Our school found itself in a festive and pedagogically creative state. We are referring to the 3rd International Meeting and the Educational Activities for Teachers and Students within the Erasmus+ program “Mathematics through Music and Creative Movement”. The activities took place from October 30th until November 2nd. We hosted our partners from Sweden (3 adults and 6 students) and Cyprus (4 adults and 9 students) at our school as well as Mr. Nektarios Moumoutzis from the Polytechnic University of Crete. Mr. Nektarios Moumoutzis supports the program both technologically and scientifically.
Μore specifically:
Monday, October 30th: The whole of the school got together and welcomed the partners in the open amphitheater, exchanged gifts and with introductory “ice-breaking” activities. The children and teachers formed two mixed groups (grades 3 to 6) and participated in the workshops we had prepared: The first one entitled “Maths, Music, Movement, and Motives” was supported by our school’s music teacher Kyriaki Bonatou with collaboration of Emmanuela Georgiladakis, George Kallithrakas, Aggeliki Filippidou and Argyro Apostolaki. They all dealt with the relationship of music with the concept of a mathematical sequence, which is seen in structured patterns and the principles that govern them, such as repetition based on specific rules, harmony and rhythm, structure and form, counterpoint and symmetry, time and duration. We also taught the fractional units ½, ¼, 1⁄8 in an alternative way. Music and dance acted as motivation for the children to master non-self-evident mathematical concepts and develop related skills. The second workshop was entitled “Montessori Maths” and was coordinated by the teachers Evangelia Mylonaki, Artemis Choreftaki, and Veroniki Dousaki. This workshop dealt with highlighting mathematics as a communicative code by linking it to body language (creative movement). Thus, the multiplication tables (eg. 3 and 6) cease to be taught mechanistically where the children learn them merely by parroting, but with the help of the Montessori numerical stars the children are mobilized in an active, experiential discovery of knowledge. Both workshops were evaluated with rave reviews from all participants and therefore achieved their objectives. The school day also included group sports activities (relay races, chains, football) to strengthen cooperation and teamwork under the guidance of our PE teacher Takis Svourakis and the help of Veroniki Dousaki and Giorgos Kallithrakas.
Tuesday 31 October: The program continued with the workshops coordinated by our partners. From Cyprus and the A.MUS.ED. Music school, Polyxeni Constantinou, urged the students to write the lyrics of songs with mathematical units, such as the priority of operations, multiplication tables, geometric concepts, etc. for rap and hip-hop songs, which the kids eventually performed. The result was very interesting.
From Sweden and the dance school Viksjöforsballeten, Helena Ehrstrad, managed to coordinate the children in a circle with her game “the little mouse” and all together create songs related to the content of the program.
The day continued with two parallel activities: The first involved games in the pool under the supervision of our PE teacher, Takis Svourakis, everyone participated enthusiastically. The children played basketball and volleyball and had lots of fun. The second one, in the spirit of Halloween, involved participating in an impressive and creative Escape Room entitled “Who killed our school’s gardener?” prepared by our English teacher Ria Thomadakis with lots of clever puzzles that exercise logic and cooperation (problem solving) and offered effects for emotional engagement and the development of imagination with the help of George Thomadakis (her brother). It was a unique experience! Last but not least, Nelia Manolaki took on the activity of face- painting all of the students who wished to. We also thoroughly enjoyed the treats in a Halloween-inspired buffet.
Wednesday, November 1st: The first day of the month was dedicated to our educational trip to Askifou. Our guests and the students from our school from the 3rd to the 6th grade participated, accompanied by their teachers. The day’s program included participation in a pottery workshop in the specially designed area which belongs to Miranda Karkanis, a tour of the Folklore Museum of Bikouvari (getting to know the household equipment, clothing and daily life of an earlier era), the local fauna and historical events such as the participation of the people of Sfakia in the Macedonian Struggle. Then, we were guided to the Olive Mill by Antonis Kanakis in Maza Apokoronou and observed the oil production process, which we got the opportunity to taste. After a short history lesson in the Hellenic Arch, a monument where we find traces from all periods of Cretan history (Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian, Ottoman years). Our excursion was accompanied by traditional dishes (pilafi, boiled meat, fried pork, pies, etc.).
Thursday, November 2nd: The last day of the program was dedicated to a field trip to the Technical University of Crete, since it is one of the partners in the specific Erasmus program. With the initiative of our partner Nektarios Moumoutzis (member of the Special Laboratory Staff at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering), our students and guests participated in a series of interactive workshops. These were the Innovative Architectural Technologies lab, the Unmanned Systems (drones), Geodesy and Informatics of Geosciences lab (SenseLab) and the Digital and Augmented Reality lab at School of Computer Engineering (MusicLab). Our young students (1st and 2nd grade) were quite enthused by the technologies they encountered and this is the goal of our school that our students are inspired by scientific and technological achievements. The educational visit was completed with a visit to the historical site of the Tombs of Venizelos and a meal at Nymphes café. In the afternoon, our guests were guided around the old town of Chania and with the farewell dinner we renewed the date of our collaboration. Everyone was left with the best impressions and what we obtained was very constructive.
TV report from the local NEA TV channel on the YouTube video.
