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On 6 May, at Smorgon Gymnasium, a solemn meeting dedicated to Victory Day was held. Victory Day commemorates victory in the Great Patriotic War (known as World War II).

Victory Day is a holiday that marks the end of a murderous war that took the lives of millions of soldiers and civilians. Victory Day will forever remain in history and will always remind of those bloody events and the great defeat of the Nazi troops.

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On April 27 an open distance lesson dedicated to the Great Victory "The route was built ..." was held in Smorgon Gymnasium

High school students from Smorgon, Belarus, Voronezh, Russia, and Arzamas, Russia, spoke about the history of their cities and their common contribution to the victory over fascism.

Young people got a powerful message: not to allow history to be rewritten and to keep in memory our common feat in order to tell further generations about it.

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On April 22, class hour "Earth Day" was held in 1 "C" class. The children got acquainted with the history of the Day, answered quiz questions, guessed riddles about animals, called to mind the rules of behavior in nature. The event ended with planting "a symbolic tree dressed in leaves." 

"Every sunset is unique. Each person is unique. Appreciate life" - under this motto, the spring anti-drug action "Mission to live!" began at the gymnasium. On March 1, the International Day against Drug Addiction, at the first lessons in all classes five-minute information sessions "We are against drugs" were held . During the day, during breaks, videos on drug addiction prevention were broadcast. Many students took part in the republican flash mob #Belarus against drugs.

International Mother Language Day is observed around the world on February 21. It was created by the United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. Its main goal is to preserve linguistic and cultural diversity in the world, support national languages ​​and cultures, and ensure the right of every citizen to use their native language.

As part of the celebration of International Mother Language Day, various events were held in our gymnasium from February 21 to February 25, 2022.

On February 21, before classes, students handed out holiday emblems to everyone.

Competitions, tournaments, linguistic games, language marathons, thematic lessons dedicated to International Mother Language Day were held in grades 1-4. The children were told about the languages ​​of the world, about the history of this holiday. Primary school students guessed riddles, recited poems, listened to Belarusian fairy tales, carried out interactive tasks in the Belarusian language and had fun.

Pupils in grades 5-11 plunged into the atmosphere of their native language. During breaks, songs were played in the lobby of the gymnasium, videos were shown in the Belarusian language, and folk games were held.

To mark International Mother Language Day, teachers and parents of the students of the gymnasium participated in writing the regional dictation "Poet's Museum". Each of the participants of the event had the opportunity not only to improve their knowledge of the Belarusian language, but also to learn about the history of the Yanka Kupala State Literary Museum and the exhibits ​​it contains.

The events dedicated to International Mother Language Day help students to realize that the mother tongue is a very important part of human culture, a very important part of the person himself. It is necessary to know and understand the native language in order to know and understand the native land, native culture well.

           The native language is the eternal value, pride and treasure of the people.

Every third Wednesday of January ‘Museum Selfie Day’is held in most countries. It’s a day about museums and selfies combined into a great cultural experience. On January 19, our gymnasium students also joined the action. The most active participants of the action were students of Class 6"D" and all the 5th graders. You can get acquainted with the works of the young photographers on social networks

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CY9asAEtLW9/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/GimnSmorgon/photos/pcb.504381811106780/504381747773453/

No one can remain indifferent to children who, for whatever reason, are with special needs. As part of the action "Our Children", the first graders of the gymnasium, together with their parents and teachers, held a charity fair. The children were selling homemade pastry. There were so many scrumptious things there: cakes, muffins, biscuits, pancakes ...The list is endless! The proceeds will be transferred to the account of the NGO "Belarusian Children's Fund"

On December 14, the republican action "Our Children" started at Smorgon Gymnasium. Ded Moroz, along with the chairman of the NGO "Red Cross" Yekaterina Franyuk ,came to visit the gymnasium students. Yekaterina noted that the gymnasium students had done a lot of good and necessary things. Ekaterina is sure that the students will continue helping those who need their support. The meeting ended with an exciting flash mob.

World AIDS Day is commemorated on December 1 to show support to those living with the disease and to remember those who have lost their lives. The theme for World AIDS Day 2021 is Ending the HIV Epidemic: Equitable Access, Everyone’s Voice. Comprehensive knowledge of HIV among young people remains far too low. Comprehensive sexuality education is essential for young people to be able to protect themselves from HIV. It also encourages them to seek out health-related information and services, promotes values of tolerance, mutual respect and non-violence in relationships, and supports a safe transition into adulthood.

Smorgon Gymnasium marked this day with a number of events to raise the awareness of HIV infection and support millions of people living with HIV. In the hall of the gymnasium a thematic board "Say NO to AIDS!" was placed. Thematic conversations, film lectures, and poster competitions were held in classes.

