1.  Mersin 3 Ocak Secondary School  3rd Comenius Meeting in Mersin, Turkey  The Bookworms of Europe  19th October – 24th October

2.  Mersin 3 Ocak Secondary School is the biggest secondary school of Mersin.  It has 8000 m2 area.  There are 5 floors  40 classrooms,  a multifunctional big garden,  a library  an IT class,

3.  2 art saloons,  a music room,  a meeting room,  2 canteens,  and a teachers’ room in the school.  There are 50 teachers and 1120 students.  Our school aims to prepare the students multifunctionally to their new lives and give hints to be successful in their lives

4.  1 headmaster  4 assistants of headmaster  academic staff: 65 teachers  1 school psychologist  1 educational consultant  non-academic staff :10 employees

5.  Basic work time: 30+5 lessons per week  We teach from 6 lessons a day  Average extra work time: 1 lesson  One lesson takes 40 min.  Breaks 10minutes  Extracurricular activities: 2 lessons per week

6.  guiding the academic, physical, and emotional well being of each student,  fostering the relationship between our schools, parents, and the community,  ensuring a safe and secure learning environment,  encouraging diversity and inclusiveness,

7.  promoting participation in extracurricular activities,  preparing students for higd school and career readiness,  integrating technology in our programs, and maintaining and upgrading our school facilities.

8.  After the TEOG (Offical exams) exams, according to their wish and of course the total marks of their exam results, they may choose to study at;  Vocational High Schools  Anatolian High schools  Science High schools.

9.  With a new Law in 2012, four years of Secondary school is also compulsory today.  Involves the education of children between the ages of 10-14. It is compulsory (4 years) for all citizens, boys and girls and given free of charge in public schools.  They study Turkish, Social Science, Science and Technology, Maths, ICT,Foreign Language, Music,Visual Arts, Physical Education, Religion Culture and optional subjects.

10.  Primary education general secondary education starting date of students’ school year 15 September 2014 (1st Grade – 8 September 2014)  End of students’ school year 12 June 2015 12 June 2015  Christmas/New Year 1 January 2015 1 January 2015  Winter/Carnival 2 weeks 26 January – 6 February 2015 (2 weeks )  Summer 13 weeks  12 June – 14 September 2015

11.  23 April 2015 (Children's Day)  1 May 2015 (Labour Day)  19 May 2015 (Youth and Sport Day)  3-7 October 2014 (4.5 days – religious holiday)  28-29 October 2014(1.5 days – Republic Day)  23 April 2015 (Children's Day)  1 May 2015 (Labour Day)  19 May 2015 (Youth and Sport Day)

12.  Starting date of teachers’ school year beginning September  End of teachers’ school year beginning July Additional notes :  In primary and general secondary education, a school year must contain at least 180 days. A school year runs 9 months from September to June.  A school year is divided into two parts: at the end of a semester, there is a two-week holiday, called mid- school year holiday. The summer holidays are between June and September. Decisions on ending/starting semester dates are made by the Ministry.

13.  1.When children saw their parents reading at “Happy Reading Hours” at home, they were also motivated.  Positive feedback from parents and teachers helped.

14. We let the child choose his / her own book to read. And we got favoruable results. Students were asked to choose books from the international book lists as a school school duty. These are: “Romeo and Juliet”, “Robinson Cruseo”, “Tom Sawyer”, “Of Mice and Man”, “Old Man and the Sea”, and Turkish literature classics.

15.  Some families regular visited bookstores. We are reported by the family that the student started reading more.

16.  Subscriptions to a magazine or magazines for the students are a good idea. Yet we could not fully succeed them to be a subscriber.

17.  Families and teachers praised the student for his or her reading when appropriate. For example, when he or she completed a long or difficult book. Families and teachers praised the student for his or her reading when appropriate. For example, when he or she completed a long or difficult book.

18.  The website “Owlfinch” encouraged the students to read online reading.  We checked out owlfinch text games, especially in Turkish. As a result, we observed in their interest and motivate to read.

19.  As parents and teachers, we will never give up encouraging our students to read more…