ContextNowadays children mostly live within the four walls of their flats, houses and schools. Kids and teenagers spend most of the time inside because of , for example, city migration, lots of homework, development of technology, or parents’ fear against meeting bad strangers outside. Because of that, children are less and less acquainted with the nature and that may also render them less responsible for the environment in the future.There is much evidence that nature has lots of positive benefits on children’s psychological and physical development and well-being, such as reduction of stress, better health, better creativity and concentration. More free time and contact with nature could also positively affect children’s ability to focus in the classroom or to learn more effectively at home.According to research, the experience of discovering and exploring the nature is one of the most effective ways in which children can gain knowledge about different subjects. Based on thesefindings and the need to find alternative ways of improving students’ performance at schools, we have invented this project hoping to attain the desired outcomes and then be able to share them among other schools in our regions and around Europe.We made a decision to work together on this project with other schools from other countries also because we are interested in observing how students from other countries interact with the nature and also how schools deal with the problem of students’ spending too much time at their homes.Our main aims are:1. To improve teachers’ competences in designing outdoor activities and integrating them in regular school life2. To enable teachers from the EU countries to cooperate together and produce common results which could be further used in their schools, and also in other schools3. To promote nature as an effective learning environment4. To improve skills and competences acquisition by students5. To make parents aware that time spent by children outdoors is very important6. To develop students’ and teachers’ critical thinking and intercultural competences7. To develop communication and interpersonal skills among the participants of the project.ParticipantsTeachers (3/country/LTTA) will participate in transnational events in order to meet their colleagues from partner countries. There, they will be able to try out their methods, compare the methods of different educational systems, take part in cultural events and activities and finally disseminate the information to local community.ActivitiesC1 – Learning outdoors – current trends in Europe (organized in TURKEY in Nov 2019)C2 – Nature activities and numeracy (ROMANIA in Feb 2020)C3 – Nature activities and literacy (PORTUGAL in May 2020)C4 – Nature activities and science (SLOVENIA in Oct 2020)C5 – Nature activities and the exploration of the self through arts and crafts (LITHUANIA in Mar 2021)Results- Report on nature-related activities performed on a regular basis at schools, together with their aims, purposes and methodology, as well as the frequency of such activities (as discussed during LTTA1)- Collection of activities aiming to develop numeracy that could be performed outdoors (as presentedduring LTTA2)- Collection of outdoor activities to develop literacy (LTTA3)- Collection of outdoor activities to enable the study of sciences (LTTA4)- Collection of outdoor activities to increase self-awareness and self-expression through arts andcrafts (LTTA5)All the above-mentioned collections will be placed together in the final result of the project, “Getting students outside – ideas for outdoor activities in order to improve school performance”.- 5 newsletters, one after every transnational meeting, which will also be disseminated.- A brochure with photographs and information about all partner countries to be handed out in the schools and exhibited in every school’s Erasmus+ corner- The project website- Certificates of participation- Students’ work- photographs of our activitiesImpactAs an outcome of this project, partner schools will strengthen their relationship with parents, students and teachers. There will be better relationship among all the mentioned groups, because all groups will be directly involved in the project. This will be surely beneficial for all schools in the long run. We also hope the project will make our cooperation with parents better. The better atmosphere at schools will lead to more students wanting to join the schools as the schools will become attractive in the local communities. The teachers will brush up their skills, which translates into better quality of teaching at schools, which in turn results in better results of students. In the same way, students’ motivation will increase, they will enjoy learning better, which is yet another benefit for every school.

<< Objectives >>We want to raise the level of social inclusion of students with special educational needs by implementation of principles of inclusive education in school practice. We want to change the educational process so that it responds to the needs of students with different problems and possibilities as well as enables them to fully participate in generally accessible education system. We want to develop adequate materials and educational tools and raise the awareness of parents, teachers, and students<< Implementation >>60 teachers from 3 partner schools will develop teaching materials and tools. Teachers will collaborate online and during the mobility, they will share knowledge and skills to develop common methodological and organisational solutions. 60 students from partner schools will consult the developed solutions and conduct peer education. Teachers and parents will undergo training to raise awareness of the functioning of students with special needs.<< Results >>The teachers will adopt the requirements, methods, and forms of work to the individual needs of students which will enable the use of the full potential of students. Teachers and specialists will collaborate in an effective way, the level of awareness of teaching staff, parents and students will raise, which will result in the increase of level of inclusion of students with special needs.

