2ND TRANSNATIONAL MEETING, İZMİR
As Şehit Uzman Çavuş Ali AKDOĞAN Primary School, we have completed four projects so far. Frankly, this project excites us the most because it has concrete outcomes. Open classroom, sensory garden and sensory path. Our kindergarten students would sometimes plant the tiny garden of our school, but it was not regular. And we had been talking among ourselves for years about wishing we had a covered area in our school. Therefore, we were very happy when we learned the content of the project.
The tasks of the project between September and November 2023 included the promotion of the construction phases of the open classroom, sensory garden and path. Since our former principal Öztürk SARIDEDE will change his position in the summer of 2023, we decided to complete our open classroom before he left school. Our volunteer group consisting of architects and agricultural engineers gave us great support. They held a workshop with the children on what kind of garden they wanted and drew the architectural project of our open classroom.
We started our work in the garden in May. First, we taught the agricultural tools to our kids. We cleared the grass and plowed the soil with the children. We planted peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, tomatoes and beans. Our school administrators and employees who continued to work in the summer said that they ate them for breakfast. We finished the construction of our open classroom at the beginning of June.
The tasks of the project between September and November 2023 included the promotion of the construction phases of the open classroom, sensory garden and path. Since our former principal Öztürk SARIDEDE will change his position in the summer of 2023, we decided to complete our open classroom before he left school. Our volunteer group consisting of architects and agricultural engineers gave us great support. They held a workshop with the children on what kind of garden they wanted and drew the architectural project of our open classroom.
We started our work in the garden in May. First, we taught the agricultural tools to our kids. We cleared the grass and plowed the soil with the children. We planted peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, tomatoes and beans. Our school administrators and employees who continued to work in the summer said that they ate them for breakfast. We finished the construction of our open classroom at the beginning of June.
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When school started in September, we put desks and tables in our open classroom and put it into use. In addition to studying with their teachers, children began to use the classroom to do homework, read books and eat their meals during breaks.
We acquired many pallets with the help of our parents to build our sensory garden. 4th grade students painted these pallets. We, as teachers, cut and sawed them to make our garden fence. Then, we prepared our garden for planting. Together with the children, we planted the flowers in our garden, which we acquired with the help of our teacher friends and parents. We left an area of our garden empty to plant with our guests during the activity.
We acquired many pallets with the help of our parents to build our sensory garden. 4th grade students painted these pallets. We, as teachers, cut and sawed them to make our garden fence. Then, we prepared our garden for planting. Together with the children, we planted the flowers in our garden, which we acquired with the help of our teacher friends and parents. We left an area of our garden empty to plant with our guests during the activity.
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Our kids, together with their teachers, made wind chimes and insect houses for our sensory garden. They carried out their work by painting and designing natural and waste materials.
We started to create our sensory path using different materials. |
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All these were the things we had to do before the meeting. Moreover, after the preparations such as hosting the guests and making the program were completed, we started to wait for the big day.
On the morning of November 5th, we welcomed our students from Bulgaria with their host families. In the evening, we picked up our Slovenian girls from their hotel. |
November 6th 2023
Teachers came to our school at 9.30 in the morning. The students staying with the families were at school at 8.30 in the morning. We welcomed our guests with the Welcome Song sung by our students. Afterwards, another group of students played folk dances and we went to the room of our new school principal, Hüseyin KANDEMİR.
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Our school principal made a short welcome speech. After resting for a while, we visited our school, classrooms, open classroom and sensory garden.
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After a short break, our students made presentations about our open classroom and sensory garden. We liked the work done so far. Each school built an open classroom according to its own conditions and started using it. Work on the garden was also continuing.
After having our lunch at school, we planted spinach and carrots with our teacher Mustafa. We watered the vegetables we planted aaaand surprise(!).
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After finishing the first day's work at our school, we went to Kemeraltı. Kemeraltı has been located in the center of Izmir since the 1500s and is one of the world's largest open-air shopping centers with more than 10,000 shops today. Here, you can find everything you are looking for. We walked around the narrow and crowded streets of Kemeraltı. Our guests did shopping. We ended our day after drinking our famous Turkish coffee. We dropped our children off at their homes. The children attended the evening activities prepared for them by the host families.
November 7th 2023
Our partners arrived at our school at 09.00. After a short coffee break, we teachers started the meeting to plan our next mobility. We talked about the details of the job shadowing meeting we would hold in Blagoeavgrad and determined the date. We also discussed what more we could do to disseminate the work we have done so far. We identified our deficits and decided what was necessary to overcome them.
