1ST MANAGERIAL MEETING IN TOURCOING ( FRANCE )

SCHEDULE OF LTT ACTIVITIES IN THE FIRST YEAR OF THE PROJECT.

ECO THINKING FOR ECO LIVING

SCHEDULE OF LTT ACTIVITIES IN THE FIRST YEAR OF THE PROJECT.

The Project will start on 01.10.2019

6 students, 2 teachers will take part from each school in each exchange. They will take 4 working days+ 2 travel days.

The host school will organize all the activities and will be responsible for recommending the best accommodation and travel arrangements.

The teachers will keep in touch to decide on the exact dates of the exchanges and other issues through eTwinning, Facebook, e-mails and WhatsApp.

.- 1^ST MANAGERIAL MEETING from 15^th to 17^th of January 2020 in Tourcoing

( France )

.- C1 – March 2020- In Kedainiai, Lithuania,

BEFORE THE EXCHANGE:

-The participants from each partner school will prepare presentations about:

1-their countries/cultures

2-regions/cities/towns

3-their schools

- The students will do a research about carbon footprints and learn what it is and how to calculate it. They will calculate the carbon footprint of their region and let the others know during the exchange.

-FRANCE will create a Facebook group.

-The teachers of each school will apply a pre-questionnaire to the participants about their expectations. (And a post-questionnaire after the Exchange)

 -SPAIN will start an eTwinning Project on the same topic.

-Each partner school will be responsible to register their students on these platforms.

The program of the Exchange in the application is as follows:

1st day:

-Welcoming by the school staff.

-Presentations: The participant students will give presentations about their countries, regions and schools and calculated footprints of each partner country.

-  joint peer workshops:

-  At the Gymnasium Laboratory, investigating the chemical composition of the treated wastewater, ascertaining whether phosphates are present in waste water.(group work, learning by doing).

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2nd day:

-  Students will carry out school ambient air pollution measurements, noise levels, and mobile phone electromagnetic field studies in a holistic

approach to safe and healthy environments, and is preparing a proposal for management to reduce pollution and noise.(learning by doing)

-A visit to public authorities to know about the works done to save energy in the region. (observation) 3rd day:

- In educational excursions at the Kaunas Regional Waste Management Centre,

pupils monitor biological recycling of waste, learn how to sort waste

and at home carry out mini-projects, consolidating practical skills.(learning by doing) - In the fertilizer production plant AB Lifosa, students monitor the utilization of heat

energy produced during the production process, carry out environmental pollution research.(observation)

-A teachers meeting to discuss the Project issues and the activities planned for the next exchange.

4th day:

-International groups of students will collaborate to create slogans/mottos about energy saving in English and they will translate them in their languages. (group work)

-Cultural workshops like learning folk dances or making handcrafts where they can

cooperate to learn more about Kedainiai, Lithuania and Lithuanian culture (group work)

 C2- May 2020 - In Kopavogur, Iceland

BEFORE THE EXCHANGE:

-The participant students will make research and prepare presentations about the environmental problems like climate change, greenhouse gas emissions etc in their regions and countries.

-Each school will apply a pre-questionnaire to their students. (Also a postquestionnaire after the Exchange)

-A Youtube channel of the videos of activities will be started by LITHUANIA

-The digital photo gallery of the photos from the 1st Exchange will be created by

TURKEY

-The Project website will be created under the supervising of LITHUANIA

The program of the Exchange:

1st day:

-Welcoming by the schoolmaster and staff.

-Presentations (group work): The participant students will make presentations about the environmental problems like climate change, greenhouse gas emissions in their regions and countries.

Indoor workshop (learning by doing):

-International cooperation to promote anti-consumerist attitude by making practical objects out of recyclable materials for daily use to be exhibited in the partner schools

-Constructing a simple environment friendly device in international teams with the help of science teachers

Outdoor workshop (learning by doing): Interaction with the school’s environment

(walking, gaming, kayaking, outdoor grilling)

Cultural workshops, where each country presents its own country, culture and a taste of food culture 2nd day:

A field trip all day with the theme on geothermal energy (observation)

-Educational tour to the Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plant

-Visit and presentation in Fridheimar on tomato cultivation under the glass roof with

the help of renewable energy. Lunch/tomatoe soup buffet -Gullfoss waterfall/Geysir geothermal area 3rd day:

Learning about Iceland's contribution to energy saving (observation)

-Visit to the Perlan Museum – Wonders of Iceland in Reykjavik where we will get an eductional tour on Icelandic nature and climate change, that is affecting the world.

