Don’t forget what really matters! Erasmus Project

Project Title

Don’t forget what really matters!

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Environment and climate change; Home and justice affairs (human rights & rule of law)

Project Summary

We are five partners from all over Europe. We all are Primary Schools and some of us have several experiences in international projects. In contrast, the coordinators of the project only have a little experience, only doing eTwinning projects for three years now. But this fact has not been an obstacle to develop our project.
“Don’t Forget what Really Matters” is a project born by the necessity of making the children more human and developing the need of social inclusion among them.
The main aim of our project is turning our students into good citizens. Linked with what we have said before we find the environmental issues that we also work in our project.
The project has been applied with children aged 10-12. Even though, all the children in the schools and the rest of the School’s Communities have been taking part part of it in different activities.
Main selection criteria for choosing students who participated in LTT project activities were parental agreement and pupil’s involvement in the project activities, willingness and eagerness to participate in a travelling experience.

Project’s main objectives:
– Do cooperative work among other countries and different cultures.
– Develop solidarity values among people and environment.
– Develop an active and responsible role as a world citizen that starts in their own communities.
– Promote the respect towards different cultures.
– Include non discriminating habits in the students’ daily lives in order to make a fairer society.
– Know the refugees current issue, its causes and consequences.
– Promote the critical thinking towards stereotypes.
– Be concerned about the current environment problems in Europe from the nearest to the furthest experiences.
– Reinforce the knowledge that children have about the situations that refugees and immigrants go through.
– Develop children’s positive attitudes towards immigrants and refugees.
– Promote the refugees inclusion in the society.
– Develop the children’s awareness towards the importance of taking care of the environment and people .
During 1st year of project, pupils were involved in activities about migration. Pupils, age 10 – 12 were participating in common project activities – making a project logo and voting for the best one, watching and discussing a video about migration, and making their family trees and researching their own family history.
The LTT in Greece allowed children meet each other for the first time.Children were able to learn the real situation of refugee lives and situations at refugee camps: they couldn’t go to the planned refugee camp visit, because of an internal set of circumstances happening at the camp at that moment. As a result children developed positive attitude towards immigrants and refugees.
The Greek students prepared a black theatre play based on the story “Karlichen” written by UNHCR.

In the 2nd year of the project, pupils worked on environmental issues. All the activities in Latvia focused in this issue. Pupils of all project countries made one comic about saving the environment, together drew a cooperative puzzle ‘A Clean Environment’, cleaned local areas, made a Decalogue about reducing waste, recycled different materials by creating decorations.

During LTT in Poland, students, in international groups worked together on environmental issues during the seminar, workshops and after that they prepared together musical instruments from recycled materials.
Meeting- interactive, musical performance about tolerance, friendship, with the school community, in which students acted and sang together.
Other activities in Poland: interactive games with QR codes using SAM Labs blocks for programming and iPads, talent show presenting national dances and culture as well.

The activities below are only few examples of other tasks done in the different schools . All the materials can be found in the project blog, the Results Platform and the Twinspace.
Latvia:
-Contest in Latvian school – “Get to know Europe”
-Collecting donations for animal shelter.
Greece:
-The tree of timeless value.
– Visit to the refugee camp in Koutsohero.
– Christmas bazaar of recycled :the profits were sent to the non-profit organisation “The Child’s Smile”.
Italy:
-School activity in cooperation with the Mazzarino scout group entitled “At school of recycling”.
Poland:
-The World Water Day
-Erasmus Day
– Several dissemination activities around Europe.
Spain:
-A Bosnian refugee talk for all the school’s community.
-Cakes contest : the profits went to an NGO from Ethiopia.
-Town hall organised an exhibition about refugees.in our school .
-Two dissemination activities for teachers in our area.
Regarding the impact, and, as a non tangible result, we have realised the improvement of the awareness towards the importance of taking care of the environment and people in our schools communities. The visible results consist on all the tasks done and resources used to carry on the project.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 89414 Eur

Project Coordinator

ESCOLA SANT DOMÈNEC & Country: ES

Project Partners

• 5o Dimotiko Sxoleio Tirnavou
• Zespol Szkolno-Przedszkolny nr 2 w Gdansku
• Tirzas pamatskola
• Istituto Comprensivo Mazzarino
• 10 Dimotiko Sxoleio Agion Anargyron