International learning with Primera.
 Final programme of the conference announced.
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 Final programme of the conference announced.
 By reading this article you will learn why it is so important to provide career guidance services for (head)teachers and students in schools to raise their career knowledge and develop their career skills and some ideas of how to do it.
Career guidance refers to a range of activities that enable citizens of any age, and at any point in their lives, to: identify their capacities, competences and interests; make meaningful educational, training and occupational decisions; and manage their individual life paths in learning, work and other settings in which these capacities and competences are learned and/or used. Lifelong guidance is provided in a range of settings: education, training, employment, community, and private. « (ELGPN 2012, 13) Some facts about career in 21st century:  A simple chemical trick to revive and recycle dried markers.
Tags: #chemistry #useful chemistry #recycling #miniexperimentforkids #homelab #littlecuriousminds From the very beginning, when children start drawing and colouring, they adore markers. We bought crayons and colouring pencils at home for our nieces, but they soon explained: "We have markers in the kindergarten." And this was not a statement, but a hidden message. ;) Why such fascination with markers is still a mystery to me today.  Start your New Year with a brand new Erasmus+ experience. Join one of our confirmed session. We already have a few 100% confirmed sessions for Spring 2020.
Check out the list below: 26. 01. – 01. 02. 2020 Yes, i can: Special needs students and inclusive education – Ljubljana, Slovenia 02. – 29. 02. 2020 Teaching character: Positive psychology for every teacher Ljubljana, Slovenia 15. 03. – 21. 03. 2020 Peer coaching as a sustainable source of professional development – Ljubljana, Slovenia Learn to ask powerful questions. By using this tool, you can help your colleagues and students to GROW. Multiculturalism – Teacher’s role in the integration process of immigrant children Ljubljana, Slovenia Who is up for fostering diversity and multiculturalism in kindergartens and primary schools? This course will teach you how to implement activities with different stakeholders in the process of integration of immigrant children. 22. 03. – 28. 03. 2020 Stress management in schools – Ljubljana, Slovenia Prevention of violence: say NO to bullying and child abuse – Ljubljana, Slovenia 03. 05. – 09. 05. 2020 What provokes conflict and how can we manage it? – Ljubljana, Slovenia Teaching character: Positive psychology for every teacher – Split, Croatia If we got your attention but you have more questions before you make the pre-registration, please write us an email to info@skupinaprimera.si We’ll be happy to help you get the perfect Erasmus+ experience. With love, Primera Group  Spring is the time when everything starts to wake up and blossom. You don’t want to miss this magical season in Ljubljana. Here are our tips on what to do in Ljubljana during Spring.
GET LOST IN LJUBLJANA’S OLD CITY CENTRE This is a must for every season! Take a walk between the medieval streets and squares, pass the Triple Bridge and the Dragon Bridge, climb up the castle, follow the river bank and admire the arcades and other creations of our famous architect Jože Plečnik An idea for a self-guided tour can be found HERE. Ljubljana in spring is in full blossom, so the views are even nicer. FILL YOUR LUNGS WITH FRESH AIR AND TAKE A HIKE It is important to get some fresh air even in the colder months. Nature begins to awaken in spring, so if you are longing for some nature, this is the best time for it. Walk from the city centre past the National Gallery of Slovenia and you will find yourself in Park Tivoli. You can walk the paths of the park or follow them uphill and make a small hike to Rožnik. If you are interested in a bigger challenge, hike to Šmarna Gora. It is the highest hill in Ljubljana at over 600 meters. You can get there by car or bus (take line 8 direction toward Gameljne to Tacen station). EXPLORE OPEN-AIR CUISINE In Spring, long-awaited Open Kitchen reopens for a new season. It is a culinary market that takes place every Friday from March to the end of October at Pogačar square in Ljubljana. With over 60 of the best Slovenian restaurants, this is a culinary gourmet event where the best chefs prepare a variety of delicacies in the open-air kitchen. You can choose between 150 dishes from different stalls, from traditional to modern cuisine, while the inhabitants of Ljubljana meet visitors from other countries. Source: odprtakuhna.si LISTEN TO A CONCERT If you are looking for something to do on colder evenings, listening to live music in many of Ljubljana’s bars can be a nice change from an active outdoor day. Grab a drink and enjoy good the atmosphere that music creates in Ljubljana during Spring time. To see what is happening at the time of your stay, look HERE. GO TO A CINEMA If you want to sit down for a while, to go to cinema and watch a movie can be the thing to do. Depending on your film preferences you can visit Kino Komuna for more independent films, Kolosej for a bigger variety of choice or Kino Bežigrad for blockbusters and good hamburgers