-Visit to the solid waste separation plant, solid waste recycling plant (Sorpa) in the Reykjavik region to understand how recycling process works.

4th day:

-Visit to the ecological community of Solheimar in Iceland.

-Visit to Reykjavik Botanic Garden to learn about different type of plants as a respect to the nature.

A teachers meeting to discuss about the tasks, deadlines within the project, and the activities planned for the next exchange.

A Christmas tree made with 1,200 glass bottles awareness about recycling in CÓRDOBA.

Ecovidrio, the non-profit organization responsible for the management of recycling of glass packaging waste in Spain, in collaboration with the City of Córdoba and Sadeco, has launched an awareness campaign to raise awareness of the importance of the inhabitants of recycling glass containers during Christmas celebrations.
In addition, Ecovidrio has placed three igloos linked with the Magic Kinds and one with Santa Claus under the giant tree, where Cordoba can deposit glass containers and thus contribute to the responsible management of waste during the celebrations. Around the tree there will also be an informative 'stand' (days 14, 21 and 28 December and January 4) in which environmental educators will carry out training activities to inform citizens about the environmental benefits.

According to the latest official data of 2018, Cordoba recycled a total of 3,101 tons of glass containers, which means that each person recycled an average of 9.5 kilograms of this material. Córdoba has an average of 374 inhabitants per container, a total park of 871 containers for glass container waste installed throughout the territory.

Our natural parks: Sierra Tejeda, Almijara y Alhama.

One of our team members has recently been hiking in this natural park. It is called Sierra Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama because of the three mountain ranges it comprises. It is located by the Mediterranean Sea in the province of Málaga and from all the peaks you have wonderful views of the coastline and the sea.

A picture of the morning sunrise in the East.

Our colleague walked the path that leads to the summit of El Cisne (The Swam) with 1488 metres above sea level, from the little hamlet called El Acebuchal.

The stunning silhouette of El Cisne.

Along the track, views of both El Cisne (on the right side of the picture) and El Lucero peaks (on the left) are ready to admire.

El Lucero, on the background, is 1782 metres high.

During the climb, hikers will find a couple of streams of crystal clear waters and rocks with funny shapes.

A picture of Río Higuerón.

The sentinel rock, halfway through.

Finally, the summit of El Cisne provides the climber beautiful views of the whole natural park, with other minor peaks, the Mediterranean Sea, Sierra Nevada and even the Moroccan Coast in very clear sky  conditions.

From the summit, looking North.

From the summit, looking West.

From the summit, looking South.

First meeting with the parents of our Erasmus + students

A first meeting was held with parents just before the Christmas break, to welcome and let them know the deatils of the European project in which their children are going to be involved for the next couple of years. The meeting was led by the project coordinator. 

Parents had the opportunity to learn about all the objectives the project encompasses and ask any other further questions of their interest.

LET'S GO RECYCLING

Just in one of the corners by the entrance, our "green" bins are up to the top with all materials that may have a second life: paper, plastic caps, batteries...

FRENCH STUDENTS FROM 4º ESO A y B AGAINST BLACK FRIDAY

Exhibition of our students' posters, which show disagreement with Black Friday commercial initiatives. Green Fridays are far more positive for the planet's health.

LITTLE CORNER TO THINK GREEN AT ALHAKEN II HIGH SCHOOL

Next to our school library, a little corner for reflection, which invites us not to forget about the fight against climate change.

 

HIKING ACTIVITY FOR TEACHERS FROM IES ALHAKEN II

A bunch of school teachers joined together on a Sunday morning for a hike in the mountains surrounding the city. We took a bus to a little village called Santa María de Trassierra, where we started the hike all the way down to Córdoba.

