Comments (Mária, Slovakia):

The activity "Seven Jump Steps" attracted me at first sight as an educator. I knew the kids would love it. The melody and steps were very rhythmic and matched perfectly. Thanks to that, the children actually learned to dance immediately (as can be seen in the long video, where I only told the children that we would go in a circle, clap and add steps every time and they understood it right away - they didn't even have to see the video before). For the second time, I showed them the video. They already knew how to dance on their own, and they were comparing the dances and tuning the steps for further experiments. The children really enjoyed the activity, they wanted to dance all the time and they didn't mind at all that it was still the same song and the same steps. We danced it more than 15 times and they were already asking if we would do it again the next day. As an educator, I was pleased that more and more children came every time and joined our dancing circle. Some of the children firstly looked at us and what was happening. Gradually, the boys also found the courage to join and they really enjoyed it. The hardest part was keeping long steps, which many times I didn't even manage as an educator, so we laughed at that :-) It can be seen in some parts of the video - our legs started to walk before the music played.

Emka the 2nd Year: "It was easy for me to keep my feet because I'm a ballerina, I can stand on one foot for a long time."

Matúš the 2nd Year: "We can dance it tomorrow, I want to record it, it was good."

Miška the 1st Year: "It's easy, you'll understand it right away."

Olivia the 2nd Year: "It was great, it wasn't hard at all to learn."

Comments (Jarmila, Slovakia):

The pupils' task was to draw a Xmas tree using the geometric shape of a triangle. However we also added a picture of a snowman using the geometric shape of a circle. Maths outdoor classes took place in the school's atrium, between the main building and the school canteen. We used the last snow and drawing tools, but we also set to work with improvised means. Each group was given its own space. Although the surface was not ideal, we managed to make the desired shapes with the help of sharp sticks. We used tempera paints, fabric paints and powder paints to highlight the shapes. Drawing in frozen snow was quite challenging for pupils, not every line was straight, but the application of knowledge directly in the field and in the fresh air was a welcome change for all the pupils and our outdoor lesson was full of fun.

Comments (Katka, Slovakia):

Activity with snake was divided into 2 parts. First half was situated in the classroom where children of the 1st Grade revised animal vocabulary and played a game with dice and figures. Then they moved outside where a long snake was drawn by chalks. Snake´s body was full of animals and numbers. Each pupil from the group was responsible for one animal. They all stood on snake´s body. They had to say the name of the animal + number, then they started to move – where they stood – the right animal´s name had to be said. Teacher kept changing instructions – touch your nose and your ear, dance, jump, walk, run etc.

Comments (Jolana, Slovakia):

We decided to do this activity in the mid-March when the weather was fine for staying outdoors. We didn´t revise any vocabulary, but the verb “to BE” and object pronouns. Pupils were active and they enjoyed it. We used small sheets of paper with short sentences or nouns. Then children also had to listen to the teacher saying the word and they had to run to the correct colourful circle. 

Aďka Year 3: “It was funny. I liked to be outside, the sun was shining and we could enjoy our English.”

Matej Year 3: “I could move and I like it. I had to think a lot about reading and understanding the English paper.”

Igor Year 3: “It was easy, but you had to read carefully. I didn´t see the-s at the end of the word so I made a mistake at the beginning.”

Comments (Katka, Slovakia):

This activity was very attractive for smaller pupils. Mainly because of the fact that being outside during lessons after long and cold winter was a really pleasant surprise. The first step was the revision of so far studied vocabulary. Then pupils and teacher went outside with chalks and pupils obtained the instruction to draw a big hand with 5 fingers. Teacher wrote the name of the topic in the middle of the hand. Task for pupils was to listen to teacher´s word and then to stand on the hand which referred to the mentioned word.

Comments (Jolana, Slovakia):

• We will try to implement this activity in a springtime. However we will have to change some living things like trees, because in our country not ORANGE trees or LEMON trees can be found outside. The same for flowers… So we will prepare a new worksheet adapting it to our climatic zone. 

Comments (Renáta, Slovakia):

4th grade pupils worked with this worksheet, in which they identified living things in their area. Pupils were given a tablet for taking photos and a worksheet with questions. The surroundings of the school are rich in beautiful green nature. Pupils searched in the school garden, in the school atrium and in the vicinity of the school by the river Kysuca. They managed to find many animals and plants. 

The students were very satisfied with the activity. We later decided to use the acquired knowledge during the project days. The students became reporters and wrote down their experiences from the previous day in a magazine article and enriched them with photos.

Rebecca and Jarko wrote: "Yesterday, it was an interesting day. We photographed various animals, trees and plants. For example, we took pictures of: apples, plums, pears, blueberries, conifers, deciduous trees, spring flowers, herbs, weeds, ornamental shrubs, mammals, birds and spiders. We were in three places at the school, at the canteen and at the bridge. Instead of a mammal like an animal, we took a picture of a human. We were at the tennis court and by the river. We took a picture of Terezka, the mammal. We took pictures of weeds from the school greenhouse, and we also took pictures of herbs. We always took pictures in a different place and found something interesting. There were also ducks by the water, which swam beautifully in the water. There were many spiders in the school greenhouse, but there were also very nice flowers. We could see small fish in the river Kysuca, too. There were already small spring fruits on the bushes. There were tiny nice birds on the trees. We took a picture of a big coniferous tree. "

Comments (Jolana, Slovakia):

• This activity is very similar to our suggested activity, however it was related to herbs in our school garden, not plants in the park. As for us, the school garden is closer and safer so we prefer to work there.

• We used Google Lens application to identify the plants before. Good idea to use PlantNet application!  

• Instructions could be more detailed.

• At the end, we suggest to make a diagram in the classroom and then compare the amount of plants either in the park, either in the school garden. The diagram can be also drawn by kids. This is only an example.

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