After a short break, we participated in the art of marbling, one of the traditional Turkish handicrafts. Paper marbling is a method of aqueous surface design which can produce patterns similar to smooth marble or other kinds of stones. A marbling artist and his trainees helped us. Especially children loved this work. Each of them made many paintings. So did the teachers. We packaged their masterpieces to take home. One of the best aspects of this project was that a different work could be done and exhibited in each activity.
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While we were holding this meeting, the kids learned to knit bracelets with the help of a teacher. 4th grade students taught their guest friends how to knit bracelets in the colors of their country's flag.
After having our lunch, kids played some mind games with our principal. He is the coordinator of mind games in Bayraklı.He also played chess and backgammon with the teachers.
We let our guests so that they could have a good rest. While some of them were visiting Alsancak, some of them went to Foça district, 50 kms away from İzmir. Foça(Phokaia) is a small town built on an ancient city on the seashore and is famous for its Mediterranean monk seals.
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November 8th 2023
After our guests arrived in the morning, the children made their presentations about the sensory pathway, insect houses and wind chimes.
Since we had some time left, they played dodgeball with our school students during the break. After a short rest, the students started their own excavations in the excavation training area. Our archaeologist explained how they should do this. Using small shovels, rakes and brushes, the children removed the finds previously placed in the educational area. They placed the finds in boxes. Afterwards, they cleaned the materials they used and put them back. A 3rd grade student, Belçim asked me, "Teacher, have the things we found changed the history?" When I told her that this was not a real excavation but just an excavation training exercise, she was very disappointed and said, "So what, did we do this for nothing?" and complained. This was one of the funniest moments of the event.
After having lunch at school, we went to Konak Square. This is the center of the city. Governorship and City Hall are in this square. We also saw the 122-year-old clock tower in the square and the Konak Mosque built in 1755.
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Afterwards, we went to Symrna Tumulus near our school. This is the place where today's İzmir was first founded. The first city of İzmir was founded here in the 4th century BC and became very rich thanks to maritime trade. Later, upon a dream he had, Alexander the Great moved the city to its new location, known as Agora, located near Kemeraltı.
An archaeologist working in this excavation area and an archeology student accompanied us here. They gave us information about the history and importance of the city. The fact that the broken glass bottles we found on our way back after finishing our trip were put in a bag and thrown away was an important indicator that the aims of the project were internalized by our children. Afterwards, we took the ferry and went to Karşıyaka, Bostanlı.
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After walking along the Bostanlı beach in beautiful weather, we went to the famous Bostanlı bazaar. This is a great example of the open bazaars that are generally held on weekends and Wednesdays in almost every district in Turkey. It is possible to find seasonal fresh vegetables and fruits, dairy and seafood here. However, what makes Bostanlı bazaar more famous is that a large part of its area is devoted to clothes. It is possible to find all kinds of world brand (!) clothes at much cheaper prices than in stores.
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Afterwards, we met for dinner at 20:00. We had dinner with the participation of some of our friends from our school, had fun accompanied by lively Turkish music, and tasted Turkish delicacies(!).
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November 9th 2023
Afterwards, we evaluated the İzmir mobility and the work done so far. We have determined that the work was carried out on time and in line with the targets set for us by our dear coordinator Maja Bergant. This made us very happy.
Now it was time for fun. Under the leadership of our folk-dance instructor who trains the children of our school, we practiced dances called Harmandalı, a slow İzmir zeybek, and Delilo, a fast halay from the Eastern Anatolia region. In fact, we realized that our partners were very talented in folk dances. After the figures of the dances were worked out, they were presented with music. The performance was outstanding after such a short training. We had a lot of fun. After having our lunch,it was the time for our famous,traditional project cake.It was delicious.
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After our guests arrived at school, kids presented the e-booklets we prepared about vegetables and fruits. Afterwards, teachers shared examples of lesson plans made on Canva. We discussed how they could be improved.
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The final. We held a certificate of participation ceremony. Our school principal thanked our partners. He said that this was his first time carrying out a project and he asked for forgiveness if there was a mistake. After dear Maja Bergant thanked all the participants, our principal gave the certificates to participants.
While our guests were leaving the school, we followed an old Turkish tradition. We poured a bowl of water after them. This tradition means that you should go smoothly, do not encounter any obstacles during your journey and may your journey end happily.
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Now we are looking forward to our job shadowing mobility which will be held in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria in March 2024.