                                     

We went through some dense forests, full of Meditarranean vegetation: holm oak, kermes oak, locust tree, huckberry, etc. 

The path that we walked follows the original route that Romans used 2000 years ago to connect the city (Corduba) to the copper mines in the mountains.

Another nice spot during the hike is the replica of the Fountain of Elepahant, which was built at the time of the Muslim caliphate in Córdoba in the XIth century. This area was a large recreation place in the mountains where the upper classes would come to relax far away from the bustling city of those years.

By the end of the path, there is a fork which leads to the old Palace-City of Madinat Al-Zahra. One of the most beautiful places in this other path is the so-called Puente de Los Nogales (Nut trees Bridge). This three arches bridge connected the caliphal palace and the city and allowed heavy carts, full of goods, to be moved to and from Madinat Al-Zahra.

GOOD ACTIONS FROM OUR STUDENTS: " GET TO KNOW OUR LOCAL NATURAL ENVIRONMENT "

Early in the autumn, still looking like summer, students started the many outdoor activities that are carried out throughout the school year.

The photos show our younger students enjoying a walk in one of the paths around the city. It is an area full of streams and water springs.

They started their walk by the remainings of the Roman water main. Nowadays, It is a cistern or water tank with two spouts, with its current construction dating back from the XVIIIth century.

Then they passed under an iron bridge that was opened to traffic on the 5th of September, 1873, in the late Industrial Revolution. They also strolled, most of the time, by a couple of streams: Pedroches, which is the main one, and Barrrionuevo, a tributary.

The banks of both streams make up a lush riverside forest, in which a great variety of vegetation -tress and bush- can be found: elm, poplar, arbutus, acorn tree, locust tree, hackberry, holm oak, fig tree, kermes oak, pine tree or hawthorn. An abandoned olive grove is not far from the path, too.

At the highest part of the path, our students had the opportunity to see an old quarry that was last mined in the late 1980s as well as a huge old country house -Los Velascos property-, with a well-kept threshing floor, where formerly farmers used to separate the grain from the cereal plant.

GOOD ACTIONS FROM OUR CITY COUNCIL

Campaign that has been launched by the City Council to make citizens aware of the benefits of a clean city by the use of the bike lanes, public transport, cleaning service, citizens' individual actions, recycling bins, etc.

BAD NEWS IN "CORDOBA", THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER

Bad news in the local newspaper: reports show that CO2 emissions are far from controlled, with the highest levels ever recorded. Food for thought for scientists and policy makers at the Madrid Conference for the climate.

NOTICE BOARD AT SCHOOL: STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN ECOTHINKING for ECOLIVING

Here are the names of participant students in the Erasmus + project. Their own handwriting!

TEACHER TRAINING ON THE ADMINSTRATIVE AND ECONOMICAL MANAGEMENT OF ERASMUS+ PROJECTS

Now available at our local teacher training centre.

PARENTS' MEETING FOR ERASMUS+ STUDENTS

Next Tuesday, the 17th, a meeting will be held to provide parents with information regarding the development of our Erasmus+ project, in which their children are going to take part. The project coordinator, Miss Ana Moral, will greet and meet parents at the school library at 7:00 pm.

Our "Erasmus + Eco thinking for Eco living project" team

Our team's first meeting in the staff room. 

Together with our coordinator, colleagues from the History, Natural Science, Physical Education, French and English departments.  

A general overview of the school year work was the main goal of the meeting as well as a brainstorm of ideas to develop throughout the project. Expectations are high among teachers and students.

The coordinator also reported on the meeting she had attended a few weeks ago at a national level, in which she was given the instructions and guidelines for the implementation and management of the project and budget associated.