"<< Background >>With this project, our aim is to bring all students at-risk in education as far as possible. Because in the system of education, all students don't have the equal conditions and opportunities. While these diversifications in life conditions become a chance for some, they become a predicament for others.This situation generally results as academically, sociological and psychologically loss of the students. When we concentrate on this problem, we obtain justified reasons (Having divorced parents, no parents, living with step-mother or step-father, having financial problems, chronic health problems, psychophysiologic disorders, even experiencing stress with the increasing amount of the homework, etc.).The students who have experienced these various kinds of problems are defined as at-risk students. They mostly can not adapt academic and social life among peers at school because of either their low self-esteem or aggressive behaviours.According to 2018 Eurostat statics one out of ten young people in the EU have completed at most a lower secondary education and are not in education and training.These statics show that the problem we face is not regional but it is a universal problem in education.The statics of this situation can be seen on ""ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statics"" link.The results of risk maps and questionnaries that we and our partners applied to our students for needs analysis also demonstrate that as being different schools in different countries we encounter common problems in education with some of our partners.The negotiations made with our partners also show that for further education we face common problems with some of our partners at our schools.However our partnership also consists of those who have found solutions to these problems and have the knowledge of necessary tecniques that should be applied against these problems. From this aspect we thought to study on this problem in a universal dimension.The partners from different countries have different competences and this will provide our project a multidirectional implementation. And our project's impact area will become universal. All partners from different countries have different knowledge and experiences .With this various point of views, we plan to carry out a well-rounded study with the help of our project. . The outputs and results of the project are designed for the target groups all around the world. Carrying out the project in international level will contribute to reach our goals effectively.By using the effect of music on these students, we aim to reduce or wipe out the negative attitudes towards education.We also aim to reveal hidden talents of the students.Various studies have found that the benefits of music are countless.According to these researches, music can positively impact students at-risk in the realms of communication, behavior management and academics; even self-esteem and reduced anxiety are noted as benefits.It is also an excellent way to relieve stress, which is significant for students who may feel overwhelmed by school-work and try to balance extra curricular activities.It has been found that music can reduce burnout and improve mood states. Music is also important because it will give students a way to connect with other people. Creating a school band or small ensemble or encouragings participation in a chorus will allow students to work together. Another reason music is so important is that it integrates so many different subject areas all at once. Not only will music allow children to develop their musical skills, it will also give them the opportunity to work on their math skills, reading and writing skills and history knowledge.<< Objectives >>In education we don't always encounter sociologically and psychologically normal students. Each student is different from each other in many conditions.While the life conditions of some students are suitable for being well-educated, for some others, conditions are compelling. With this too much diversity in their life conditions, we can't expect the same success from all students. While some of the students can be very successful, some others can not show any improvement in education. When we concentrate on this problem, we obtain justified reasons (Having divorced parents, no parents, living with step-mother or step-father, having financial problems, chronic health problems, psychophysiologic disorders, even experiencing stress with the increasing amount of the homework, etc.).The students who have experienced these various kinds of problems are defined as at-risk students. They mostly can not adapt academic and social life among peers at school because of either their low self-esteem or aggressive behaviours.According to 2018 Eurostat statics one out of ten young people in the EU have completed at most a lower secondary education and are not in education and training.These statics show that the problem we face is not regional but it is a universal problem in education.The statics of this situation can be seen on ""ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statics"" link.The results of risk maps and questionnaries that we and our partners applied to our students for needs analysis also demonstrate that as being different schools in different countries we encounter common problems in education with some of our partners.The negotiations made with our partners also show that for further education we face common problems with some of our partners at our schools.However our partnership also consists of those who have found solutions to these problems and have the knowledge of necessary tecniques that should be applied against these problems. From this aspect we thought to study on this problem in a universal dimension.The partners from different countries have different competences and this will provide our project a multidirectional implementation. And our project's impact area will become universal. All partners from different countries have different knowledge and experiences .With this various point of views, we plan to carry out a well-rounded study with the help of our project. . The outputs and results of the project are designed for the