On 1December 8th grade students took part in the dialogue "STOP-AIDS: Knowing in Order to Live", which took place in the district center of culture. As part of the event, the students watched the mini-performance of the Zalessky Theater of Miniatures "Puppets" and the video "Ways of HIV transmission". The experts were the infectious disease doctor Natalia Milos, the narcologist Grazhina Chulada. They told the children about what AIDS is, what ways of HIV transmission exist and how to protect themselves from the infection. The experts also answered the questions of the teenagers. 

On November 10, a videoconference was held between the “Gymnasiums of Smorgon” (Smorgon, Republic of Belarus) and “Gymnasiums named after I.S. Nikitin "(Voronezh, Russian Federation). It is worth recalling that the gymnasiums entered into an Agreement, the main purpose of which is to ensure the interaction of the parties in methodological, educational and research work under the UNESCO Associated Schools project. According to the approved plan, a videoconference “Let's get to know each other” was held. Students and teachers of both gymnasiums took part in the conference. The students presented videos telling about their cities and gymnasiums. They were really interest to get to know about their partners, then numerous questions followed. The students wanted to learn more about their peers, about their school life, hobbies, favorite places in the city. They also talked about youth organizations in the gymnasiums and in the countries. Smorgon students shared the effective experience of school self-government in maintaining discipline and order in the gymnasium. The issue was raised of how they are coping and continuing to learn during the Covid-19. At the meeting both parties exchanged information about the epidemiological situation, shared their experience of distance learning, compliance with precautionary measures. Since the videoconference was mainly attended by senior school students, the question arose about passing the final and entrance exams. Russian schoolchildren talked about the pros and cons of the Unified State Exam and learned from the Belarusian peers about the final exams at school and the Centralized Tests.

At the end of the meeting the parties thanked each other for their cooperation and expressed confidence that the cooperation and friendship of our gymnasiums will continue, and joint projects will ensure positive results.

On 02.11.2021 the regional meeting of the Association of Heads of educational institutions was held via Zoom platform. The teaching staff of Smorgon Gymnasium shared  their experience in the main areas of digital transformation  of the  education system.  Teachers of   MBOU  “Gymnasium named   after              I.S. Nikitin ”, Voronezh, Russia, actively participated in the meeting. Russian colleagues shared their experience in the field of the Internet security, how to equip learners  with many of the skills they need to thrive in the digital era .

    The teachers of Smorgon Gymnasium S.I. Zhuk, T.A. Bugaychuk shared the experience of using the Stepik platform, spoke about the techniques for developing digital literacy through the Scratch visual programming environment. Deputy Director E.V. Rutkovskaya and teacher V.N. Skalskaya organized a virtual educational environment for the managers to demonstrate the possibilities of using web quests in the educational process and methodological work. O.Yu. Grishan acquainted the participants with Tools and Tips for Visual Thinking: "timeline", scribing, mind maps and infographics. T.E. Rogach described how the virtual folk museum of the gymnasium works.

Teachers’ Day is one of the brightest holidays at school! Both teachers and students enjoy the holiday very much. From the very morning a festive atmosphere reigned in our gymnasium. The students congratulated their teachers on this wonderful holiday; none of the teachers was left unattended.

On this day, senior students tried themselves in the role of teachers. It was a self-governing day. The students performed the activities the teachers usually do: they conducted lessons, monitored discipline and tried to share the knowledge they possessed with the junior schoolchildren.

The day ended with a festive concert, which became a wonderful gift for all those who introduce their students to the world of knowledge.

On behalf of the teaching staff of the gymnasium, we thank all the students who took part in the preparation and organization of the festive events!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G17redLt0eg 

The International Day of Peace ("Peace Day") is observed around the world each year on 21 September. Peace Day provides a globally shared date for all humanity to commit to Peace above all differences and to contribute to building a Culture of Peace. On this Day, the UN calls on all countries to stop hostilities and stop shedding blood for at least 24 hours. Refusal from violence and war is not just loud words, but a necessity for the further development of mankind.

2021 Peace Day Theme:

Recovering Better for an Equitable and Sustainable World

Peace Day provides a powerful and inspiring opportunity to engage children and youth in diverse activities related to peace, unity and making a positive difference in their world. Meaningful involvement can enable them to resolve any dispute peacefully and in a spirit of respect for human dignity and of tolerance and non-discrimination.

Smorgon Gymnasium involved students in activities designed to instill in them the values and goals of a culture of peace.

