The motto of our program: „If you don't know something, you don't like it. If you don't like it, you don't even respect it, so thus yo don't shelter it.” (Dr. Albert Tóth)
Both the parents of the pupils and the principal welcomed the TELLUS Educational Programme happily.
As the programme coordinator in the school, I undertook the organizing work. My main source of help was the biology teacher, Petra Fazekas. We created the extensions for the curriculum together by the guidelines of the books and the CD we received. Sometimes, teachers of different subjects (technological knowledge, visual arts, etc.) contributed to the development of the programme.
Our institute realises the TELLUS Programme with the 6th grade students on the environmental knowledge classes. We arranged three plant-visits accordingly.
Wildlife of Szegvár
On the 15th February 2012, we joined a wildlife watch in Szegvár. László Gémes, the mayor, and a young farmer invited us. We moved along the border of the village by five trucks and were looking for wild animals. The leader of the local company of hunters guided us, who told us how they supply the animals of the wild with food in winter. We were witnesses of feeding deer, hares, pheasants and birds. After that, we visited the farm of László Gémes. We got on the tractors and combine harvesters, fed calf and ponies from our hands. We stared at the Vietnamese pigs which we hadn't met before. We watched how and what do they feed the domestic animals with. On our way, the little beagle dog followed us and made our afternoon joyful.
From the incubation to the slaughterhouse – Duck breeding in Szentes
On the 8th March, first we got acquainted with the industrial-sized incubation of eggs. We got to know how much time different birds needed to hatch. We compared the egg of a hen, a duck, a goose and an ostrich. We watched how they supported lamplight for the incubation, how they sorted the improper eggs. Every pupil received 2 pieces of sterilized goose eggshells which they decorated on the visual arts class later for the Easter holiday. Next we took a look at the duck kindergarten, where we saw 19 thousands pieces of 3-day old ducklings which amazed us. We finished by seeing the older specimens. That's the place where they raise and take them from to the slaughterhouse of Hungerit Ltd. to process. We learned how much time it took to raise such a duck. Leaving the plant, we met two beautiful white horses. All of us fed them with the apples from our lunch boxes. On our way home, we stopped for a wild boar farm, where we could see the mother nursing its piglets. When we finally returned to the school, Blueberry, the ferret waited us at the door.
The birth of Csuli – Cattle breeding in Szentes
On the 19th March, Mária Mencser farm manager made a presentation about the cattle farm through an interactive slideshow on the environmental class. Next, we visited the farm together. 1147 animals are being bred here. Along our journey, we saw the birth of a beautiful calf. It was a memorable and rare experience to see the whole procedure, to see the calf trying to stand on its legs for the first time. For the young cow, our class was the first thing it saw. We named the calf Csuli.
Then we proceeded by seeing how they milk the cows. We were informed that a part of the 11 thousands litres of milk produced daily went to the milk shop in Szentes, the other part was sent to Székesfehérvár for further processing. The director of the plant sent us five litres of milk next Monday, which we used to make cottage cheese with three students.
These educational journeys provided possibility for the kids to see and learn about the animals and their connection with the nature in their own environment. During the observation of the creatures, they made emotional connections with them. Experiencing such things, the emotional and aesthetic relations are all important for the pupils. That contains the beauty of life, its wonderful magic. We have to make our students see this beauty, that's the only way we can expect them to become an adult who cares and shelters nature with all its values they have got acquainted with. It needs such methods that have highly sophisticated personality-forming effect. The three visits of the TELLUS programme helped active discovering, learning procedure with which we could maintain their curiosity and the importance of learning. This way, the students experience the joy of exploring, which is the most important motive of the whole thing.
To sum it up, we had unforgettable memories. The things they saw with their own eyes will remain to be learnt for sure.
Edit Szalai, Teacher
Klauzál Gábor Primary School, Szentes