WORLD CLIMATE SUMMIT MADRID 2019

The leading forum for business- and investment-driven solutions to climate change alongside COP25 in Madrid, Spain. About this Event Launched in 2010, World Climate Summit is the leading forum for business and investment-driven solutions to climate change. Recognised as the most important official COP25 side event, it acknowledges the essential importance of collaboration and the “bottom-up” perspective in solving climate change. Ten years later and growing from strength to strength, it is the must-attend event for leading stakeholders driving climate solutions, investments, and legislation. The Summit is a key platform for driving policies, projects, and public-private partnerships. The Investment COP focuses on the Climate Investment Platform, an open-source forum which enables countries, regions, cities, project developers, and clean technology businesses develop and present investment projects. Its chief purpose is to mobilise climate investments within the public and private sector while enhancing sustainable development. Details of this year's event including the programme, speakers, partners, and additional updates are available at worldclimatesummit.org

THE FIRST STEPS...ECO THINKING FOR ECO LIVING

Training Seminar for KA229 Projects.

Held in Cuenca, the 26th and 27th of September, 2019 and organized by the Spanish National Agency . Our school coordinator attended the training event.

Recommended first steps:

* Read the project in detail.
* Get in touch with coordinator, team members and partners.
* Quality evaluation of the project
* Analyze budget
* Report and agree actions with Inspection, School Head, teachers and School Council
* Meet the project team members and assign tasks.
* Make the project visible.

Recycle materials to put them back in the product loop and save resources!

Why is recycling important? Recycling reduces the amount of waste that is landfilled or incinerated and secures that waste material, after being transformed, forms part in manufacturing new products. Through recycling, waste constitutes a source of secondary raw material. Recycling therefore helps to decrease the use of material and energy resources and reduces pollution and natural capital degradation. Benefits of Recycling Reduces the amount of waste and resources lost in landfills or burnt; Prevents pollution by reducing the need to collect new raw materials; Saves energy needed to make new products from raw material; Reduces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change; Helps sustain the environment for future generations; Helps create new well-paying jobs in the recycling and manufacturing industries.

Recycle – waste sorting and recycle

STOP FOOD WASTE

Food waste represents a substantial loss of resources such as land, water, energy and labour. Put into relation, these numbers tell us that the entire world’s hungry people could be “lifted out of malnourishment on less than a quarter of the food that is wasted in the US, UK and Europe”! Worldwide, a total of 842 million people were estimated to be suffering from chronic hunger. This means that around 1 in 8 people in the world regularly not getting enough food to conduct an active life, while in Europe we have nearly twice as much food as is required by the nutritional needs of our population. https://www.ewwr.eu/docs/PTD/PTDs_2014_stop_food_waste_info.pdf

Reusing products is thus the second best option in waste management, after reducing!

Reuse means recovering and reusing products or their components. It includes both preparing for reuse and reuse. Preparing for reuse refers to checking, cleaning or repairing recovery operations, by which products or their components that would have become waste are prepared in a way so that they will be reused without any other pre-processing. Reuse means any operation by which products or components that are not waste are used again for the same purpose for which they were conceived. eusing items decreases the use of material and energy resources and reduces pollution and natural capital degradation. Recycling does so too, but to a lesser degree. IDEAS FOR ACTION: Collection for reuse: Organise the collection of clothes, books, tools, furniture, electronics or other items to donate them to social enterprises, schools or reuse organisations Swap events Second-hand markets Creative reuse workshops/exhibitions/fashion shows Repair café/workshop/event/fair Give box Reused packaging Office supply reuse action: When disposing of archives, retrieve folders, ring binders, one-sided printed paper and other items that can be reused and reuse them yourself or donate to schools, social enterprises or reuse organisations Whatever kind of action you are implementing: Remember to take pictures and videos and to use them to develop exhibitions to show the results and to publish via all channels available (media, print, information booth, social media etc.). Why is reuse important? Reuse confronts the same problems than reduce: There is too much waste being produced in the European Union! By extending the lifespan of products, preparing for reuse and reuse are influential measures to reduce the amount of waste produced. Reuse has a strong value for sustainable development because it not only promotes environmental protection through waste prevention but also contributes to social aims and has economic benefits. Environmental benefits of reuse: Reduction of the amount of waste, including hazardous waste Pollution prevention Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to global climate change Decreased strain on natural resources (raw materials, fuel, forests, water) Preservation of the “embodied energy” that was originally used to manufacture an item Social benefits of reuse: Fight against poverty by providing affordable products to low income households Social inclusion by bringing disadvantaged people back in the labour market and society Job creation in collection, sorting, testing, refurbishment and reselling of items reused Training opportunities in fields such as driving commercial vehicles, carpentry, electrical engineering, marketing, or even handicraft and art Economic benefits of reuse Monetary savings (customer: in purchases and disposal, state: less social costs through job creation and training) Savings in energy, materials and chemicals embodied in the appliance Read more about the benefits of reuse:

The best waste is the one that is not produced!

