On Friday, 3 September, Year 5 and Year 6 students took part in an unusual activity – treasure hunt at Kalemegdan. The students learnt a lot about the Belgrade Fortress and Kalemegdan, the most popular city park.

Quality education goes hand in hand with good fun. Primary School Savremena’s approach to education is based on a positive and healthy spirit with lots of fun extracurricular activities, proof of which is the interesting school outing at Kalemegdan for senior primary students.

Teachers Miloš Petrović and Željko Zarić designed and organised the fun treasure hunt at the Belgrade Fortress.

DEVELOPING SPORTING SPIRIT AND WINNING PRIZES WITH ORIENTEERING

Year 5 and Year 6 students were split into teams whose task was to use a map and a compass to find a hidden treasure in the form of a chocolate treat – a chocolate gold coin!

The goal of orienteering is to find control points marked by lanterns, which are shaped as prisms and made of cloth in traditional orienteering colours. At the top of the lantern there is a paper perforator which the contestants use to punch their control cards.

Orienteering cards have specific signs for objects and colours that signify different things (e.g. white signifies a forest that is easy to run through). The course is printed in red with a triangle indicating the start, and numbered circles showing the checkpoints.

After going through the rules, the students used their maps and compasses to find the control points and reach their golden chocolates as soon as possible. It was a real adventure with lots of challenges, logic games, tasks, and unusual clues. For Savremena’s students it was pure pleasure.

LEARNING ABOUT THE BELGRADE FORTRESS

The orienteering treasure hunt lasted for 90 minutes. In addition to this activity, the little ones enjoyed a tour around the Belgrade Fortress. They familiarised themselves with the largest and most beautiful Belgrade park and the highly significant cultural and historical landmark dominated by the Belgrade Fortress, which overlooks the confluence of the Sava and the Danube.

The students learnt that the name Kalemegdan refers to the space around the fortress, which was turned into a park in the 1880s.

The fortress was the main military stronghold in Belgrade, while the field served as a place to watch out for the enemy. Hence, the name derives from the Turkish words kale (fort) and megdan (field).

It’s interesting that most of the students knew many facts about Kalemegdan, using this trip to further expand their already good knowledge of this unique landmark.

The students visited many monuments dedicated to our famous artists, the Military Museum, the Cvijeta Zuzorić Art Pavilion, the Cultural Monument Protection Institute, the Zoo, the children’s entertainment park, the sports fields, and other locations that the citizens of our capital know so well.

They returned to the school with a wonderful experience and desire to repeat this outdoor adventure and discover new things about Belgrade.