The objective of the project is to get to know the unique sights of our partners' countries. In every town, city as well as in every country, there are hidden treasures/gems and we're going to discover and show them to others. Unique and interesting historical sights belong here, which are not common. They can be buildings, artwork, sights and the like that are related to the history, origin or important event of the town. Some of these unique gems are acompanied by legends, being the part of national treasure. What story is bound to this sight? Let's think of a different story using the key word together with our partners. Let´s discover uncover hidden gems of our towns. Do you know of an interesting historical event associated with our town? Let's display this event, because it's unique. Another treasures of our countries are national historical or nature parks. We want to show the network of these places to our partners as well. Through facilitating opportunities to experience processes and phenomenons in these parks we hope to enhance learning process. Field trips, getting all five senses involved to obtain information. Next part of the project will be dedicated to natural treasures in our countries. They are hidden gems too. Each place is characterized by the combination of plant and animal spieces occupying the territory. We want to show to our partner the species which are not found anywhere else. We choose some sample species to study them in the relationship with their environment and find legend. The same goes for plant species representing the locality. To do so we aim to raise awarness of protecting of and caring for the environment, because they are our treasures too. The purpose of our involvement in this project is to promote European citizenship through history, culture, nature, art and knowledge. The activities of our project are designed to determine students realise how important is to appreciate what we have inherited from our ancestors and that it is their moral responsibility to promote the national values and customs, as well as, to contribute in transmitting the cultural heritage to the generations to come. It is imperative for our students to be aware of cultural diversity and importance in understanding distinct cultural realities, making them aware of tolerance and civic coexistence. Our intention is to create cooperation among all the projects, plans and workgroups in the schools and local entities to promote active participation in social issues as a way to develop citizen awareness. By getting involved in these projects and getting to know other cultures, we expect our students to become aware of the need for education. As for us, as teachers, we are really interested in learning skills and exchanging good practices among the schools involved. To open the school and the local community to European projects built upon the experience and knowledge of other European cultures.
The project "Hidden gems of Europe" was focused on unique treasures in partner countries, in art, literature, nature, animals, natural features, national parks. Countries: Slovakia, Malta, Portugal, Poland, Lithuania, Spain. From the beginning, we worked on the project according to the plan and fulfilled all the assigned activitiies and goals. In the first part of "Town of stories" we got to know each other. We created a project logo where all partner countries worked. We produced comics, we had creative workshops, the presentations of schools. Pupils learned to create comics using the PIXTON application. We created an e-book of all the legends of the partner countries. The host country was Slovakia - project coordinator. The second part "Town of unique events", the COVID-19 pandemic crossed our plans. The meeting took place only with some schools, the others remained online. The goal of the meeting was to find unique events, festivals from history and modern times, which are related to the development of the city or nation. Pupils were able to compare different events, festivals celebrated in partner countries. They studied, took photos and videos. The meeting was based on cooperation, international communication and effective use of ICT. Since it was not possible to travel further to partner countries and the partners had different anti-pandemic measures, we had virtual meetings in the next period. We met via ZOOM and Google Meet. The part "Creatures we share space with". Although our meeting could only take place virtually, it was with great enthusiasm of students and teachers. We have gained new information about unique, different, endangered animals in Europe. We created: presentations, songs, videos, quizzes, games, drawing, photos, animations, They practiced ICT skills. We used Power Point, Word, Kahoot, Sway, YouTube. On the last day of the meeting we had a quiz. We tried to raise awareness about the possibilities of the so-called protect and improve the environment in which we live. Pupils presented their work, learned about endangered animals. This was the first time virtual meeting and the students were excited. The goal of the meeting "Treasures parks we share space with" was unique modern parks, events, national, archaeological, historical parks or some interesting parks in partner countries. We created guides to unique parks in partner countries and had competitions. "The town of modern art" was focused on modern art. Children presented these buildings or interesting places. They showed to other partner unique buildings, monuments, theaters. We made models, pictures, statues, creations from snow and ice. We wanted to know what they were interested in. We were taking a photo. The goal was to make the students look at their city in a creative way, to experience photography as a way of creating art, and also by capturing interesting monuments, details, sculptures, nature, people and animals to present it to the project partners. The last day was a quiz. In the last part "Greenery we share space with", students presented various interesting plants, flowers, trees in their country. They prepared: songs, videos, drawings about flora, games, paintings, herbarium, stories about unique plants, flowers, trees, worksheets, photos, animations, posters, albums. They showed us their school gardens. They shared photos and videos of their houseplants and gardens. They provided instructions on how to care for these plants. They practiced ICT skills, in English. We used Power Point, Word, Kahoot, Sway, YouTube. Partner countries also celebrated Earth Day by planting trees, flowers and plants. They cleaned their surroundings, around the school and did other activities on the occasion of Earth Day The students worked on activities in various subjects, such as art, technology, biology, computer science, English and other languages. Due to the pandemic situation, students and teachers could not travel to partner countries, so we increased the number of participants in virtual meetings in all countries. The benefit of the increase in participants was that it gave more students the opportunity to participate in the project, meet online with students from other countries, exchange ideas, present themselves, improve their foreign language. The students were highly motivated in the project because they had the opportunity to actively participate in presentations and directly in meetings with partner schools, which simultaneously fulfilled the goals of the project. Project is on our website: www.hiddengemsof.eu. Also on the eTwinning platform. We forward the project through student works, contributions to school magazines, bulletin boards, posters, sharing on school websites, conversations with parents, friends, teachers. Our experience and results are passed on to other schools that are interested in similar topics. Both students and teachers established many friendships during the meetings, which continue this time.