The Colours of Autumn at T.I.S

The Colours of Autumn at T.I.S

The decorations on school window and the inspiring outdoors

This school year (2020-2021) our Eco Schools team is focusing on the following topics:

  • We have combined the Biodiversity and Nature  with the School Grounds .

Carrying on from last spring when we learned to identify some of the most common plants in the school yard, we focused on Estonian trees with 3rd Grade and have collected leaves and fruits of different tree species from the school yard and from Toome Hill.

With 4th Grade we have studied the soil fauna in our school garden (the earthworms), and further we have visited The Ecological Garden in Tartu, and set up an experiment to study how well do the radish seeds germinate and grow in two different soils – a soil from our own school garden and a soil brought from Florence, Italy by a family of one of our students.

  • Tiny radish plants emerged from soil collected from school yard…
  • … and other ones from soil brought from Florence, Italy by one of our students

The 6th graders have collected different grasses and forbs around the school house and made a  small herbarium.

Some plants from the 6th graders’ herbarium for plants around school

And of course – the nature from school surroundings will always find use in the art lessons! During the school’s Passion Project Day on 1st of October, the school stairs were decorated with autumn leaves and paintings of trees.

  • The Waste and Litter we address as a common topic. 

Currently we are working on solutions for collecting packages separately and we also start a campaign to find out how much food is wasted in the school canteen.

  • Regarding the Transport we have started two initiatives this autumn.

For teachers, we identified and mapped the problem of school territory being crowded by too many cars. As a result, several teachers have reconsidered their needs and possibilities regarding transportation and now have found a solution to park their cars away from school and take a small walk every morning. Some teachers also use car-sharing and some cycle to school.

The school yard now has more bikes than cars! Cycling to work for teachers and cycling to woodwork lesson at Lodjakoda is a healthy routine now 🙂

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