Two hours in the woods, are enough….

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….to discover new paths.

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….to discover the botanical walk (and to possibly see the Christmas goblins making their magical tricks using herbs, according to Myronas!)

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…to see a strange and huge tree.

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….to make signs on the ground to help us find our way back.

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…to find something looking like a hollow for birds (but it was not…)

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…to cook!

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…to show our leadership skills!

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…to discover the beauty of nature.

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….and to leave our mark on the ground!

All, until next time!!!

(by Spyridoula Patouna, teacher in pre-K class in Athens)

Children are always right, even when we think they are wrong…

Sometimes we, educators, make mistakes…

One day, in our beloved yard, Chrysi got a cart, turned it upside down and tried to climb on it.

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I hastily said “Chrysi, that’s not right“.  She, however, stepped on it and proudly started playing by turning cart into a slide. The game started and Christos came to claim his turn.

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All I had to say then was “next please!“. Chrysi’s “wrong” use of the cart turned out to be the right game!

(by Maria Gryllaki, teacher in babies’ class in Athens)

How does it rain? Let’s experiment!

In school bus kids started a discussion about how does water gets included into the clouds and where does it come from?

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First, we noted on paper our thoughts and thought about the continuous circular movement of water. We talked about the global water cycle and wrote down the phrase, in Greek.

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Afterwards, we experimented over the phenomenon of condensation and found out that our breath is hot air. Blurring the windows of the school bus with our breaths, helped us realize how air changes into liquid.

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Then we played by creating patterns on the windows. Some children recognized the same happens in their bathroom.

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The experimentation thrilled children and their interest continued at home. So, Despina brought us a photo she took out of the experiment she made in home with a glass and ice cubes.

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We also studied the opposite phenomenon, evaporation, in which water is converted into air. We all remembered, from our daily life, when mom spreads out wet clothes to dry. At the same time we threw water on our trousers to see what happens and how quickly it dries.

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Back in class, school bus children continued to experiment on evaporation during cleaning the blackboard with a wet sponge. They wrote something on the board using the wet sponge and shortly after it was lost! Rest children of the class liked the experiment and asked to write with a wet sponge, too. As you can imagine, we ended having the cleanest blackboard in school!!

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(by Eleni Triantafyllopoulou, bus school teacher in Athens)

Ophthalmology class in school bus!

20130821_193831-1Children always laugh when they see my eyes like this!

One day,  kids asked me: “hey, what’s happening with your glasses and they can make your eyes so big? We want to know how you see”!

I told them eye-doctor says I have Hypermetropia. “And how does he know?” they further asked. So, I brought them printed papers with numbers and pictures, like the ones eye-doctors use.

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They started examining themselves

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and also asked to be examined by their friends.

IMG_20151204_083031Then, I gave them my glasses to understand “how I see”. Children tried them in many ways and said “Woooooow, everything looks bigger through your glasses!!!”.

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They got really excited by all this. Now, they may decide to construct an eye-clinic in class, examine other children and prescript the right glasses!!!

(by Spyridoula Patouna, teacher in pre-K class in Athens)

Hanging a paper tape in babies’ class

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I hanged the paper tape over babies’ heads and they instantly started to experiment with it.

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Stretched their body in order to reach the tape, touched it, twisted it and eventually, as were trying to play with it, they improved their movement.

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And beyond that: discovered one more tool to communicate each other!

(by Anastasia Kouroubali, teacher in babies class in Athens)

Babies play the melodica

In our babies class, we love to sing and play the melodica. Children get excited on music and show great interest in this specific musical instrument and the sound it produces.

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Today, after singing our song, they played the melodica themselves. And the result? Spectacular! Just like young musicians, the blew the instrument and pushed the buttons. Some even managed to produce a nice sound!

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As a result of this playing, attention and memory of children was stimulated and practiced their control and coordination skills.

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But most of all, this experience provided children with the ability to express themselves and have fun! Music is always an excellent tool for babies to discover the world.

(by Maria Gryllaki, teacher in babies’ class, in Athens)