"Our Healthyland project included an exchange of experiences between 6 educational institutions to raise awareness of the need to practice sport and healthy nutrition from an early age. The overall goal was to implement and encourage our children to a healthy lifestyle, both in the physical and mental spheres, through various games, games, meetings with interesting people, and especially sharing knowledge and experience. Our general goals were to promote a healthy lifestyle and to develop a sense of belonging to the European community and its values. The target group of the project consisted of 35 teachers and 1050 children enrolled in six participating institutions and their parents. Thanks to the implemented activities, our project promoted a healthy lifestyle, promoted various sports opportunities in an attractive form for children and alternative ways of spending free time. He offered practical solutions for parents on how to introduce a healthy diet and change the children's eating habits. The project was implemented for two years from September 2016 to August 2018. Activities in the first year of the project focused on healthy nutrition and changing children's eating habits, and the second year of the project concerned sport and physical activity. Our activities included culinary classes for children and parents, meetings with interesting people (confectioner, dietitian, baker, doctor, sportsman, etc.). Educational, artistic and sports activities used music, art, theater and dance. The project promoted sport as a form of shared, interesting time spent with the family, among others through sport picnics for children and parents.In addition, digital materials and other educational materials were created, such as: posters, leaflets, website, etc. Excursions in interesting places that were crucial during the project implementation (gyms, fitness club, bakeries, fairs, etc.). The activities carried out by teachers influenced the children's active acquisition of knowledge and gave children the opportunity to learn from each other. The project was promoted to residents in the form of meetings, project newsletters, events - sports and culinary picnics, etc. Children and teachers communicated with partner kindergartens to exchange information and monitor progress in project activities.Three international project meetings took place, during which demonstration classes were carried out as part of the exchange of good practices and others from project activities. All participants got acquainted with the culture of partner countries. In addition, we participated in two seminars LTT ""Steps to Healthyland"", ""The risk of a poor diet and lack of physical activity"" and one webinar: ""Mountain kindergarten as an effective form of physical activity and health way of life"". Communication between partners was carried out with the help of available internet tools.The project helped teachers to raise the level of education by gaining and sharing experience, learning new methods and techniques, and using different approaches in education. The methods that we used were of participatory, dynamic and creative nature. Therefore, all participants took part in: debates, presentations, meetings, educational and promotional activities, etc. It increased and developed our competence of foreign language . It was also important for us to develop cooperation with parents in order to promote the proper development of the child and the learning process. The involvement of parents helped to influence the educational success of children, their social and emotional development and change habits related to a healthy lifestyle. Thanks to constant cooperation with parents, they had the opportunity to broaden their knowledge about a healthy lifestyle, which facilitated motivating and supporting their children. Thanks to this cooperation and the support of parents, the impact of the project on children has a long-term impact.International cooperation has allowed to strengthen the partnership between educational institutions participating in the project. This has improved the quality of teacher education and the effectiveness of teaching. The project helped in gaining experience, knowledge and improving the quality of approach to the practice of managing an educational institution."

Effective sustainable development is one of the common challenges for European Union and its member countries, as is the education for sustainable development. It is part of the European strategic goals, national strategic goals and also of national school curriculums. As educators we are faced with the challenge how to present the subject to children who are ever more disconnected with nature and with themselves. We face the same problem with some of our colleagues and parents. Connecting with likeminded educators from abroad is one of the ways to stay motivated and achieve creative solutions. The main aim of the project is to achieve long lasting changes in schools by sharing good practices collected in guidelines on integrating sustainability. Throughout the project, partners will share ideas by working collaboratively online and documenting their work using our project Twinspace. We will also exchange ideas and results during face-to-face meetings in all the partner countries. Emphasis will be on international cooperation. Since every partner school follows different national/local guidelines, has special conditions regarding natural environment surrounding their school, spatial conditions and is set in a specific culture, activities will be set in a way where every school will be able to adapt them.Objectives: - exchange of examples of good practice among project partners by having a meeting in each country (they will include powerpoint presentations, workshops and job shadowing);- to develop guidelines on integrating sustainability in educational institutions, that can be applied to any educational institutions;- to document existing practices in partner schools in the area of sustainable food practices, waste management, sustainable practices involving toys and play/art materials, outdoor activities and sustainable relationships in the form of a joint report;- to foster critical thinking and problem solving skills among staff and children by enabling them to develop creative solutions for different issues such as reusing waste materials, creating outdoor spaces ...