target groups all around the world. Carrying out the project in international level will contribute to reach our goals effectively. So, by using the healing effect of music we are aiming to involve students at risk in the system of education and in order to reach our goal effectively, we also want to train the teachers by means of the seminars and workshops (that will be carried out throughout the project)about the effect of music and musical activities on the education of students-at-risk.We will use music and musical activities as an alternative teaching method for purpose of endearing school to students at risk. By this way we aim to serve also their academic success implicitly .To support our project,we created an Etwinning project in the name of ""Musical Journey"" with our partners about music,musical activities and musical instruments. In this project we are aiming that these at-risk students increase their self-esteem in positive and improve their academic and social skills by concentrating on the healing effect of music in education. Skills such as working in teams , communication, self-esteem , creative thinking, calmer attitudes, imagination, discipline, study skills and invention can be learnt and improved through the study of music.And to support our project we aim to produce two outputs. These are a guideline with a registered ISBN, ""The basics of Music Therapy for students with special needs"", and a Curriculum program ""Music Therapy for supporting the student with special needs.""<< Implementation >>In our project we will have 3 transnational meetings (Poland, Spain, North Macedonia). To these meetings, two participant teachers will attend from each country. In these meetings the teachers will have seminars about the project topic and they will do some workshops, study visits and other subject related activities. And we will have 2 LTTAs. They will take place in Turkey and in Romania. In these activities, 4 students at-risk and 2 accompanying teachers will attend from each participant school. Our NGO partner will not attend these activities.In these activities all participant students and teachers will have seminars and attend different kinds of activities.We will also carry out following local activities at our schools:1-During December 2021, we will create a 'Music Corridor' at our schools.We will put all kinds of musical materials such as the photos of disadvantaged musicians, their life stories, photos and information about musical instruments etc. on the wall of our school corridor.By this way, we aim to draw the attentions of all students and of those who come and visit our schools.The photos of this corridor at all partner schools will be published on our school's website, project website and on our eTwinning project space.2-Within January 2022, in all partner schools a film in the name of ""Whiplash"" will be watched by the students. In this movie, the story of a young musician and the difficulties in his life are told.3-During March 2022, the students-at-risk and other volunteer students will write a letter to their favourite musician and they will insert the lyrics of this musician to their letters. Then these letters will be exhibited on the walls of the music corridor.4-During May 2022, in each partner country school, a school trip to a musician's house will be organised.The students will visit this musician's house and they will get information about the life of this musician, his works,his clothes and his belongings.5-During September 2022, in each partner schools, classsical music will be played to students in all their break times.6-During November 2022, all partner school students-at-risk and other volunteer students will create a 'Pictorial Musical Instruments Dictionary'.In these dictionaries they will give information about what materials they are made of and how are they played.7-During January 2023, in all partner schools, 'School Corridor Concerts' will be organised.In these concerts the participants will mostly be the students-at-risk and they will play instruments and sing songs. The other students will watch and have fun all together. The parents of students-at-risk will also come to school and watch their children's performances.8-During March 2023, the students- at-risk and other volunteer students will make a 'Rhythm Work'. These students will do these activities with the accompany of music teachers.For this activity, the students will use different kinds of rhythm tools.These tools are called 'Percussion Instruments'.They are tambourine,timbrel, tomtom,maraca, etc.9-During May 2023, the students will create a musical instrument by using recycled materials. And these materials will be exhibited at all participant schools after the activity.All these activities carried out in TPMs, LTTAs, and local activities above will be published on our school's website, project website and eTwinning space. And after each TPM and LTTA we will prepare a Newslatter, that includes the photos and information of the activities carried out during these activities.<< Results >>As a result of the project, all partner schools will be in a good relation with the students at risk.They will not evaluate them by just looking at their academic success.They will also deal with the underlying reasons of their academic failure and by this way they will try to create different kinds of supporting activities for these children .The results of this approach will also make a positive effect on parents of these children.They will also notice the success,effort,intelligence and talents of their children and so they will do all required things for the education of them.This project will also be beneficial in order to strengthen the relationship among all participants,because they will be directly involved in the project.And it will be advantageous for all schools in the long run.It will also be beneficial to involve the parents to the system of education actively.And with this positive atmosphere at schools,we will help more students attend and love the school.As another result of this project, the teachers will improve their skills with different qualified activities and this will also effect students positively.Their motivation, and