in James Dean’s and Marlyn Monroe atmosphere of the place. VISIT A ZOO A visit to a zoo is always a wonderful experience, specialy in spring when life and nature wake’s up again. The zoo is situated in a quieter area of Ljubljana, under the Rožnik hill within the confines of a forest. It is only 30 minutes walk from the city centre or you can hop on the bus no. 18. Depending on the schedule, you can see zookeepers feeding the animals and shows of sea lions, elephant, cheetah and capybaras. In addition to exotic animals, you can see some animals native to Slovenia such as lynx, brown bear, wolves, deer and fox, among others. They also have a mini zoo where you can pet animals and a restaurant, if you want to take a little break. For more information click HERE. Source: zoo.si Don’t miss our weekly blog posts, to keep up with new tips and week courses! See you in Ljubljana, love Primera Group  In Ljubljana, temperatures can drop below 0 degrees in winter. And if you are lucky, you can even see some snow during your visit! So bring your warm clothes and some gloves, because the capital of Slovenia is charming at any time of year and in any weather. Here are some ideas of what to do in Ljubljana in the colder months. TAKE A WALK AROUND LJUBLJANA’S OLD CITY CENTRE At any temperature, a stroll through the old town should be a must for anyone visiting the capital of Slovenia! Take a walk between the medieval streets and squares, pass the Triple Bridge and the Dragon Bridge and end with a hot drink in one of the bars Ljubljanica River.  GO ICE SKATING If you feel more, put on your ice skates and get active! There’s an ice hall at Park Tivoli where you can ice skate. And since it is located inside, it is an activity that is suitable for any weather. For pricelist and opening hours click HERE to visit their official website.  SEE LJUBLJANA FROM ABOVE You can visit the castle of Ljubljana, where you have a beautiful view of the city. To get there, you can take a short walk up the hill or take a funicular. If you want to enjoy a drink with a view, we recommend a visit to the Caffe Skyscraper or the bar at the top of InterContinental Hotel. Both offer a fantastic view of the city from above.  GO SHOPPING Ljubljana has a wide range of shops to buy gifts, souvenirs or simply something new from abroad. For those who prefer to lose themselves in large shopping centres, BTC City is the right destination. For the lovers of boutique shopping you don’t have to travel far, the old town of Ljubljana is full of small, unique shops for every taste and need.  VISIT A GALLERY OR MUSEUM If you are not a shopper but rather a gallery hopper, we recommend that you visit one of our many galleries and museums where you can escape the cold. National Gallery of Slovenia is a must with its large art collection dating from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century. On the first Sunday of the month, some of them offer free entry, as well as on special holidays such as 3rd December and 8th February.  Source: STA HAVE A GAME NIGHT If you are coming in pair or with a group, you can challenge them to an Escape room. This can be a nice bonding activity as well as having some workout for your mind. There are plenty of choices and it’s up to you which one you prefer. HERE are some of the choices you can find in Ljubljana. If you don’t want to be put under time pressure, a more relaxing option can be to have fun playing board games. Visit Dobra Poteza where you can choose between different types of board games that you can rent. And don’t worry if you don’t know the game! Their staff will be there to help you and explain the rules at the beginning of the game.  LJUBLJANA IN DECEMBER
If you are coming to Ljubljana in December, you can admire the Christmas lights in the city. You can get into a festive mood by visiting the Christmas markets. At the stands, you can choose between various hot drinks and sweets, but you must try roasted almonds and mulled wine. Ljubljana hosts many different concerts and shows during the Christmas season in different places in the city, so don’t miss them. Don’t miss our weekly Blog posts, to keep up with new tips and week courses! See you in Ljubljana, love Primera Group  Today we are going to share with you, how you can teach science to young students in a fun and interactive way. In this blog you will learn to make chemical snowflakes in your classroom. Children will be excited! With these snowflakes you can decorate your classroom, Christmas tree, Christmas cards, etc. However, you are not limited to only snowflakes. It’s possible to make other structures as well. Just let imagination run wild.  No, this is not a real snowflake on the photo. It is a super beautiful snowflake made of borax. You can do them in various colours. When light hits these snowflakes they shine like thousands little diamonds. Real beauties! Because these are special snowflakes, they will not melt in hands! Keep in mind that this experiment takes 2 days, because snowflakes need 24 hours to form. It is best, if you craft snowflakes on the first day (you can allocate only 1 hour or more, depending on your choice) and then leave them overnight in suspension to form. The next day you only take them out, leave snowflakes to dry and hang them on the Christmas tree. So, how do you make these snowflakes? Almost everything you need you can find at home/school or buy at the nearest grocery store: Materials for each student:
Materials for whole groups to share:
Safety first Before the start teacher has to explain safety instruction. Pupils will be working with borax themselves, so they have to know what it is and how to avoid injuries when using it. After working with borax pupils must wash their hands with soap. Borax (sodium tetraborate decahydrate) is a natural mineral salt, usually used as a natural bleaching agent or natural cleaner. Like every cleaner it has to be kept out of reach of children, and it can only be used under adult supervision. Borax, the same as washing powder, cannot be consumed and it can irritate the skin, so we have to wash our hands carefully with soap after we finish working with it. And now – let’s begin our STEAM experiment! Pupils take scissors, pipe cleaners… and action! They can let imagination run wild to do the decorations. They can do snowflakes, sticks, stars, curved sticks,… You can also help your pupils with different shapes of snowflakes for ideas. The only limit is the size of the glass. Decoration should be small enough to be hang in the glass. Meanwhile, teacher can prepare hot water. The water needs to be very hot. If the water from the tap is not hot enough use water kettle. After all the snowflakes are made each pupil adds borax detergent in the glass (5 table spoons) and teacher adds hot water. If you want coloured snowflakes, this is the time to add food colouring in the glasses. Pupils then attach the snowflakes to the string and string to the wooden skewer or pencil so the snowflake is hanging in the middle of the glass submerged in suspension. The snowflake must hang freely, not touching glass at sides or in the bottom, and must be left undisturbed overnight.  The next day pupils carefully lift the snowflakes from glasses and place them onto paper towels on the table. Let the snowflakes to dry. The science behind the experiment
This experiment gives you a great starting point for the discussion about why did the snowflakes formed. The main goal of this experiment/lesson is to learn about suspensions. Pupils usually know the terms liquid and solution but it is difficult for pupils to comprehend the term suspension. By making crystal snowflakes they will quickly understand. And what is it that happened? We have added a lot of borax in the water and therefore, it could not dissolve completely, forming suspension. If we would look carefully, we could see the solid particles of borax on the bottom of the glass. These solid particles started to attach to pipe cleaners and create our beautiful snowflakes with a lot of crystals, formed overnight, when the suspension was slowly cooling down. You can also make these adorable snowflakes with younger children. When they can use the scissors and create pieces of art with pipe cleaners, they are ready to do snowflakes. Teacher can prepare the borax suspension in the glasses, so children just create the decorations. Teaching science does not have to be always serious. Through fun experiments like this one you can teach pupils without them even realising they are learning. At the course “Science for primary school children: When complicated becomes fun and easily understandable” you can learn more about how to prepare lessons like this. Have a lot of fun creating chemistry crystal snowflakes! author: Teja Bajt, M.Res., is a biologist with a master of research degree in molecular and cellular biology, awarded from University of Birmingham, United Kingdom. She works for Primera group as trainer of the Science for Primary School Children course.  Do you consider yourself a creative thinker? Do you think creativity is given at birth or it can be learned? This December we kicked it off with Teaching Creativity in Schools course. We were joined by participants from Croatia, Slovenia, Latvia and France. Creativity is the foundation of change and progress. This first week of December was here and we were kicking it off with Teaching Creativity in School course. The course was presented by our amazing teacher Nastja Mulej who shared her knowledge with our participants this past week. This course is designed for teachers who want to stimulate creative parallel thinking in the classroom, therefore our guests learned about techniques of problem-solving from a fresh perspective.  Introduction evening. Course content Creative thinking means looking at something in a new way. It is the very definition of “thinking outside the box.”. In class, there needs to be the right mix of creativity, which will help students to be innovative and learn with fun. That way it also encourages them to learn new things in a new way and have freedom of expression. It also plays a vital role in children’s emotional development. Through creative expression, children can become good communicators in addition to improving their emotional and social skills. Creative thinking course introduce differences between convergent and divergent thinking and clarifies the process of creative thinking. Participants get familiar with common barriers that prevent creative thinking in the classroom and learn how to solve school problems with different thinking methods. By substantially understanding creative and constructive thinking framework and models, they can use different thinking tools to raise creative thinking in their classrooms. They learn to lead efficient creative thinking sessions and raise awareness in principles of parallel and perceptual thinking. For that, transfer of best practice was experienced on Wednesday school visit to Valentin Vodnik Primary School, where participants were introduced to the school’s Thinking Club.  