Subject: Re: Early years meeting minutes and other other matters From: "CARMEL CEFAI" Date: 4/16/2013 9:24 PM To: "CARMEL CEFAI" CC: rridicki@yahoo.com, dejana.bouillet@gmail.com, matsopoulos@gmail.com, "csimoes@sapo.pt" , "charli.eriksson@oru.se" , "carmel.cefai@um.edu.mt" , "natalie.a.haber@um.edu.mt" , "pmelo@fmh.utl.pt" , "zanetti@unipv.it" , "roberta.renati@unipv.it" , "valeria.cavioni@unipv.it" , "paul.a.bartolo@um.edu.mt" , "b.kimber@telia.com" , "marizagmelima@gmail.com" , "dorothy.aquilina@um.edu.mt" Dear all Kindly note that Birgitta was also present for the meeting. Apologies Birgitta for this slip regards Carmel > > Dear all > > The Early Years subgroup skype meeting was held yesterday between Croatia, > > Greece and Malta, and it was agreed that > > • The Early Years (age group 3-5) will follow the same model/framework, > > themes and activity plans as the Primary Groups, but that these will be > > modified and simplified to reflect the developmental needs of preschool > > children. Such modifications will include > > o an introduction in the Early Years manual explaining the application of > > the framework to early years > > o more emphasis on hands on, experiential, multisensory, play kinds of > > activities with less structure and formal learning as in the primary > > curriculum > > o some of the themes will be tackled at more depth eg Knowing who I am > > (Building on Strengths) while others covered less in depth. > > > > • We discussed whether 3 year old is too early to start the programme but > > it was agreed that we include 3 year olds, but that activities for three > > year olds would be more informal and play oriented, with increasing levels > > of complexity as children go from 3 to 4 and then 5 years. It would be > > still useful however to have a manual for preschool teachers on the type > > of activities they may organize for their groups. > > > > • Each country will adapt the programme according to its educational > > systems, for instance in some countries the programme may start at 4 or 5 > > years when preschool starts > > > > • Birgitta is developing a model lesson for the early years with 9 group > > of activities: 3, 4 and 5 year olds at basic, intermediate and advance > > levels respectively; she will have this ready by the 2nd May meeting . > > > > • We are suggesting that rather than having one or two partners doing all > > the activities for the early years, the theme each one of us has chosen > > will be developed at early years as well. Each one of us will take 1 topic > > (bullet point) from our theme and develop activities for the 3 age groups > > (early years, early primary and late primary) at 3 levels (basic, > > intermediate and advanced). For instance Malta has chosen the theme > > Positive Mindset, and we will be developing 9 activities at the 3 levels > > (27) on one topic eg ‘optimistic thinking’. The partners coordinating > > this workpackage will still be responsible for putting the whole package > > for early years together however. > > > > • We are suggesting that the present themes will need to refined to be > > more uniform, for instance some themes have only 2 or 3 bullets, others 7 > > or 8; we can do this on our 2nd May meeting. > > > > • The themes have been chosen as follows: > > o Positive mindset: Malta > > o Building on Strengths: Sweden > > o Self Determination/creative problem solving: Portugal (still to be > > worked out) > > o Effective interpersonal communication skills: Croatia > > o Building and maintaining health relationships: Italy > > o Toughmindedness : Greece > > > > • It is suggested that until our next meeting on 2nd May, we take one > > topic from our theme and start working on it at one age group (eg early > > primary) as a pilot and then we will discuss this and the issues involved > > in our 2nd May meeting > > > > Please note that the meeting in Zagreb starts on 1st July at 09.00 at the > > Faculty of Education University of Zagreb and concludes around 13.00 on > > 3rd July so that later on that evening we will be able to attend the ENSEC > > opening ceremony. It is not required that we all stay in the same hotel as > > we will be meeting at the Faculty of Education > > > > May I remind you of the budget we have available for the Zagreb meeting: > > Flight: 350euros > > Subsistence 210 x 3 days > > €350 registration fee for ENSEC conference > > > > If you exceed the limit of the flight, please keep the receipts and we > > will see if we can be paid the difference at the end of the project. > > > > As discussed in Malta meeting, each partner has the possibility of > > bringing two researchers only once during our face to face meetings, but > > given that the Greek meeting is being combined with the training, that may > > give us a bit of a leeway for an extra trip for another researcher for one > > meeting from each country respectively. > > > > regards > > Carmel > > > > --