Be GITA

My GITA city/ town/ village

The English teacher designed an interesting project activity for pupils called "My GITA city/ town/ village". The pupils were divided into pairs to do a creative task in which they had to draw and describe an imaginary place that has GITA elements, a place that has the following characteristics: green city (sustainable development), inclusivity, technology and an active population. The pupils had to present the designed place orally to the rest of the class. In addition to the presented activity, the pupils evaluated the extent to which their city Rovinj meets the required characteristics and rated it with a grade C. With this task, the pupils showed their interesting ideas, critical thinking and practical solutions to the environmental problems we face nowadays. We hope that as many places as possible in the future will resemble the GITA cities of our pupils!

World Hiking Day

The school marked World Hiking Day. At eight in the morning, all pupils and teachers met in front of the school. The pupils took over their lunch and the hike began! They had a little more than five kilometers to reach their final destination. They passed through the streets of the City to get down to the waterfront, then they continued along the coast all the way to the Zlatni rt Forest Park. Lower classes stopped at a meadow in the park, while higher classes continued to the basketball court. Upon arrival, the pupils played various games from football, volleyball, basketball, to jumping rubber bands and jumping rope. The day was organized so that the pupils can move and stay on the fresh air. Also, teachers used the opportunity to teach the pupils to take care of the environment, and the pupils cleaned up all the trash after themselves and put it in the waste bins. It was an instructive, beautiful and active gathering away from school desks!

Corn hole and hanging bowling alley

The pupils of the fourth grade went to visit the Home for the elderly "Domenico Pergolis" in order to socialize with their users. Since it was Children's Week, the users of the Home prepared two interesting games for them: Corn hole and a hanging bowling alley. The users of the home divided the pupils into two groups and alternately introduced them to both games. The pupils showed great interest and accepted the games with smiles on their faces. Users and pupils were happy to spend time together and expressed interest in future meetings!

Children's rights

This week marked Children's Week, on the occasion of which various activities were organized, including those related to children's rights. Children are entitled to many rights, but not all of their rights are respected, and it is the duty of adults to teach them their rights and protect them from violations. The student council of our school had the opportunity to host the Youth Council of the City of Rovinj and to exchange ideas and proposals with them, and thus actively participate in the work of the local community. Furthermore, pupils from the first to the fourth grade had the opportunity to participate in workshops on the topic of children's rights, where they learned the difference between wishes and needs, which children's rights are, and learned about the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The pupils showed interest in the mentioned topic and showed how much they had learned through quizzes!

Seagulls

A veterinarian from Poreč Veterinary Station visited our school. She came to tell the first graders what they do with the seagulls, where the seagulls' primary habitat is and what they eat. The veterinarian told the students how they replace the seagulls' eggs with artificial ones so that they return to their natural habitat - the sea. Students listened carefully, asked questions and shared their experiences of close encounters with seagulls. The veterinarian also gave the students useful tips on how to defend themselves against seagull attacks.

Visit to the library of the monastery of St. Francis

Sixth grade students accompanied by Croatian language teacher Dubravka Burić visited the library and museum of the monastery of St. Francis in Rovinj. Under expert guidance, the students saw a multitude of books, leading among them missals and breviaries from the 16th to the 18th centuries, which were handwritten and decorated. The library contains about 12,000 books, and the most interesting thing for the students was to get their hands on a 17th-century breviary, a wooden frame that weighs about 12 kg and is written in Latin. Among other rarities, they were able to see fragments written in Glagolitic script and hand-painted initials, which particularly impressed them.

We thank the monastery for cooperation, hospitality and candies!

Learning with AI

Artificial intelligence has become an everyday thing, so the Geography teacher tried her hand at using it in class. She decided to show the students how to use the Gamma app. The teacher showed the functionality of the application on the smart board, while the students followed her on the tablets. The students liked the idea of creating a research assignment with the help of artificial intelligence. Also, they realized that it does not give them a finished product, but only a starting point for work, which they later need to upgrade by critically thinking and adapting to the tasks of the research work.

Using artificial intelligence in the classroom with critical thinking

Teachers Vinka Gregov and Nataša Lovaković participated in Erasmus mobility in Amsterdam, where they received professional training on the subject of artificial intelligence and its use in the classroom. They transferred the knowledge they acquired to their colleagues at an interesting workshop called Use of artificial intelligence in the classroom with critical reflection. The teachers prepared an introductory activity that aroused the interest of the participants, after which they started to explain the applications that they can use in working with students. For each application, they pointed out the positive sides and disadvantages and invited their colleagues to think about whether and in what way it is applicable in their work. The participants showed interest in the application of UI in teaching and actively participated in the discussion about its integration in teaching.

The initiative to use tablets in classes

Technology is all around us, children are introduced to it from an early age. It is often the reason for the debate between people who promote digital technology and people who emphasize its harmful effects. However, technology is something that surrounds us and is an imperative of modern society. Therefore, why not use it for didactic purposes? These are also the views of our school's teachers, but too often they encounter numerous obstacles in using it in class. A survey was launched at the school with the aim of finding out what teachers think about ICT in class and whether they are ready to use it and what prevents them from doing so already. The conclusions after the conducted research are that teachers are willing to use tablets in class (they already use computers), but the current conditions did not allow them to use them efficiently. Guidelines have been adopted that will enable teachers to use tablets effectively, and they are as follows:

put functional tablets for students in a place accessible to teachers - where they can take them if needed
check the technical settings of the tablet for the possibility of connecting to the Internet
ensure that the school's wi-fi code is visible to everyone
educate students to handle tablets
check internet connections in classrooms
provide technical support for teachers