Participants visiting Valentin Vodnik Primary school thinking club. Afternoon activities On Sunday our guest gathered together for the introduction evening. We learned where they are coming from and they told us something about themselves. On Monday afternoon we took a stroll around Ljubljana’s old town with a guide, who showed us all the main attractions in the city. Later that evening, we headed to a real authentic Balkan dinner with specialities like burek and čevapčiči. Tuesday and Thursday participants had free afternoons to enjoy Ljubljana in December spirit and some decided to see the city from above. They visited the Ljubljana’s medieval castle, where they enjoyed the view. After, it was a must to try mulled wine at Christmas stalls. While our participants are visiting to gain knowledge about Creative Thinking, we also like to introduce them to Slovenia’s natural and cultural heritage. Accordingly, on excursion day on Wednesday, we had our famous trip to Lake Bled. On the way back we stopped for dinner in Lectar Museum and Restaurant, where they showed us how they make traditional honey bread hearts. For dinner, they presented us with traditional Slovenian food with a glass of wine. With the accompaniment of accordion musicians some even had a dance!  Christmas spirit with participants in Radovljica. Saturday was the last day on our schedule, so participants said farewell and promised to keep in touch. Before us is the last course this year and we are preparing to finish it with just as much good time and spreading knowledge as we did throughout the year!
Don’t miss our next week participants with checking our Blog site, to keep up with new tips and week courses that we post just for you! See you in Ljubljana, love Primera Group  Interested to see how our Career Development week looked like? On this last November course, we had guests from Latvia and Lithuania. This week participants were lucky enough to have not one, but two teachers! Tatjana Ažman (PhD), our senior lecturer, and Mihaela Zavašnik Arčnik (PhD), who has more than 15 years of experience of working with adults and students in the education sector, have joined forces to bring a better understanding to this week topic. Through participating in Career Development programme, our guests got to work on enhancing employability and improve career prospects for teachers and students. Course content Our world is changing rapidly. The way in which work is organised is shifting in response to political, economic, social, environmental and technological influences. Career development can be used to help societies, individuals and organisations to respond to and shape such changes.  Participants from Latvia with their prototype of dreams Through participating in career development programme, participants assessed and developed their 21 career competencies, which helped them learn, raise their self-awareness, plan their career goals, reflect on their career path, find work, manage to balance different life roles, make professional changes, deal with career challenges and be more satisfied in their professional life. Through interesting exercises, discussions, deeper reflection, play roles and peer feedback, participants were showed how to use exercises, questionnaires, worksheets and other materials for career guidance in their work contexts. Our Thursday guest speaker Peter Gabor from Employment Service of Slovenia, brought even more context to this topic with his lecture about the institution he is coming from and their project on National coordination point and Life-long career orientation. Afternoon activities One of the main goals of the course is to connect with each other. Therefore, on Sunday participants introduced themselves, the organisation they were coming from and projects they are working on. On Monday afternoon they had a chance to see Ljubljana on a walking tour around the old town. At the end of the day, they could taste an authentic Balkan food at dinner. As well as visiting Bled Lake on Wednesday afternoon, the group visited High School Moste in the morning, to see hands-on, what they were learning so far on this course. In the afternoon they saw the beauty of Lake Bled. To get to know Slovenian culture better, we later had a visit to Lectar museum. There they showed them how honeybread hearts are made and played us traditional Slovenian music.  Tatjana Ažman introducing five areas of career competencies On Saturday our participants said farewell. Some made last-minute trips and some went back to their home country. As much as we had a good time, they also discovered new things about themselves and gained new knowledge. Being now skilled in career competencies themselves, participants are additionally empowered to support their children and students to develop their own career competences.
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