Pupils from two primary schools, one in Finland, the other in Scotland, travel to meet each other and experience each others' cultures. This blog tells the story of the two trips.
We had the chance to speak directly to our penfriends in Kuvansi yesterday, when we enjoyed a very successful FlashMeeting webcam conference. There were lots of great questions asked, and once everyone got over their initial shyness, things went very well, and certainly everyone now knows quite a bit more about each other!
Thank you to Mr Ikonen and his pupils for their excellent participation. :-)
Our very good friends in Helsinki from VisitFinland have excelled themselves again- sending us all a calendar each and a CD rom that shows some short films about Finland. Each of the class went home very happy with their souvenirs. We have been very lucky- receiving lots of things before we even step foot in the country! Once again, from all of us, a big thank you to Lea who works for VisitFinland :-) We really appreciate your gifts.
And, in addition, at the end of the day today, the hoodies that the children ordered have all arrived as well!
Some parents have asked me what time it's likely to get light and dark while we are in Varkaus.
Bear in mind that where we are travelling to is much further north than we are here in Scotland- and that during December, it's not light for very long at all! However, the length of day is already beginning to stretch quite quickly in Finland, so it's much lighter now than it was a month ago.
Earlier today, we were in Asda at Dunbar, bag-packing to raise funds for our trip to Finland. Thank you very much to all the pupils, and their parents for their fantastic help. I have now counted the money, and the news is very good... We have raised a total of £663.10for the fund :-)
Once again - thanks again for all your help.
Below, is a list of all the money we have raised towards the trip to Finland.
Sponsored cycle £1412.80 Other donations £ 360.00 Longyester Quarry £ 200.00 Gifford Community Council £ 150.00 Coop Funeralcare £ 100.00 Rugby Films via Coop £ 100.00 Table-top sale in school £ 157.05 Bag packing - Asda £ 663.10 Total so far £3142.95
Today, all the primary 7 children have received two posters each from VisitFinland, who very kindly allowed each child to choose a couple of posters from a pdf file that contained 11 fantastic, yet different images from Finland. I'd like to record my sincere thanks to Lea Ololube, who works for VisitFinland, and who sent us these great posters. Lea sent us all brochures and pens back in November, and she has also promised each of the class their own Finland 2011 calendar, which should hopefully arrive from Helsinki next week sometime! Kiitos paljon!
Some of the girls show off one of their posters.
This is most of the class, happy with their new presents!
A big thank you to the class teacher in Finland, Jyrki, who visited our accommodation last weekend, to take some pictures so that you can see a bit more of where we'll be staying. As you can see, the accommodation looks lovely, and we looked at these pictures this morning in class. There's a lot of snow there, around 60cms at present!
Looking at our accommodation from the outside- taken last week- and there's lots of snow!
Another picture of outside.
Inside; this is the dining area, with TV, CD player, and piano.
This is one of the bedrooms.
Another bedroom.
This is close to the accommodation, and is a large hut, where you can meet for barbeques. Looking at the hut from the outside.
Some of the P7s have been asking me how thick the ice will be when we are in Varkaus. If you look at this Finnish site you will see that detailed measurements are made across the country on the 10th, 20th and 30th of each month during winter.
Jyrki, the class teacher in Finland, has told me that it is generally accepted that it's safe to open a lake for cars to drive on the ice after the ice thickness has exceeded 15cm. Jyrki has measured the ice on Lake Saimaa, at the bottom of his garden, and found that it is currently over 40cm thick! The average thickness in the whole area is currently between 30-40cm.
Unless there is a major thaw, it seems it will be pretty safe to walk on the ice!
Hello everyone! It's not long now until the P7 class from Yester head off for their annual outdoor week, this year going all the way from here in Scotland, almost to the Russian border, to eastern Finland, where we will stay in Varkaus, to allow us to visit our link school in the nearby village of Kuvansi.
No doubt everyone is keen to see exactly where we'll be staying- if you look below you'll see our accommodation, close to Varkaus, via Google's street view mapping. It's quite good fun to click on the image, open it up and travel from here back up to the main road and towards the town itself, which is around 4km away. Looking behind the accommodation, you can see part of Lake Saimaa, which is actually the biggest lake in Finland. It's a labyrinth of many interconnecting areas of waters, stretching over a large part of the east of the country.
The excellent tourist information site, VisitFinland, gives more details: "Lake Saimaa, the fourth largest lake in Europe, is situated in Eastern Finland between the Cities of Lappeenranta and Joensuu and is a diverse chain of waters almost 200 km long. For anglers, the extensive water body and its thousands of islands and islets represent an unlimited number of fishing grounds.
Lake Saimaa consists of several major water areas, joined up by sounds and narrow passages. These areas are also known as lakes named in their own right, even if their water level is the same. The key parts of Lake Saimaa are Lakes Suur-Saimaa, Pihlajavesi, Haukivesi, Puruvesi, Orivesi and Pyhäselkä."
If you are keen to see a bit more of the area around Varkaus, then you might like to watch the following video, entitled, Charms of Saimaa, which shows the area quite nicely. About two thirds of the way through, you'll see Olavinlinna Castle, where we plan to visit while we are there.
There are many videos on YouTube about Finland, which have been uploaded by VisitFinland. The one below is worth watching, and leads to many of the others.
Since May 2007, when Yester first made links with Kuvansin koulu (Kuvansi Primary School) in Eastern Finland, we have always had the hope that one day we could take pupils from here in Scotland, to visit their friends in Finland.
Now, in 2011, we are about to do just that! This blog will keep track of the plans, and the trip itself, allowing the pupils (and parents) to keep a permanent record of what should be a memorable visit.
Below are links to the class blogs we have run since 2007 with Kuvansi Primary School:
None of the work carried out by the two classes could have been done without us becoming involved through the fantastic eTwinning resource! Have a look for yourself at how it can link schools in Europe...
