End of School Year

In Poland on the 26^th of June, the school year ends, and 2 months of long summer holidays begin.
The last day at school is a special day.
Traditionally the students prepare a special celebration with lots of songs and artistic performances.
Parents are invited to come. Students give their teachers flowers as a symbol of appreciation for their work.
On this day it’s easy to recognize a teacher on a crowded street because they carry armfuls of colorful flowers.

The picture is of School nr 3 in Marki, where CMC was introduced in 2012.

Summer in Dubai

 

47 degrees didn’t stop children from playing and swimming. (My daughter said that's not so bad, because in summer, Dubai temperatures go up to 55 degrees Celsius ).
But, It's always uplifting to watch children playing  outdoors.

Visit from Bayswater Primary School

Last Friday and Monday we had 120 students visit us from  from Bayswater Primary School.

At NCG we had only experienced small groups before at the  Medicinal Weeds tour during Eco Festival in March, so such a  big group of students was a challenge. The advantage of the visit was that Bayswater is an Enviro school, so this visit could be an exchange between  “professionals” - and it was. It was very uplifting to have feedback from and interaction with students. 

Our program was full of activities:  sniffing lemon balm, watching chickens, we told about Yacon- special plant, there was a quiz concerning a bee balm . The students tried our famous nettle tea, and experienced hands massage with bee balm cream. At the finish they received a gift –with the sweetest plant on the earth – Stevia. Not only from students and teachers  I also had very good feedback from the volunteers running NCG , so I feel like this experience can be a foundation for our  future friendship and cooperation with the Bayswater Primary .

Update from Learning Zone

It was almost 3 months ago since we created this special plot for educational purposes .Now look at this picture  Apart from 3 square foot gardening plots with vegetables the rest are herbs. We have 38 different herbs here with description of health benefits on white displays. When students from local schools visit us, they can try lemon balm  to smell and taste. We always welcome young visitors!

THE BEGINNING OF A BIG PROJECT

Contribution of Peer Massages  into EU Rethinking Education discussion.
   
Teachers complain about  bureaucracy flooding schools. Now, days are taken up with, reports, tests, evaluations.  Students are stressed before each test, they are not happy waking up in the morning to go to school again. Sir Ken Robinson’s TED speech –“How Schools Kill Creativity” has been watched by 33 million viewers.

Rethinking Education, an EU document points out that the first thing that education should do is to “Delivering the right skills for employment”. So what are these Right Skills for Employment?

I've been asking this question to my fellow friend President of NZ Europe Business Council Frank Olsson (in picture). His answer was clear; people skills, empathy, friendship, love. These human traits are desired qualities for longer term success and usefulness. All these is covered in his book
"Learning to Dance Corporate Style - how to humanise business and get more out of life"

News from Warsaw

When our instructors change their job location, CMC travels with them into new kindies, new schools, new educational establishments .

Dorota Jakubowska is one of our special instructors. In 2011 she completed a master Degree Thesis on CMC at the Academy of Special Education in Warsaw.    Click here to read her thesis.

After graduation, Dorota  continued practicing  CMC at her private kindergarten “A Kuku” .It was very  uplifting one year later when  I was visiting her, to see children enjoying  massaging each other . Dorota is very patient, loving and understanding children’s needs teacher.  She now works at Astrid Lindgren  private School and Kindrgarten in Warsaw and CMC is there at least once /week  

Thank you Dorota for update. 

What a day!

It was pouring with rain in the morning  and nobody expected any guests to our Garden. But, what  a nice surprise. We had a group of children who already had some gardening experience. It’s a big pleasure to share experiences with other professionals!  David demonstrated sowing small seeds so that the children could practice their skills – Not easy, but getting better. Like with babies – you need to be  focused  and act very gently- real nursery.

The next part of the visit was a Medicinal Weed tour. One of these weeds was  nettle.  Gathered in a way that made nettle a base for very healthy tea full of minerals.

Was there any accidents with stinging? Of course –there was one made  deliberately and immediately cured with aloe compress. Not a drama knowing that nettle stings are very good for your health.

The last part of the visit was hand’s massage with beeswax wax- a little bit of reflexology.

What a variety!

 After Eco Festival we will be happy to welcome children to visit us in the future.