HIPPO 2025 Preliminary

 Here are the results of this year's Contest which took place on 10 March in Đura Jakšić Primary School:

HIPPO 1:
Nina Stijelja V2 (Reading: 29/30, Use of English: 24/30 = 53/60 points), national finalist,
Mila Petrović V1 (Reading: 29/30, Use of English: 22.5/30 = 51.5/60 points),
Anastasija Đomparin V3 (Reading: 28/30, Use of English: 22.5/30 = 50.5/60 points),
Marija Đurin (Reading: 29/30, Use of English: 21/30 = 50/60 points),
Anđela Mijandžić (Reading: 29/30, Use of English: 10.5/30 = 39.5/60 points)

HIPPO 3:
Nikola Tomić VII2 (Reading: 33/34, Use of English: 25.5/30 = 58.5/64 points), national finalist,
Nataša Đurin VII2 (Reading: 33/34, Use of English: 19.5/30 = 52.5/64 points),
Luka Baba VII2 (Reading: 33/34, Use of English: 18/30 = 51/64 points).

Old MacDonald's Farm

 My Class 1 pupils have recently enjoyed discovering farm animals in a fun way.

We started our lesson by imagining a visit to a farm. I asked if they had ever been to a farm before, what animals they had seen there, and what sounds those animals make. Then, I asked them what a farmer looks like. I drew one on the board and asked them to draw the farmer's head in the middle of their page. 

Next, we watched several animated videos and listened to the famous Old MacDonald Had a Farm song. As each animal appeared, they answered the questions about its sound (What does a pig say? Woof-woof? No!). They giggled as they corrected the silly answers. 

Helena, I1

Neda, I2

Teodora, I2

Iva, I2

Lorena, I2

We drew all the animals around the farmer's head in the order they appeared in the song. At first, everyone joined in singing E-I-E-I-O, but soon, they started repeating the names of the animals and their sounds.

Finally, the pupils coloured everything and proudly showed their cheerful drawings to their classmates.

eSafety

Due to the suspension of lessons, we weren't able to mark this year's Safer Internet Day with our international friends as planned. However, we managed to catch up with them soon after.

My Class 4 pupils took part in an activity which focused on eSafety problems. Our partners from Lithuania and Taiwan shared their problems, and we tried to give them advice. 

 

As members of Starlight Team, Kind Squad and Future Savers, my Class 5 pupils joined a forum discussion on eSafety and netiquette with our friends from Romania and Spain in the Thankful Tunes project:

- We don't share our passwords. We don't say mean things to others. We help our friends if they have a problem online. Our rule is: Be respectful, just like in real life.

- We don't click on suspicious links. If someone or something annoys us when we're online, we tell our parents.

- We avoid suspicious online links. We're kind online. 

- We try to be kind when we are online.

- When we're online, we're kind and keep our information private. 

- We don't share personal information on the internet and people's videos or pictures without their consent.

- We don't use bad words.

They also shared ideas with our Turkish friends and created a presentation with eSafety tips, using AI avatars.

My Class 7 pupils collaborated on an online dictionary. Each school selected a letter and, with the help of AI, listed eSafety-related words and wrote their definitions. Another school chose one of the words and created an image using AI. The pupils suggested link protection, query and QR code safety, and designed gateway, keyguard, password and responsibility.

📘 Read the Collaborative Dictionary on StoryJumper

SDG 5

 Gender equality was the next topic for our Sustainable Future: Our Actions, Our Impact eTwinning project. 

As part of my Class 7 research, we brainstormed different jobs and looked at how many women and men do them. In our school, for example, there are more female teachers than male. The situation is more or less the same in other schools, but also in health care, shops, banks and other services. However, there are still more male employees in agriculture, industry and construction.

We also talked about famous Serbian women and why their work is important. In teams, the pupils created infographics and posters introducing these successful women.

Later, the pupils thought carefully what to include in their prompts and used Canva's AI to create images of boy and girl characters for our collaborative books. They voted for the best designs and added paragraphs to complete the books: Leo's Family Team: A Chore Adventure and Breaking Barriers: Lily's Journey in STEM.

Collaborative stories

Click to read this book, made with Book Creator

read.bookcreator.com

Class 5 pupils tried out Story Wizard app to create their story about a girl called Meena who makes her dreams come true when she becomes a pilot. After reading the story, they discussed it and answered comprehension questions. They felt disappointed when they realised that the app only allows one free story.

HIPPO 2025

 Two groups of my pupils took part in this year's preliminary round of the Contest organised on 10 March in Đura Jakšić Primary School.

Most pupils found the tests easy, especially the reading part, though some felt the use of English was too challenging. 

This year, the application process and the Contest were organised under unusual circumstances, with fewer pupils participating than before. A lot of schools in our country, including ours, have suspended classes since 20 January due to widespread protests and teacher strikes. A few of my pupils who felt prepared, followed my advice and applied individually.

Robots

My Class 4 pupils have recently had a fun and creative writing lesson. 

I asked them to imagine themselves as robot designers and write about their very own robots. It was a great way to practise words for body parts, colours, and everyday activities.

We started with a mind map on the board. Together, we came up with what their writing should include: name, appearance, character, material, skills, and price. They copied the mind map into their notebooks and picked the words they wanted—for example, big or small, metal or plastic, helpful or funny.

Then, each pupil wrote a short paragraph describing their robot. A few volunteers read theirs aloud and received positive feedback.