1. Special educational hours were held in classes to give the students the information on The International Day of Peace and the importance of peace and tolerance.

2. Students marked the Day with the action “We Draw a Dove of Peace”.

3. During breaks, videos were shown about the International Day of Peace, about the need to renounce violence.

4. We paused at 12 Noon local time and joined people all across the globe in a Minute of Silence/Moment of Peace. 

5. Another enjoyable activity for our students was One Day One Dance which uses the creativity of dance to promote peace and unity on the day.

The second Youth Webinar organized in collaboration with the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth took place on 11 March. 

It was focusing on “Technology and the futures of education ”. With COVID-19 disruptions to education and shifts to distance learning, the topic of technology and education in the future is both embraced and contested. Voices of youth on this topic have not been heard enough, and this discussion was definitely timely.    

The teachers of Smorgon Gymnasium joined the webinar and then delivered the information to the rest of the staff. Such discussions help bring advanced technology into schools with greater ease. Educators are tapping into the digital revolution and adopting new technologies to help students reach their full potential prepare children for the changing future of work

The theme of the Day this year, "Fostering multilingualism for inclusion in education and society", thus encourages us to support multilingualism and the use of mother tongues, both at school and in everyday life. This is essential, because when 40% of the world's inhabitants do not have access to education in the language they speak or understand best, it hinders their learning, as well as their access to heritage and cultural expressions. This year, special attention is being paid to multilingual education from early childhood, so that for children, their mother tongue is always an asset."

— Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of International Mother Language Day

The state educational institution "Smorgon Gymnasium" held events dedicated to International Mother Language Day.

The week of Mother Language started with the action "Speak to me in Belarusian". Students took part in the contest "Travel to the country of Spelling" and contests "Language", teachers of Belarusian language and literature conducted an hour of the native language "The Belarusian word lives in the ages." The exhibition "Native language in pictures" was organized. Everyone was involved in the events dedicated to Mother Language Day. You can follow the actions in more detail on the official social media pages of the Gymnasiumfacebook.com/GimnSmorgon and Instagram.com/gimn_smorgon 

Students of our gymnasium took part in the online project "Japan through the eyes of children", organized by the educational institution " Borisov Gymnasium №3 ", with the support of the Embassy of Japan in the Republic of Belarus. Our children were interested in the “Momijigari " photography contest. A national fall entertainment for the Japanese people - admiring the red maple leaves during the Momijigari period. Momijigari (紅葉狩り) is the Japanese tradition of visiting areas where leaves have turned red in the autumn. The word comes from the two Japanese words momiji (紅葉) meaning "red leaves" or "maple tree" and kari (狩り), "hunting". Thanks to this project, the pupils of Smorgon gymnasium learned about an interesting Japanese tradition of admiring red maple leaves. These are the photos our students sent to the contest. 

Congratulations to Ksenia Karkhova! She got second place!

On January 20, students of the gymnasium joined the action «Museum Selfie Day ".

This international flash mob was launched by Briton Mar Dixon in 2014 with the aim of creating a one-day campaign for the popularity and PR of museum collections and managed to win her fans around the world. Join you too! The task is simple: from January 20 to January 24, take a selfie with the exhibit you like and publish it on social networks.

In the 2020/2021 academic year, pupils of grades 3-10 of our gymnasium took an active part in the international iEARN-project "Holiday Card Exchange".

The partners of the gymnasium were schools from five countries of the world: Slovakia, Slovenia, Taiwan, Russia, Japan. Our students not only prepared greeting cards for their partners, but also filmed videos about our town and gymnasium. They told about themselves, about the traditions of our people. We have organized an exhibition of postcards made by our students. 2020 made its own adjustments to the project. We had to exchange holiday cards and greetings online. Our students received excellent video congratulations, in which our partners not only congratulated us on the coming Christmas and New Year, but also described their hobbies, the place where they live, traditions and holidays.

Participation in this wonderful project brings a lot of positive emotions and vivid impressions, besides, students get the opportunity to apply their knowledge of English in practice.

As a result of the project, we created a video with postcards and congratulations from children from other countries and showed it to our gymnasium students before the holidays.

VIDEO

On November 19, a modern panel was installed on the renovated facade of the Smorgon gymnasium. The panel converts solar energy into electrical energy. The new equipment was installed by A1 in 7 schools of the republic (one in each region of Belarus and in Minsk), which became winners of the environmental competition "Energy of the Sun for Green Schools".

The competition was held by A1 in partnership with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus and the United Nations Development Program in Belarus among institutions of general secondary and additional education for children and youth.

