Project “Polar Bears in Beds of Roses” Descriptive Document

The project was promoted by:

Coordinating teacher: Elsa Caeiro (Class Director)

Coordinating and collaborating teachers: Class Council teachers (Elsa Caeiro – Class Director

and Maths; Teresa Seixas - Natural Sciences and Programa Eco-Escolas/Eco-Schools Programme;

Ana Assis - PE; Ana Carriço - English; Ana Janela - Portuguese and José Rola - Music Education

and Music Club).

Students from 8th B class: Afonso Nunes; Bernardo Fernandes; Bernardo Napier; Bruna Fidalgo;

Bruna Oliveira; Bruno Ribeiro; Carolina Dâmaso; Carolina Cavaco; Daniel Caroi; Daniel Nieto;

Gonçalo Dinis; Gustavo Fernandes; Leonardo Simão; Leonor Vieira; Maria Cascais; Marisa

Epifânio; Martim Grandão; Miguel Sila; Miguel Correia; Patrícia Neves; Rafael Pereira; Romário

Lima; Sérgio Gonçalves and Tomás Gonçalves.

External Entities: Parents/Family, CMS (Sesimbra City Hall), NECA (Núcleo de Espeleologia da

Costa Azul/Speleology Center of the Blue Coast).

Framed within the 8th Form Curricular Flexibility and Autonomy Project, the "Polar Bears in

Beds of Roses" Competition was another challenge for our school, which arises from our

concerns related to the Environment and Sustainability.

Objectives:

• to promote creativity and behavioural change;

• to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle, publicized through videos posted on social

networks;

• to participate in an international competition (in English) + a national competition (in

Portuguese);

• to work on interdisciplinarity through integrated planning of activities during the year

and their curricular integration.

In accordance with the objectives and guidelines set out in the Competition, the work to be

carried out at school was planned.

In this context, the implementation of the project was built in a perspective of management

valorisation, interdisciplinary and articulated teaching of the curriculum appropriate to the age

level of the students and benefiting from collaborative work with the subjects of Natural

Sciences, Portuguese, English, Physical Education, Music Education and Mathematics,

articulating with the Programa Eco-Escolas/Eco-Schools Programme and the Music Club.

This project, based on the environmental sustainability and biodiversity of the surrounding

region (Portugal/Setúbal/Sesimbra), was developed in several steps.

• 17th to 21st January

The project was introduced to the students, encouraging and motivating them to

participate in the competition.

• 24th to 28th January

Planning of the work to be developed, highlighting the contribution of the various subjects.

During the English lessons, the lyrics were translated and read aloud (practising articulation

and accent) and, at the same time, during the Music Club sessions, the creation of the

original melody was started.

• 31stJanuary to 4th February

The creation of the original melody continued in the Music lessons and rehearsals started

with the students playing and singing.

The Portuguese lessons were dedicated to analysing and interpreting the lyrics based on

the translation made in the English lessons, emphasising the theme and its importance. The

aim was not just to memorise the lyrics of a song but also to understand and internalise

what they were singing about, the implicit criticism of the lifestyle of today's society and

the small lifestyle changes we can all make.

• 7

th to 11th February

Once the music was finished and the necessary adjustments made to comply with the

regulated time, rehearsals continued in Music and Music Club classes. At the same time,

Physical Education classes were dedicated to the creation of the choreography and

rehearsals. The choreography was analysed in Maths lessons as the associated movements

are movements which can be identified with some of the isometries studied in class

(Translations, Rotations and Reflections).

• 14th to 18th February

In the scope of the theme of this project, it was considered pertinent the participation of

the class in a field trip to Terras do Risco (in Serra da Arrábida, Setúbal) in order to develop

the following goals which had been worked previously in Natural Sciences classes and Class

Assemblies:

- to promote creativity and behavioural change;

- to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle, publicized through videos posted on social

networks;

- to learn about the biodiversity of the surrounding region.

This field trip, which included a lecture on the biodiversity of the region by NECA, ended

with a medieval picnic in the middle of Serra da Arrábida. The students dressed up and

the whole picnic was created with sustainable habits in mind. Students were encouraged

not to use single-use plastics, fast-food, soft drinks, etc. The contribution of family

members to the organisation of the medieval picnic was an added value. Parents were very

involved and collaborated both in the preparation of the food and in collecting crockery

and accessories for the picnic. One of the parents (as part of the Includ-ed project, which

aims to bring parents and teachers closer at school) offered to accompany the students

and help organise this field trip and the picnic.

During this visit, the filming of the video for the competition began.

• 21st to 25th February

In PE and Music classes, the music and choreography rehearsals continued.

• 28th February to 4th March

In Maths, PE and Portuguese classes, filming was done to be included in the final video.

• 7

th to11th March

Filming was completed and editing of the video with all the images collected began.

• 14th to 18th March

The editing of the video and its descriptive document was completed.

The project will be publicized on the school webpage (aeqc.net) to reach the whole school

community and it is also planned to present it at the end of the year, during the School End of

the Year Celebration/Party.

At the end of the project, the class made a very positive assessment of the work developed.

This project was of great importance for the achievement of the intended objectives, namely

the understanding and dissemination of a sustainable and environmentally friendly yle,

especially regarding the positive changes in the daily lives of the students of this class