- minimising or optimising our impact on nature by more effective recycling solutions (creating compost heaps, making school gardens, rethinking toys and art materials, staying outdoors more ...);- to improve knowledge of the pupils, parents, educators and staff on sustainable development by exposing them to different issusus (such as local and imported produce, recycling ...)- to involve parents and local communities in our project by spreading sustainable practices among themProject resoults:- booklet with sustainability guidelines for preschools/schools (main product)- Facebook page and Twinspace with sustainability guidelines and collection of good practices- posters for different events (seed exchange, school garden volunteer day ...) and visual guidelines for sustainability practices (recycing, composting ...).- questionnaires for children/parents/teachers/staff about changes in attitudes toward sustainability (will be distributed at the start and at the end of the projects)- dissemination folder with all the powerpoint presentations about project activities, photographs, videos, documents, booklets and posters in pdf form- eTwinning educational course for teachers Project is aimed at preschool and lower primary school institutions. One of the groups involved in the project are children aged 1- 11 years old. They will participate in local project activities and events. Project involves only teacher and school personnel mobilities. There will be six project meetings (2 in Slovenia, 1 in Bulgaria, Sweden, Latvia and Spain) with 2-4 participants from every partner country (15 in total). Mobilities will involve different educators such as teachers, school staff and management. Each meeting will be dedicated to one of the subtopics of the project (sustainable food practices, waste management, sustainable practices involving toys and play / art materials, outdoor activities and sustainable relationships). All participants of the project see sustainable development as the only successful method of development for the future. That means that all the solutions and practices that will be collected during the project and proved effective will be used in schools in the long term (taking into account different national / local guidelines, special conditions regarding the natural environment surrounding their school, conditions and cultural differences). We will also create sustainability guidelines that will be shared among our national school networks and with public. Activities and examples of good practice will be gathered in the activity folder which will be available to teachers of the schools involved in the projects. We plan to use them in our lesson plans. If the partnership proves successful we will later try to work on another project and tackle new challanges that future will bring.

"Things we do to live comfortably can affect the world around us, and the quantity of garbage we produce every day is something we should take more care of. Little actions and care from each individual can radically change humanity's impact on our planet. In order to reduce our continuous production of waste and to apply a real sustainable development, It is necessary that we make changes in our consumption habits, daily behavior, lifestyle and ways of doing things. And the sooner we learn how to make these changes, the better will be for our planet. That's why we want to start from very early childhood: kindergarten education.The seven partner kindergartens are from Iceland, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Poland, Norway and Turkey, all of them are already very active on environmental education and recycling activities, with a total of about 400 children and 150 school staff members involved in this project. We are the perfect team to identify, develop and test the 3Rs best practices (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) with children aged 2-7 years. In the 7 partner countries educators will engage children in opportunities to learn about environment, 3Rs and sustainability, involving families and local communities.Four leitmotivs will run throughout the whole project:-RUBBISH FAMILY: a family of waste bins composed by Father, Mother and Babies, that will contain all the waste of the school, so that children and staff can be aware of the quantity (and quality) of waste produced.-COMPOSTER, the King of Rubbish, where children can see first hand, that waste can turn in a valuable resource!-SCHOOL FLEA MARKET, open to children's families and to local community to ease the exchange of cloths, toys or any item that can still serve someone else.-ROSE OF JERICHO (also called Resurrection Plant), a desert plant that seems totally dry and dead, until it gets a little water to open and turn back to life, green and strong, to amaze children with the miracle of water.We have adapted the 3Rs to our little children, and they became 4 as follows :1. RECOGNIZE – children will learn about the different materials we use in our everyday life: plastic, glass, paper, organic, etc. through games, sport competitions, simple agricultural tasks and outdoor activities. Children will learn how to recognize natural and sustainable materials from those that are not.""We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors; we borrow it from our Children"" (anonymous) 2. REDUCE – we will all get acquainted to replace non-sustainable materials and products, with more sustainable ones, schools will help families organizing purchasing groups to get sustainable productions at a lower price. Experts will involve parents in easy lessons to learn how to produce simple every-day low-impact products at home.""Do not pretend that things will change if we always do the same"" (Albert Einstein)3. RECYCLE (and Reuse) – children will get used to separate garbage in the correct bins and reuse everything possible, making handcrafts, shopping bags and decorations for the school, using items in the bins.""The world has enough for everyone's needs, but not everyone's greed"" (Gandhi)4. ROOT – this part will be fully focused on teachers, who will share, discuss and consolidate the aims, activities, methods and results of the project, with other teachers (of local kindergarten and primary schools) and with University Professors. Every school will also apply for the ECO-SCHOOL certification of the worldwide Foundation for Environmental Education, in order to root the good habits learnt during the project and make it a permanent curriculum program.""Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world"" (Nelson Mandela)Our main aims and desired impacts in short:-connecting our children with the wonders of nature and create environmental awareness to respect and protect our planet,-improving competence and skills in environmental education of kindergarten teachers,-consolidating and disseminating the 3Rs best practices to kindergartens children and teachers, but also to their families and local communities,-exchanging good practices among different countries,-raising awareness in children and families about the impact that products we use have on environment, and become aware of how little changes in our lifestyle can help our planet to stay healthy,-rooting all good habits learnt during the project to make them a permanent lifestyle and curriculum program in our kindergartens,-improving, consolidating and disseminating new teaching methods for 3Rs best practices in kindergartens, -increasing the quality level in our kindergartens,-creating a stronger feeling of belonging to the European Community and therefore continue improving our performances as teachers and educators.""Those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world usually do"" (Steve Jobs)"

Project “Student Transition in Education Paths” has the important goal to facilitate students’ transition from kindergartens to primary schools of the eight partner countries. Since this particular transition is considered the most critical of all transitions in a child’s life, all partners believe that it should be dealt with the appropriate significance and seriousness. It is a common view among all partnership members that a successful transition to primary schools guarantees academic success, personal and social development and eventually future prosperity for all pupils. It is the first time that this topic has preoccupied a partnership in the past few years. The main aim of this consortium to collect transition practises from various countries, compare them and select the best practices to disseminate in every country. This aim will be achieved if we involve pre-primary and primary schools of both typical and special needs education and promote cooperation between kindergartens and primary schools via common actions, events and activities, organize and run various interesting and motivating actions pupils as well as engage possible participants in our actions, such as local stakeholders, psychologists, parents’ associations, school counsellors and teachers.The project will be carried out via six learning/teaching/training activities and three transnational project meetings in the eight partner countries. The participants in these activities will be teachers/educators who work in these organizations and are interested in the issue of transition. The participants will be selected according to their motivation, interest in the topic and free will, considering at the same time their language and presentation skills. 16 teachers/educators will take part in five of the six LTT activities and 14 teachers/educators in the last LTT activity, whereas two people from each organization/school will participate in the transnational project meetings. During training activities teachers will take part in tasks that will give them the opportunity to experience teaching in other countries, share and exchange their ideas with European colleagues and be informed about the education systems in partner- countries. They will also improve their ICT and English language skills and develop an understanding and tolerance towards their foreign colleagues’ culture.Students will be involved in interesting and original activities, learn how to adjust to a new educational environment and help other pupils adjust to a new educational environment, establish a positive start in the new school, and raise their interest to other countries, cultures, customs and traditions. The project will have as a result a plurilinguistic book on transition practices, a website and a Facebook page of the project, an e-Twinning project, and questionnaires to investigate transition practices among the partner countries. Interviews with teachers from all partner countries will be organised as well as a booklet about children’s skills and a plurilingual e-book with fairy tales from all partner countries. The impact of the implementation of the project is that pupils will be involved in various activities along with other students and teachers, take part in transition practices from other countries and as a result they will have a smoother transition from preschool to primary school and will be guaranteed personal development and a future academic success.At the same time teachers will gain new experience by observing other teachers’ methods and share their knowledge by teaching their methods to other teachers, improve their linguistic and digital skills and learn a lot about other cultures.The organizations involved will have the opportunity to develop links with European schools, understand diversity of European cultures & languages, develop through international collaboration and be willing to open up to & appreciate new ideas coming from other European countries. Finally parents will be guided in how to actively help their children adapt more smoothly in primary schools and local authorities will enhance their cultural competence and widen their horizons and develop more tolerance and understanding for other cultures. In the long run, the project’s aim to develop, exchange and share new teaching methods which will facilitate the transition of pupils from kindergartens to primary schools will promote the development of pupils’ personality in a holistic way. The quality of education will be improved, equal opportunities for all students will be provided and the on-going challenges faced by teachers, students, schools and European organizations at national and European level will be addressed.