Spring Special Week and Arts & Crafts Workshops in Finland

The spring special week was held on 23.-27.4.2012. Here are some pictures the pupils have taken of the Finnish nature waking up after the long winter.


  

 


Arts & Crafts Workshops 24.-25.4.2012

On Tuesday 24.4. and Wednesday 25.4. we had different school days in Töölö: the pupils didn't have normal lessons but participated in two creative workshops instead. The options included mosaics, textile crafts, graffiti art, filming a documentary, woodcraft, electronics, miniatures... among many others! The pupils had suggested the themes themselves and could pick two workshops in total. It was a lot of work, but everyone had an enjoyable time and the outcome was an amazing array of beautiful, creative, original art- and craftwork! Below is a sample of the work we did.

Clay work.

 

"Roskismönkijä", "Rubbish Crawler", made of recycled material.



Making mosaics.

Making a documentary.



Practising graffitis.

An Angry Bird.

The Finnish teachers and pupils have only three school days left before the start of the summer holiday. So, wish you all a warm, happy summer! Finland will be back with new themes in the autumn!

Comenius Meeting in Finland 2.-5.5.2012

On May 2nd we were glad to welcome the Comenius team members to Finland for the second official meeting of this project. Below are pictures taken during their visit. Enjoy!

Welcoming our guests in the teachers' room.

Comenius gathering in the school hall on Thursday morning.

The pupils performed traditional Finnish songs with kantele.

Team members discussing the project and Finnish school system before going to observe lessons.

Visiting the Sibelius Monument.

Part of our group by the sea near our school.

The Finnish Comenius members performed traditional Finnish folk songs in the Welcome Party.

The German pupils got Töölö Primary School t-shirts.

The print says: "Watch out! Smart pupils on the road!"

The whole group on the last evening.

We had a great time in Finland and would like to thank everyone once again for this meeting. We hope to see as many members of the team as possible in Cyprus in September!

Winter Special Week in Finland

Greetings from Finland! Now that it's April, the snow has almost melted here in Helsinki. Anyway, let's look back at the snowy views from February and the winter special week held on 6.-10.2.2012.

Weather during the Winter Special Week

Here's a weather chart compiled by class 3A. Click on the chart to get a larger view. It was a typical February week - very chilly indeed!

Views from Helsinki and Töölö Primary School in February

Pupils on our school yard.

On our way to the ice skating rink.

5th and 1st graders.

 

Typical winter sports in the country of ice-hockey world champions...

 

The king of the hill!

Greetings from our first graders!

Snow-covered fields

An afternoon view from our school yard. The sun is already setting at 4pm.

Spruce trees covered in snow

"Northern Lights" by 1st graders

Food and Recipes

Below is a traditional "shrove bun" recipe for you to try out! We serve these yummy buns on a February day called "laskiainen", when families and friends traditionally go sledge-riding or downhill skiing. This delicious treat is basically a bun cut in half with either strawberry jam or almond paste in the middle. People usually prefer either style and humorously debate over which one is "more traditional": the jam bun or the almond bun... Well, delicious all the same!

Shrove bun recipe

 

A list of traditional Finnish food

Winter Clothing and Activities

In winter it's usually fairly cold in Finland (especially in the north) and we have to wear warm winter jackets, woollen hats, scarfs and gloves or mittens. Sturdy boots that have a good grip are also essential so that we don't slip and hurt ourselves. Typical winter activities are for example skating, playing ice hockey, skiing and snowboarding. When it's too cold to play or do sports outside, we stay indoors playing computer games, chatting online with friends, reading good books, writing stories or drawing.

(Compiled from texts written by 5th graders)

How to survive the Finnish winter!

The next post from Finland is going to look much warmer and sunnier, as it will be about the spring special week in May. 'Til then!