EYE SPYWEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017 | ISSUE 75eyespy@timesofmalta.com

FUN BOOKS FOR THE YOUNGPAGE 3

PRECIOUS WATERPAGE 4

EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABILITYPAGE 4

Imagine going to school in pyjamas. That’s what children and staff of the Gozo College Rabat Primary School did for the third consecutive year.

A total of €662.34 were raised during the day in aid of Puttinu Cares. They also had a special guest – singer Kevin Borg, who visited the Year 5 and Year 6 classes

where he met the students, was happy to answer any questions and then autographed a specially-made card for each pupil.

The whole school was called to the main school yard where Borg performed Needing You andFollow, the latter being the song with which he placed third in the last Malta’s Eurovision SongContest. Borg described this experience as amazing.

Pyjamasforschool

2 TIMES OF MALTA eye spy ●

ALL CORRESPONDENCE SHOULD BE SENT TO

Eye Spy, Times of Malta, 341, St Paul Street, Valletta VLT 1211,or e-mail: eyespy@timesofmalta.com

It is so encouraging to see how schools have evolved over the years.Students no longer spend hours at their desks, being spoon-fed andreceiving information only from their teacher.

It is encouraging to see how schools, some more than others, haveembraced technology. They have not only made it part of the curricu-lum but go steps further to make their lessons more interesting forthe children. All these efforts are extremely evident at national eventslike the Malta Robotics Olympiad.

And technology is not the only thing that makes life at school inter-esting. Fun activities, such as the pyjama day held at a Gozo schoolrecently and books weeks, for example, go down so well with students.

Education cannot be based only on the core subjects. Studentsshould be getting so much more from school – they should be gettinga sound education which lasts them a lifetime.

So I welcome initiatives like the Young Reporters for the Environ-ment which sees students tackle subjects which are extremely sen-sitive and topical. Their in-depth research can lead to initiatives beingtaken on by the competent authorities.

So it is very encouraging to see stu-dents shaping their very own future atsuch a young age. That, I think, is whateducation is all about.

you’re EYE SPY

Hello everyone,

win 4 tickets to a bowling game

competition

Would you like to go and enjoy a game of bowling at Eden Super Bowl with your friends? It is now easythanks to Eye Spy and Eden Super Bowl who every fortnight for the next few weeks give you the chanceto win four tickets to a bowling game.All you have to do is participate in this competition.

Let us know why you would like to go bowling.

Send your entries to Eye Spy, Strickland House, 341 St Paul Street,Valletta, or by e-mail to eyespy@timesofmalta.com by May 16.

Playingusing codesMy classmates and I spent an ICT lesson playing games using codesduring the week dedicated to the hour of code.

For example, for the game Minecraft, we had to type codes inorder for the man to move. We had quite a variety of games fromwhich to choose. In the site we had to choose the amount of timeand the age.

The longest games were of an hour’s duration. We had a blast. Oh and don’t forget to go and check them out for yourself.

Michaela Grima and Yasmine Debattista, St Clare’s College Pembroke Secondary

technology

spring is in the air and in your drawings

From

Fu Merlin Pu new titles

They are illustrated xejn! by Ge Aurelie Ab Misslin an

With on books targ exploring books and Children s themselve also make recognised reading co new langu

The boo between F each page prediction These play page game the pages t

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This is my beautiful butterfly. Her name is Rainbow. Kimberly Gauci, 5, Dingli

SPRING IS IN THE AIRshAnA d’AnAstAsi, 9, dingliThis picture contains roses, arum lilies and a daisy. Igot inspired from our garden. Arum lilies are whiteRoses, pretty roses are redWow, wow, wow so brightSo enjoy your flowers in the light.

Thank you for sharing. Well done.

write the title oFyour picture,together withnAme, Age AndAddress on the

bAck oF eAchpicture. do not

write on thepicture itselF.

the Artist oF our stAr picture will receive A €15 token For toys, courtesy oF the model shop, birkirkArA bypAss, iklin.

gAllery’s stAr picture is...

T ● WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017 3

the world oF books...

n books for the young blishers has launched three brand

for the very young. e Kukkużejt by Celine Claire,

d by Hector Dexet; Jien ma nibża’ minn eraldine Collet and illustrated by bolivier, and Brr, x’bard! by Sylvie nd illustrated by Geraldine Cosneau. nly one line of text per page, these

get children aged four, who are the new world of actually reading

d not just looking at pictures. should be able to read the text byes by the end of their Year One. They

clever use of repetition, which isd as a key learning aid to boost

onfidence, especially in a uage.

oks are perfect collaborations French authors and illustrators and

challenges the children to some funns as to how the story will develop.

yful guesses make for plenty of on- es and will have children eager to flip

to find out more. has adapted these titles into Maltese,

hildren and their parents will enjoy new vocabulary in Maltese.

e books are available on sale at all ookshops or online from

blishers.com.