On November 11, 2020, the Republic of Belarus celebrates the International Energy Saving Day for the twelfth time, the main goal of which is to draw the attention of the authorities and the public to the problems of rational use of resources and the development of renewable energy sources, to the possibilities of the energy sector to reduce environmental pollution.

The main goal of the Energy Saving Day is to draw the attention of the authorities and the public to the problems of rational use of resources and the development of renewable energy sources, to the possibilities of the energy sector to reduce environmental pollution. Energy saving is economically beneficial, and improving the energy efficiency of the economy is one of the priority tasks of the state. Measures to save energy resources are two and a half to three times cheaper than producing and delivering the same amount of new energy to consumers.

Smorgon Gymnasium joined the celebration of the International Energy Saving Day . On this day, according to tradition, there were events, an exhibition, themed hours in the classrooms. The students were reminded of the rules that help save energy:

• Turn off excess light.

• In electric kettles and washing machines, descale in time, and empty the dust container in a vacuum cleaner after each cleaning.

• Do not leave chargers and heaters on overnight.

• Replace simple bulbs with energy efficient fluorescent bulbs.

etc.

Remembrance Day is observed on 11 November to recall the end of First World War hostilities. On November 11, on the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the First World War, students and teachers of the gymnasium, together with people of different countries and nationalities, held a Minute of Silence in memory of those killed in one of the most tragic wars on the planet. Smorgon Gymnasium joined the action of commemorating the victims of the First World War in 2015. The members of the Council of the National Museum of the Gymnasium, students of grades 5-11, together with teachers, arrange this event.

On October 28, a meeting of focus group teachers was held at the gymnasium as part of the cooperation and initiative of the UNESCO ASPnet on the Future of Education. The focus group included 15 school teachers. During the discussion the participants discussed the goals of sustainable development, the role of education in sustainable development, what quality education should be in order to ensure sustainable development.

The facilitator of this meeting was the teacher of biology Yasevich Elena Sergeevna. The focus group participants were divided into three teams, in which the proposed questions were discussed. The work of the teams began with a discussion of the definition of sustainable development and sustainable development goals. After that two rounds of reflection were offered. The first round was called “Our World in 2050”. In this round, the participants discussed two questions: what we want and what we don’t want to see in our world in 30 years. All participants agreed that they want the world to be free of wars, poverty, incurable diseases, social inequality, environmental destruction, violence, ecological disasters. In 30 years, focus group participants would like to have clean air and water on our planet; observance of moral and ethical standards; highly efficient green economy; following the law; the availability of quality education at all levels; the eradication of poverty.

During the second round concrete proposals were discussed on how education can contribute to building a more secure, democratic, peaceful and sustainable society. It was highlighted that it requires the environmental awareness of education participants; the development of healthy lifestyle skills; the professional development of teachers in the field of sustainable development, education should be practice-oriented, etc.

The materials that were developed by the focus group participants will be submitted to the international commission on future education and will serve as the basis for the ongoing global debate and international report, which will be published in 2021.

On November 5 and 6, the teachers of the Department of Natural Sciences of the gymnasium held a webinar on the topic “Project Activities from Idea to Implementation”. 40 teachers from schools of our town and the region took part in the webinar. The webinar was hosted by Irina Romualdovna Klevets, a biology teacher, Olga Yuryevna Grishan, a chemistry teacher, and Elena Sergeevna Yasevich, a biology teacher. On the first day, the hosts of the webinar introduced the participants to the structure of projects, stages of work on projects, discussed how to make work on a project not just a joint activity, but an effective method of work for all participants in project activities in studying a particular subject. The webinar participants had a unique opportunity to get acquainted with concrete examples of projects that were successfully implemented by the teachers of the gymnasium. ("School Eco Yard", "Golden" carbohydrates ")

 Smorgon Gymnasium, Smorgon, Republic of Belarus, and Gymnasium named after I.S. Nikitin, Voronezh, Russian Federation, established an Agreement, the main purpose of which is to ensure interaction of the Parties in methodological, educational and research work on the project“ UNESCO Associated Schools ”.

The gymnasiums (Parties) establish organizational and informational ties with each other; express their desire to unite their efforts in order to carry out activities to promote the ideas of the UNESCO Associated Resources; exchange the experience and innovations of professional pedagogical communities.The main areas of cooperation and joint activities are:

• ensuring advancement in the field and study of cultural heritage; ecology and environmental protection; dissemination of innovative experience in the field of education; study of human and children’s rights; raising awareness of the values of tolerance by students as a social norm;

• promotion of the best practices in the field of innovation;

• carrying out activities for developing digital literacies of the participants of the educational process;

• implementation of information exchange, analysis of domestic and foreign promising projects.