Urška Bučar, Osnovna šola Dolenjske Toplice, Dolenjske Toplice
Katja Jenko, Druga osnovna šola Slovenj Gradec, Slovenj Gradec
In school year 2015/2016 we started a project Rolling in the garden. Involved in the project were three schools from Slovenia and two schools and a kindergarten from Croatia, with children from 5 to 13 years old. At first our goal was exchanging experience in gardening and creating school gardens, but soon after establishing our group an idea appeared of common monthly newspaper containing our work presentations, exchanging experience and creating worksheets. Teachers used closed Facebook group for exchanging ideas and with children they created pages in our newspaper through shared document in the cloud. We started “rolling” through classic mail with exchanging packets of seeds. After that we filled every corner appropriate for sprouting seeds and did controlled experiments, including sprouting seeds in the fridge and outside the school. We compared results and determined best way for good sprouting. We also created art pieces themed garden and enriched our vocabulary. We exchanged work ideas. In spring outside work started. We created new plots, did garden yoga and created garden dictionary using internet and drawings. We invited gardening experts. As the school year was ending we transformed our classroom into a kitchen and created meals with our own garden products. We also exchanged and created recipes. Vegetables were tasty fresh and also prepared in gourmet dishes. Every step of our work was documented by pupils with photographs and published in our monthly newspaper. Children were thrilled to see and talk to our project friends through skype. In our TwinSpace we published plant growth animation and video guide for creating raised beds. Throughout the project six numbers of monthly newspapers were published and released in TwinSpace. We used safe environment for shared documents. Our project is an example of entwining outside learning with ICT, using regulatory curriculum and moving school process outside school walls.