determination to succeed will increase,so they will be better educated.By seeing the improvement in themselves, they will be more eager, more sociable,more creative,more self-confident and more successful individuals.As a result of this, the improvement on education at our schools will be noticed by other schools in our cities; the methods and accomplishments of our schools will serve as models in terms of development of other schools.After implementing Erasmus+ projects, schools gain an international qualification and this side of the process make the schools to work onthese projects in the future, as well.After this project we will go on dealing with music and musical activities at our schools.We will try to add some other kinds of musical courses to the previous ones.And at the end of the project we will exhibit our materials created during the project on our music corridors at schools. By this way we will make them known by all schools in our cities, so they can benefit from our work.We will also continue to emphasize the importance of music on the education of students at risk.Besides this, we will also pay our attentions to produce two outputs. These are:Outputs: IO1: A Guideline with a registered ISBN"" ""The basics of Music Therapy for students with special needs"": A set of instructions to improve the skills and competences needed to cooperate with students in special needs. IO2: A Curriculum program, ""Music Therapy for helping students with special needs"" : To develop the students-at risk in terms of effective communication,corporation,creative thinking, entrepreneurship, critical thinking, searching and questioning, problem solving skills by integrating Music Therapy inside the schools.Our other outcomes are, our project website, our etwinning project, project pages on different social media platforms and the materials(videos,photographs,newsletters, musical instruments created by using recycled materials etc.) collected throughout the project."

ContextThe project has been drawn with the intention of bringing students from different European countries closer, creating space for learning from each other and gathering so as work on common goals. Sophisticated as it may seem, entrepreneurship should be a key skill of modern citizens, thus it is not astonishing that they should learn it as early as at a primary level. Students' sense of initiative creates a space for personal growth and will enable them to find an area where they may become leaders at later on.Needless to say, benefits of the strive to inculcate some entrepreneurial skills into students will pay off in the future. Modern and entrepreneurially-aware students will find it easy to push their ideas even in the times of economic changes and uncertainty and in the areas of low-income, where almost all these schools are based.Such a skill confronts to the Recommendation 2007/962/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2007 on key competences for lifelong learning. The idea behind the project, which is sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, constitutes one of the eight competences laid out in the framework.Objectives1. To endow students with tools to develop their sense of initiative2. To discover and explore opportunities that the UE gives3. To spread tolerance and popularize diversity juxtaposing European cultures4. To give space for international collaboration with the richness of cultures5. To improve communicative and language skills of students6. To gain some knowledge connected with entrepreneurship7. To spread the idea and knowledge of start-ups8. To focus on the development of creativity and critical thinking9. To form ground for cooperation between schools and local entrepreneursParticipantsThe target group consists of approximately 200 students who are 12-14 years-old Students facing social, economic, integration challenges will be fully supported to engage in the activities, so as to encourage their participation.The actual participants will be 96 students, out of whom 24 are facing various challenges (C2-C5) and 44 teachers – 12 teachers attend C1, while 32 mobilities for accompanying teachers are planned for C2-C5.Transnational eventsPoland - C1 - Nov 2019: Start-ups. Financial and Management Basics - short term joint staff training eventPortugal – C2 - April 2020: Entrepreneurial skills and competences - student exchangeRomania - C3 - Oct 2020: Start-up ideas from around Europe - student exchange -Turkey - C4 - Feb 2021: Start-ups and advertising - student exchangeGreece - C5 - May 2021: Start-ups – Going online - Student exchangeResultsSome results we plan to produce are: workshop materials (theoretical aspects as well as worksheets, students’ collaborative products, recorded performances of students, exercises to develop creativity, negotiation, communication, planning skills), meetings with local entrepreneurs, interviews designedby students, business ideas developed at a basic level which will be included in the project final brochure, and finally an EE Kit for lower-secondary students.We also want to reach a set of outcomes, among which improved personal skills, improved cooperation of teachers and students at European level, more prepared and more motivated students, improved knowledge of European similarities and differences.ImpactStudents will get acquainted with entrepreneurship and will become more knowledgeable about what a start-up is, what resources are necessary to initiate it and how they can promote and advertise it. This will improve, in the short run, their performance in other school projects. The project will improve the expertise of each school in terms of international cooperation. It will enable teachers and students in the same school to cooperate, thus improving their working relationships. Therefore, better cohesion will be attained in each school. The teachers and students will become better organizers, will improve their planning and problem-solving skills, thus achieving long-term benefits. The success of the project and the positive impact it will have on the participants will prompt the teaching staffs in schools to continue their European initiatives and apply for future Erasmus+ projects.

