Environmental issues are a global concern nowadays and children are not in contact with nature as much as they should be or used to be. Today’s society, with the growing use of technology from the earliest age has resulted in children who are detached from nature. Environmental awareness and sustainable development are imperative today because of major climate changes and ecological problems. Because of that, it is our duty as educational workers in ECEC to raise the awareness of our children about the importance of taking care of nature. Children today are using modern technology from the earliest age and it is not possible to ignore this or try to prevent it, our motivation is to show children how to use ICT in an appropriate way by exploring nature with use of it. Since every partner country is an expert in some field related to ecology, nature and ICT our aim is to compare our differences and learn from them. According to this we have set the following objectives: - strengthen European dimension in the participating schools and build up capacity for cross-border cooperation - promote importance of ecology, sustainable development, environmental awareness and rational energy consumption on local and european level - educate responsible citizens - stimulate all senses while spending time outdoors - use nature as media for learning - introduce ICT as a media for exploring the nature - encourage teachers to think 'outside of box' and create stimulating environment by transferring indoor activities outside In each school all teachers will take part in the project activities (around 90 teachers) and we have set the criteria for choosing those who will take part in mobilities. All teachers have motivation for improving their educational practice and gain knowledge and competences in the area of ecology, sustainable development, outdoor learning and introducing ICT technology in educational work. As we previously mentioned, every partner is expert in one field of education so teachers in each partner school have a strong background in relation to the project. In order to achieve project objectives we will have four LTTA in partner countries. First LTTA will take part in October 2020 in Croatia. The main theme of this LTTA is ecology and sustainable development (How to teach preschool children ecology, Steps towards sustainable development, Composting, Recycling paper, How and why working with clay, Waste is not garbage) Our second LTTA will take part in February 2021. in Estonia the main theme is ICT and outdoor learning (Outdoor learning, ICT in learning process, Using tablets and different ICT learning devices outside) Our third LTTA will be held in Italy, in May 2021. The main theme is gardening and biological plants (Decoration of recycled material bag, How to teach science in preschool and primary school towards sustainable development and respect to environment, Environment education in Montessori kindergarten, Land art). Our last LTTA will be in September 202.1 in Croatia the main theme is Follow up. Between these LTTA we have timetable for activities which will take part in partner countries and will be regularly published on projects website, eTwinning group and web sites of each institution.One joined activity is gardening, our plan is to grow plants, herbs, seeds which are typical for each country so children can learn about our differences. From this point they will learn about climate differences also. Using ICT technology children will monitor and document the growing process. Another activity is Partner's days which will take part before LTTA, children will learn about partners countries and using Skype they will communicate with each other. For Christmas time children will prepare gifts and postcards for partner schools using recycled paper and waste materials. These are some of the expected results and impact of the project: -children will acquire an understanding of their global environment, their relationship with their environment, environmental issue and problems -children will acquire an appreciation of their environmental, active concern and motivation to maintain and improve the quality of their environment -children will develop thinking and action skills for the prevention and resolution of environmental problems -Increased implementation of activities promoting sustainable development -Increased implementation of active learning methods -Increased use of new technologies in work Every institution will change their curriculum according to the outcomes of this project. Activities which we will start during the project, new methods, skills and knowledge will remain as part of our everyday work with children. Also, children will continue to grow their own food. While participating in european project and bringing our partners to our schools and kindergartens we will become more recognized as experts in our own communities, and we will become more acknowledged also on european level.
Project 'Let's go green' has lasted 13 months (from 1.9.2020.-30.9.2021.) and its aim was to promote importance of ecology, sustainable development, use nature as media for learning, introduce ICT as a media for exploring nature and encourage teachers to create stimulating environment by transferring indoor activities outside. Our first LTTA should have taken place in October 2020. in Croatia. But due to corona crisis it was impossible to organize this. Project coordinators form each partner countries had regular project management meetings in which they talked about epidemiological situation in their countries in order to arrange physical mobilities. In the end, it was decided to organize all LTTA virtually. Our first virtual LTTA took place in May 2021., and Dječji vrtić Osijek prepared this activity. The aim of the training was to be acquainted with the way of conducting education for the environment and sustainable development and to present examples of good practice. In three days of LTTA the following theoretical themes were covered: Educational system in Croatia, "Education for sustainable development in kindergarten Mak", "Introduction to sustainable development", "Senses - connection with yourself and with the world"; and examples of best practice: "Little Botanists in Mak kindergarten", "Composting as a part of education for sustainable development", "Clay workshop in kindergarten Mak", "Reduce, reuse, recycle”, "Little scouts" and "Art in the park". Our second LTTA took place in June 2021. and Assaku Lasteaed prepared it. The aim of this training was to present ICT in learning process with children. In three days of LTTA these themes were presented: Educational system in Estonia, Teacher education in Estonia, Information Technology Foundation for Education (HITSA), How to use robots in learning process - Bee Bot, Ozobot, Dash, Matatalab, Lego We Do. Our third LTTA also took place in June 2021. and Istituto Comprensivo Sanremo Levante prepared it. The aim was to present ecology and outdoor activities in their institution. They have presented their recycling and outdoor activities and also eco activities, Montessori methodology in preprimary and primary school, Innovative methodologies: flipped classroom, debate and service learning and Little botanists and outside activities. Our last LTTA took place in September 2021. and the main topic were Follow up activities. Each partner country presented the summary of their project activities and we have discussed in small groups about different levels of our follow up activities - in context of dissemination, botanics and about using ICT and robots in learning process. During the project every partner country had different activities regarding the main objectives of the project. They introduced more outdoor activities, gardening, recycling, they have used more natural and waste materials in their work with children. Furthermore, they have introduced ICT and robots in the learning process with children. For dissemination of our project activities, we have published regularly posts on our institutions websites, etwinning platform and projects official website. We can say that we have reached most of our goals: children now have better understanding about environmental issues, they have learned a lot about process of gardening, they understand recycling process, also they have basic knowledge about coding through using robots in everyday activities. Long term benefits for children are - knowledge on how to grow food, how to recycle and compost. Coding and ITC skills are something people need in future with knowledge of gardening and environmental awareness. Furthermore, our teachers have raised their digital competencies through introducing ICT and robots in their work with children and preparing LTTA virtually. Furthermore, by participating in international seminar they have raised their language and social competencies. Every partner country has introduced new methods into their work which means that they made changes to their curricula.