Even made man master of mountains in his own image and tell him: "Rule thou!" And accordingly it seemed too.
Krakonoš transmitted rocks, helped poor men and punished the greedy. He knows every child. He wore a beard, ruled a massive club and had a good-natured smile. He conjured frost on the trees and blew snowflakes from above the valley. He drove the wind direction and for every season chose the most appropriate one. All this still happens, even though he is not in his youth. Do not drive through the mountains on a bike or car to spoil mountain ozone – the ones who do are would-be tourists to whom nothing is sacred. If you have not yet met him, then this is only because the mountains are vast and even Krakonoš cannot be omnipresent. So maybe you will at least meet his helpers in green uniforms, carefully protecting Krakonoš’s preserve that is kept for the next generations.
The first mention of dwarfs in ancient chronicles is traced back to 1561. This is the first figure of the Lord of the mountains, still nameless, emphasizing the concept of "master." This raises the puzzle as part of heraldic emblems include Giant feudal lords. Silesian Schaffgotsch has the character of a griffin who has an eagle head, deer antlers, lion's body, goat's feet and two-piece tail. This first view is the last portrait of him. The Giant Mountains National Park is brushed the deposition of years and the Management use this as their seals or stamp. The Lord is the master of the scepter with čaromocí and inspires fear. People fear the small man before a large mountain, they fear the
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mysterious natural forces, they fear the thunder of woodcutters and their echo; and fear a lonely wanderer bezcestí in fog or snow.
The Lord came to the mountain in folk reading books. Originally, he was half German and half Czech and his temperament in the Czech stories as a comical figure, but portrayed as rough by the German stories. Patriots did not like the German-sounding name, so he changed his name to Rybercoul Řepočeta, even huffed Hradecky, Professor Václav Kliment Klicpera to slavishly translated name of the spirit of the mountains and, created by the Czech people, Krakonoš. The Czechs did this in a spirit of national revival, becoming a Czech protector and defender of truth and justice.
So Klicpera’s Krakonoš settled in Czech fairy tale as a literary theme, as a motive for illustrators and his story was told in the evenings in the time before television. With the invention of television, so too came Krakonoš beer, cheese, theater festival, carnival costume parade and he also plays a role in Harrachov welcoming.
Krakonoš year does not start on the first of January as for us, but the first butterbur, which pop out of the snow at the creeks. Bunches pop out like a green stick figure with a message: "I live! It is spring and winter is gone!" That signals the arrival of spring along with the snowdrops, then all the bells. Giant’s kingdom comes to life after winter and the landscape changes with blossoming flowers and cherry blossoms. Months are named 54
by the growing planst, and so they go after each month: Butterbur, snowdrops, primroses and dandelions month, the month of daisies and meadow bells, the month of knotovka and goldenrod. The autumn month sees the growth of heather, hellebore, and aconite and ends up launching the first snow plants growing. Then Krakonoš orders deer to honk the end of the year, and gives orders: "Pixies, download tree sap into barrels in the underground chambers! Bouquets, throw the onions in a hurry to underground bedrooms! Quadrupeds and hairy animals, hide from the cold in dens and maternity boxes and you people pull back the roof to the hot oven. In my kingdom it is time for winter sleep. "
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FAREWELL
Pupils and teachers of all partner schools in the project “ABC The Art of Being a Child” would like to thank you for reading this e-book and hope that we managed to make you travel back to your childhood. We truly hope that you had a good glimpse of what a child’s daily routine entails and more importantly thought about the ways to make this better and more fruitful for your children. In the beginning of this book we invited you to view your children as children of the whole world, as the bridge to the future. Closing this book, we urge you to think of the best possible ways to build your relationship with your own child by reflecting on the lines of the following poem. Children deserve the best! Parents, grandparents, teachers, everyone being next to a child must target their common efforts towards offering the best to them! Should we all channel this love to the right direction, we will have a better world for everyone! Let us all share this dream!
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If I had my child to raise over again by Diana Loomans http://youtu.be/4wL2xJ2N43Y
If I had my child to raise over again, I'd finger paint more, and point the finger less. I'd do less correcting, and more connecting. I'd take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes. I would care to know less, and know to care more. I'd take more hikes and fly more kites. I'd stop playing serious, and seriously play. I'd run through more fields, and gaze at more stars. I'd do more hugging, and less tugging. I would be firm less often, and affirm much more. I'd build self-esteem first, and the house later. I'd teach less about the love of power, And more about the power of love. It matters not whether my child is big or small, From this day forth, I'll cherish it all.
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Acknowledgements
All partners would like to thank all the people who were involved in the project and helped by offering their best: parents who helped us prepare the meetings, grandparents who shared their childhood memories with us, local communities and unions which participated actively and encouraged us to keep working, our national agencies, school advisors and every colleague and friend who gave us feedback, commented on our plans or suggested better options. Above all we thank our pupils who were our inspiration and canvas for the collaborative work and the wonderful moments we shared with European partners. May you grow happily and conquer a much more beautiful world than this! May your dreams and expectations from the future be valued by everyone around you! May the value of the art you bring to this world be treasured by them all!
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References For the making of this e-book a series of web 2.0 tools were used or found in the following resources: http://www.youblisher.com/ http://issuu.com/home http://smilebox.com/ http://www.glogster.com/ http://youtube.com https://maps.google.com/
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