Reduce means using fewer resources in the first place. It includes strict avoidance as well as reduction at source. Waste reduction can be defined as the complete range of measures and actions taken up before a substance, material or product becomes waste. Why is waste reduction so important? Waste reduction is an emergency for the European Union. Household waste has doubled in weight since 1970 and stayed at a high level since 15 years. In 2011, 500 kg of municipal waste were generated per person in the EU Member States (EU-27, average. Source: Eurostat). This waste is the result of non-sustainable modes of production and consumption. Furthermore, the consumption of products (including their production, transport and distribution), represents nearly 50% of emissions contributing to climate change. This increase in the amount of waste to be managed requires more collection and treatment infrastructures, the cost of which puts a strain on the budgets of local and regional public authorities. In this context, waste reduction has become a simple and essential concept in the area of waste management: it is a fundamental technical factor in waste management at local level but also a notion that should remind us of the scarcity of natural resources.

EUROPEAN WEEK FOR WASTE REDUCTION

The European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR) is an initiative promoting the implementation of awareness-raising actions about sustainable resource and waste management during a single week.

It encourages a wide range of audiences (public authorities, private companies, civil society as well as citizens themselves) to get involved.

This years’ edition will take place from 16 to 24 November 2019.

Have a look at all the actions on our interactive map!

Summary of the PROJET

Human-made climate change derived from the overuse of raw materials and non-renewable energy resources, is one of the major threats the world faces today.It will probably increase in floods and droughts, causing an impact on food and water supply, displacement and clashes. Being aware of this European Commission has set climate and energy package also known as 20-20-20 energy targets. To take actions towards this threat is a responsibility of the schools in this partnership as well as all European Union citizens. According to the surveys carried in 6 partner schools from different European countries, the main common weakness of the schools is the students’ negative attitudes to overuse of energy, overconsumption within households and being insensitive to the environmental issues which are due to the lack of education in ecological patterns. Moreover the students have difficulty in reading and interpreting graphs, being fluent to communicate in English and using ICT and creative problem-solving skills. The teachers need to improve their teaching competence in these matters by exchanging ideas and good practices. Having reached these results, the partner schools have come together to implement this project, "Eco Thinking For Eco Living". Our main aim is to help the participants acquire new skills and competences and strengthen their profile. Our objectives are to equip them with scientific knowledge about environmental issues and to raise their awareness about the importance of energy saving, to increase their creative thinking skills by working in international teams and making decisions, to highlight the renewable energy resources thus to make them more responsible for common European heritage, to deepen the participant's' knowledge of the various ways of protecting environment in European countries, to make the participants gain digital fluency and while searching for relevant data, to enrich students' technical and scientific vocabulary using graphs/diagrams and discussing the results, to enhance students and teacher's English language competence by working on the environmental issues and communicating with each other, to improve pupils' skills of creative problem solving through team work, which will be an investment for their future careers, to raise the participants' awareness of the fact that despite cultural diversities they all have the same goal as responsible European citizens to combat climate change.

24 students who are 14-18 years old and 12 teachers are involved in the Project. There will be monthly online meetings, and 6 short term exchanges of groups of pupils, where participants work together for the exchange of good practices. 4 students and 2 accompanying teachers from each school will take place in each student exchange. They will be chosen fairly according to the selection criteria discussed about and decided by the partners.

The participants will gain creative thinking, entrepreneurial and problem solving experience and abilities by working in intercultural groups, brainstorming, face-to face discussing, designing environmentally-friendly or energy saving devices and making various objects from recyclable materials. They will visit waste-recycling and environmental plants in different European countries so that they can deepen knowledge of protecting environment. In the joint work as peer learning workshops they will improve their ICT and linguistic abilities and gain self-esteem which will be an