The ship of Europe

 

 

 E1 students participated in the Erasmus+ "Out of subject box" programme, in the "Europe" section and created the European ship. Through the common belief that all the inhabitants of the old continent are passengers on the same boat, the children painted (accidentally) 15 flags of States of Europe and decorated their boat.

Although the adverse conditions of this era are flooding Europe and the whole world, the students wanted to give a message of hope and solidarity in these difficult times.

With the help of technology, they captured their creation in an animation GIF file to show their workflow.

 

 

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EUROPEAN CREATORS AND GREEK ARTISTS

 

Together with our sixth-grade students we have decided to get involved with European historical figures, who have had a major impact not only on Europe but on the whole world, as well. 

Several Europeans have created fine works of art in theatre, literature, poetry, music and dance. Some others have helped to promote the progress of science.

Furthermore, we have been involved with Greek artists and poets of international fame.

In the beginning, we watched YouTube videos about European creators and Greek artists and we found several pictures of them on Google. Then we wrote down details about their lives. Each student chose one of them and wrote about his or her life. Afterwards, we glued their pictures on paperboard and we presented the information to the rest of the students.

In the end, we created a PowerPoint presentation and a Padlet presentation, as well.

 

 

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Dancing with Europe.

 

As part of the Erasmus + program, we performed a traditional Slovenian dance with 5^th grade and the girls of the 6^th grade.

The children went through the process of finding similarities and differences with our traditional dances and expressing the emotions they exude from them.

We came to the conclusion that there are many similarities with our "Sousta" (traditional dance of Crete). It is danced in pairs, it is a happy dance and the figures are quite similar.

We also found that dancers feel shared feelings of joy and euphoria by dancing these dances.

Dance unites people and is the best way to express people's feelings.

 Click on the image

 

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Musically ... I love you ... Europe !!!

 

With the students of 6^th grade we talked about the great composer L.v. Beethoven. A few biographical details and we mentioned his most important works. One of which is the 9th agreement. The melody of the last part became in 1985 officially the Anthem of Europe. We worked on different rhythmic patterns and all the children experimented with the percussion instruments of our school.

5^th grade is lucky to have two students playing violin and lyre respectively. These two instruments dominate the traditional music of Crete. The violin dominates in Chania and Agios Nikolaos while the lyre is the main instrument in Rethymno and Heraklion. We talked about the elements of our traditional music, historical elements and influences from the conquerors of the island (Venetian violin and lute).

3^rd grade sang a well-known pop song from the 60's. The words were adapted to "host" our friends from Lithuania and Slovenia. We painted the phrase I love you in various European languages and got to know the rhythmic percussions of the school in a pleasant way.

The children of the 2^nd grade made small verses with letters of the Greek alphabet. (Limericks). We chose "E" and through a "creative dialogue", we set to music the specific verse and orchestrated it with the instruments of the class.

Click on the image to hear from 3rd grade students, I love you in different languages of Europe.

Click on the image to hear the anthem of Europe from the students of 6th grade.

 

 Click on the image to listen to traditional Cretan music and song from 5th grade students.

 

 Click on the image to listen to traditional Gypsy music from 5th grade students.

 

 Click on the image to hear melodic limericks from 2nd grade students.

 

 

 

 

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Making planets

Making planets out of simple materials

Grade: First grade of Elementary School

Our next project concerning Space would be to make our solar system, using simple materials, such us newspaper, balloon, paints and white glue through a technique called: papier macher. After studying thoroughly each planet through books and videos and talking about its shape, size in relation to Earth and distance from the Sun, we started working: first we cut the newspaper sheets into stripes, we blew the balloon, so it would have the proper size and shape, we soaked the stripes into the glue and put them onto the balloon. Once dried, we broke the balloon, and painted each planet, trying to look like the real one! Through this activity, which took up much of our time for many days, the children were able to practice their minor skill ability, to improve co–operation and communication skills and, of course, they learned so much about our solar system through the most experiential manner!

Subjects involved: Arts, Science 

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Feast of the Stars

Choreography: “Feast of the Stars”

Grade: First grade of Elementary School

Video link: https://youtu.be/Fyfyud6LzLU

Music, speech and movement are already found in Ancient Greek Drama, while the existence of traditional singing games, over time and worldwide, proves that music kinetics has never ceased to be a means of education. At the beginning of the 20th century, the first attempts were made to integrate the above arts for educational purposes, and so the curriculum of physical education included music-kinetic education, which, through its chosen themes, contributes to the realization of the purpose and goals of physical education, as it enables children to build on their existing experiences to develop motor, cognitive, and emotional fulfillment.

As part of the music-kinetic education module in the first trimester, the children were selected to work on the song "Feast of the Stars". The goals achieved are as follows:

●        Interdisciplinary approach to space, constellations, planets

●        Development of movement and motor expression skills

●        Development of acoustic and space perception

●        Development of kinetic creativity and collaboration

Subjects involved: Physical Education, Music

…The song “Feast of the Stars” talks about a great feast in the sky, a party in which all the stars and constellations take part, creating a magical atmosphere… !

We’ll turn off the lights of the city and the houses

Tonight we’ll have Feast of the Stars!

Poulia will take over the bar and drinks

and the Great Bear will bring the ice- creams!

The Pleiades will bring the lights

and the Polar Star will start the dance

Saturn will play the trumpet, Scorpio will play the drums

Orion will play the piano, and Janus the guitar!

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