The project “Developing tolerance and mutual understanding” involved 5 schools from 5 European countries: Poland, Italy, Bulgaria, Turkey and Romania. According to the SWOT analysis done by each partner in their institution, the partners indentified a series of common needs that have led to the decision to implement a project about tolerance. Violence, aggression, intolerance, racism, ethnic discrimination were the tendencies that were being observed in the behavior of the students from all the partner countries.The World Values Survey showed that Poland, Turkey and Italy were the least racially tolerant countries, while Bulgaria and Romania seemed to be the most tolerant countries. This result along with the diverse educational and cultural background of the partners facilitated the implementation of a successful project.The project objectives were: -to develop civic competences and increase self-esteem of students from 5 EU schools-to facilitate understanding the concepts “tolerance” and “mutual understanding” at a personal level and in the European context-to equip participants with practical examples for acting as civic-minded citizens-to raise awareness about diversity and cultural identities promoting social cohesion -to boost the feeling of belonging to the EU community.In accordance with the Article 2 of the Treaty on the European Union, we have envisaged that that international cooperation haveprepared our students for living in a multicultural society being aware of the EU values, appreciating diversity. Students interiorized tolerance and mutual understanding as active civic attitudes. For reaching the overall aim of broadening the civic mindedness emphasizing the importance of tolerance and mutual understanding impact in daily life, we decided to use an innovative approach. We used an innovative approach to reach the project objectives. Combining the advantages of using ICT in education with the Five Factor Model theory tackled the 5 personality dimensions: -openness to experience: students were encouraged to express their emotions and ideas using Art. Theyhave created together the movie “Tolerance through my eyes”, scenarios for the Forum theater, digital photos, prepared artistic moments for the Festival of tolerance and mutual understanding.-extraversion: team building activities, sports competitions and board games were stimulating students’ assertiveness, sociability and personality.-agreeableness: working in international teams and creating products together were developing students’ cooperation skills. The tangible products that they were creating together were flashcards about the topic, the dictionary of the project, handmade bookmarks and thematic puzzles. -neuroticism: students experienced (un)pleasant emotions, anger, depression, anxiety and vulnerability during the Forum theater/ theater activity. They have become aware of how intolerance is perceived by others, develop empathy and they have seen how important is to be an active citizen.The use of ICT during the activities, supported by internal cognitive aspects of learning led to innovative outcomes results tackling learning abilities.The activities were designed to develop the tolerance, mutual understanding, intercultural competences, social and civic spirit. The international cooperationhave broadened the cross-cultural knowledge and understanding about the countries, cultures and values strengthening the feeling of belonging to a united Europe.A number of 48 students (aged between 10 and 14 years old) attended the international meetings - LTTAs. Students were being selected before the activities, with the usage of transparent criteria decided by each project partner taken into consideration: English skills, ICT skills, motivation and involvement in the school-based activities. A number of 40 teachers were being directly involved in the project mobilities, and teams were formed at the school level to facilitate a better implementation of the project. Approximately 2700 students and 120 teachers/adults were indirectly involved in the project. Other participants who enjoyed the benefits offered by this Erasmus+ project were the administrative staff, students’ families, pedagogical staff, educational advisors, policy makers and representatives of the local authorities. The tangible products of the project were an audio dictionary, photography exhibition, calendar of the project, common movie, e-book, flashcards, thematic puzzles, handmade bookmarks, project webpages, project logo, flyers, DVD of the project, brochure.The intangible results were the development of life skills, key competences, cultural horizon, inter cultural understanding, team working skills and knowledge about the topic.All the project results were available on the project website. The dissemination plan helped to reach a large audience and made an impact at local, regional, national and international levels.