...And reAding

Read out loudAs children you should be encour-aged to read aloud and talk aboutbooks with friends to help improvelanguage skills.

According to a new guide pub-lished for teachers in the UK, pri-mary school pupils should also beexposed to a wide range of readinggenres and different types of read-ing material to help them learn tospeak and write fluently.

The document, published by theEducation Endowment Founda-tion (EEF), sets out a number ofways that schools can help toimprove children’s literacy skills.

It says: “Speaking and listeningare at the heart of language, notonly as foundations for reading andwriting, but also as essential skillsfor thinking and communication.

“Reading to pupils and dis-cussing books is still important forthis age group,” it adds. “Exposingpupils to an increasingly widerange of texts, with an appropriatelevel of challenge, will developtheir language capability.

“This should include activeengagement with a wide range of

genres and media, including digital texts.”

Speaking and listening activitiesthat can help to boost literacy skills include “reading books aloud and discussing them”, theguide says.

It is spring. In spring the animals that hibernate come back from hibernation. I like spring because everything comes back to life.Niamh Pace, 7, Tarxien

4 TIMES OF MALTA EYE SPY ● WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017

As EkoSkola students, sustainable development is a veryimportant concept for us students at St Francis Second-ary School, Sliema, and we work hard to promote and fos-ter a more sustainable lifestyle among our students andtheir families. We firmly believe that education is a veryimportant tool in order to achieve sustainability, accord-ing to the following definition adopted by the SustainableDevelopment Commission: “Sustainable development isdevelopment that meets the needs of the present, withoutcompromising the ability of future generations to meettheir own needs. It’s also about ensuring a strong, healthyand just society. This means meeting the diverse needsof all people in existing and future communities, promot-ing personal well-being, social cohesion and inclusion,and creating equal opportunity.”

This year, apart from our usual work, we Form 3 stu-dents were encouraged to take part in the international

YRE competition, and almost all of us took up the chal-lenge. As a form we have presented 13 projects relatedto sustainable development, tackling subjects as variedas child labour, domestic violence, migration, animalabuse, extinction of species, problems associated withMaltese roads and pollution.

Whatever the topic, we investigated the attitude ofMaltese people towards these issues, tried to identifythe main problems related to them, and also triedto identify possible and practical solutions to try to improve the situation and have a healthier and happier society.

In all we distributed questionnaires to about 1,300people, and we have interviewed, among others, EdgarPreca, husband of President Marie-Louise ColeiroPreca; Vince Attard, the executive president of NatureTrust Malta; Stephanie Mizzi, a social worker; and

Elaine Compagno, the coordinator of SOAR, a supportgroup for domestic violence victims.

We live in a world which is constantly changing anddeveloping. However, in order to be sustainable, changeand development have to be accompanied by fairness,justice, equity, well-being and, especially, humanity.

This is the kind of development we, as the citizens oftomorrow, would like to see take place, and in our proj-ects we emphasise the importance of education and themedia in fostering a sustainable attitude among stu-dents (as well as all other people, of course) as citizensof Malta and citizens of the world.

Students of Form 3, St Francis School, Sliema

Over the coming weeks, Eye Spy will be featuring a num-ber of YRE projects submitted by the students of StFrancis School.

Education forsustainability

A group of Form 3 students at St Francis Secondary School, Sliema, is taking part in this year’s internationalYoung Reporters for the Environment competition.

On March 22, World Water Day,our school participated in thesecond annual HSBC Catch theDrop quiz at the Dingli Second-ary School. Four of my class-mates and I were chosen to rep-resent the school andparticipate in the quiz.

This quiz was all about howvital water is in our lives andwhat is needed to save the precious resource.

We competed against 24other schools. The quiz usedmodern technology like tabletsto answer the 30 questions and

an online quiz viewed througha projector.

Once the quiz started, theroom was filled with excite-ment and tension. It was veryexciting when our tabletsmarked whether our answerwas right or wrong. The ques-tions were all about how wateris used in all we do, about thesources of water and manyother topics about water.

After all the 30 questions wereanswered, we had a break duringwhich we were offered a bottle ofwater and biscuits. After this, we

were shown a couple of presen-tations about certain water proj-ects in different schools.

One which really inspired uswas from St Theresa College Sec-ondary School, Mrieħel, and thewinners of last year’s quiz. Theytalked about all the water proj-ects they did in their school with

the €2,500 prize money. At thevery end, the winners wereannounced. St Theresa Collegesecondary school, Mrieħelplaced first with an impressive30 out of 30 questions correct.They won €2,000 to be used forwater conservation in theirschool. We were very happy, to

find out that we placed fourth,just one point away from thethird placed.

The quiz was an amazing expe-rience for us all, as we learntabout how crucial water is in oureveryday lives and how impor-tant it is to save such a scarce,precious resource.

Precious waterFrancesca Giudice, a student at St ClareCollege Pembroke Secondary, writesabout her school’s participation in theHSBC Water Quiz 2017.