Not only children planted...
but also teachers.
It was hard work.
But it worth it. 2000 young trees were planted in a day.
Everybody was looking forward to traditional roasting of sausages after such a hard day.:)
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Planting trees within the project Trees and the Environment
Not only children planted...
but also teachers.
It was hard work.
But it worth it. 2000 young trees were planted in a day.
Everybody was looking forward to traditional roasting of sausages after such a hard day.:)
Thursday, 16 April 2009
The UK Woodland Seasons (Chapter 2 - April)
This year Spring came early and the bluebells have advanced to almost their full height already by mid-April. The larger patches of bluebells are stunning.
Up in the trees the leaves are in various states of progress. Generally the younger trees are in a more advanced state than the older trees which are concentrating on flowers rather than leaves. The next two pictures of Sycamore will show this very well.
Looking upwards we see that some of the Beech trees are slow to come into leaf ..........
..whereas the Hawthorn and Birch are well advanced. The overall impression is of a golden-green light striking the woodland floor.The highest accolade this month goes to the Wild Cherry (perhaps shared equally with the Bluebell).
At ground level the plants are making best use of the light before the leaves close the canopy. The Snowdrops are almost over and all that remains are the long slender leaves lying flat on the ground.
Daffodils have begun to fade out too but, here and there, their yellow heads can still be seen.
Dog's Mercury is now rampant and the 'Stinging' Nettle is beginning to take hold on the woodland edges.
Two rather special plants, members of the Lily family, are the Solomon's Seal and the Martagon Lily.
Adding colour to the edge of a path is the first Wood Violet of the season ........
.. and in the darker, damper patches of vegetation shines the Wood Anemone.A plant to watch over the coming months is the Wild Arum. This plant has several other English names: Cuckoo Pint and Lords and Ladies to name but two.
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Feedback from Finland
Feedback from the stay in Finland given by the pupils of Pitkäkangas school:
- It was a pity that we couldn’t have visitors staying in my home.
- It was a great experience to be able to talk in English with foreigners. I started to think how it would feel to talk English all the time.
- It was awfully nice to play football esp. with the Turkish boys. The Turkish girls taught us a new game, they were fun.
- The party in school hall was terrific. The English had a familiar song and we could sing it together. The Czech had nice pictures and music of their country.
- It was nice to have them on the lessons but we didn’t understand everything. Some of them had funny names.
- I was excited when they came in the morning. The visitors greeted us cheerfully but then I didn’t have time to get to know them and speak to them. It felt bad.
And the lodgers commented as follows:
- We looked forward to getting to know new people and to talk to them. The visitors were friendly and eager to experience new tastes and habits –even sauna. We got along well.
- Some children were rather quiet and shy. Some ate chocolate and not food.
- Some visitors seemed to be very interested of shopping and late nights, we would have liked to spend more time together.
- It was a pity that we couldn’t have visitors staying in my home.
- It was a great experience to be able to talk in English with foreigners. I started to think how it would feel to talk English all the time.
- It was awfully nice to play football esp. with the Turkish boys. The Turkish girls taught us a new game, they were fun.
- The party in school hall was terrific. The English had a familiar song and we could sing it together. The Czech had nice pictures and music of their country.
- It was nice to have them on the lessons but we didn’t understand everything. Some of them had funny names.
- I was excited when they came in the morning. The visitors greeted us cheerfully but then I didn’t have time to get to know them and speak to them. It felt bad.
And the lodgers commented as follows:
- We looked forward to getting to know new people and to talk to them. The visitors were friendly and eager to experience new tastes and habits –even sauna. We got along well.
- Some children were rather quiet and shy. Some ate chocolate and not food.
- Some visitors seemed to be very interested of shopping and late nights, we would have liked to spend more time together.
Monday, 6 April 2009
Friday in Finland
Friday, March 20th
We were taken by three coaches to Iso-Syote to enjoy skiing and sleighing as well as roasting. The weather on the way seemed to be anything but not nice. As we arrived though, it suddenly turned into a beautiful sunny day. Those brave of the English group rented skiis for x-country and followed the "skilled" Czech instructors.
We were taken by three coaches to Iso-Syote to enjoy skiing and sleighing as well as roasting. The weather on the way seemed to be anything but not nice. As we arrived though, it suddenly turned into a beautiful sunny day. Those brave of the English group rented skiis for x-country and followed the "skilled" Czech instructors.
Majority of children had a great amount of fun while sleighing/toboganning on improvised plastic bags.
After having a delicous lunch, we were happy to be informed about a national Syote park by a nice guide. Some of the children were entertained by a seeking game prepared for them in a permanent display
Both films were impressive and showed how the Finns care about their precious nature and their eagerness to pass it on their youth.
Roasting the "Pulla" in the afternoon was definitely a pure rarity for all of us. Not for the Finns though :)
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Saturday in Finland
Pupils and teachers spent an exacting but a beautiful week. Today we could sleep longer. Our meeting is coming to an end.
Today, pupils and teachers have visited Vuokko Kangas house where they were baking typical Finnish bread. The householder is a musical composer and also a musician. Next door they were singing songs prepared forward.
In the afternoon we all went shopping presents for our relatives.
Oulu is a big city with lots of shops, so it wasn’t any problem. Wood is a symbol of our project and so in the evening we had dinner in a restaurant „Sokeri – Jussi“ that was made from wood.
We said goodbye to all our friends from Turkey that were travelling home sooner.
We spent the next beautiful day.
Today, pupils and teachers have visited Vuokko Kangas house where they were baking typical Finnish bread. The householder is a musical composer and also a musician. Next door they were singing songs prepared forward.
In the afternoon we all went shopping presents for our relatives.
Oulu is a big city with lots of shops, so it wasn’t any problem. Wood is a symbol of our project and so in the evening we had dinner in a restaurant „Sokeri – Jussi“ that was made from wood.
We said goodbye to all our friends from Turkey that were travelling home sooner.
We spent the next beautiful day.
Friday, 20 March 2009
Second Meeting continued:
Thursday - National Equal Rights Day
On arrival at school in the morning we were greeted by the blue and white flag of Finland flying from every tall flagpole in and around the school grounds. It was now obvious why those are the colours of Finland's flag - blue for the sky above and white for the bright snow beneath. On enquiry we discovered that it was to celebrate Finland's national "equal rights for women" day.
On arrival at school in the morning we were greeted by the blue and white flag of Finland flying from every tall flagpole in and around the school grounds. It was now obvious why those are the colours of Finland's flag - blue for the sky above and white for the bright snow beneath. On enquiry we discovered that it was to celebrate Finland's national "equal rights for women" day.
Today was going to be our first day out of school for all and, after boarding the coach, we were soon on our way to the nearby, Japanese-owned, Shinshowa sawmill in Kello. Mr Jarmo Noponen kindly showed us the 'cutting-edge' of the business. We saw hundreds of pine and spruce logs of about 4m in length and various girths. We witnessed the process of stripping bark, square cutting the logs and then moulding into construction timber such as tongue-and-groove cladding for houses. There was quite a lot of noise, sawdust and a strong smell of sawn pine.
Moving on, we stopped at Virpiniemi outdoor centre where local people could do some skiing or toboganning or use an outdoor barbecue. Off the tracks the snow was knee-deep. A fine lunch was enjoyed by all at the University of Oulu before visiting the next wood-related industry, Honkamajat Log Houses
(http://www.honkamajat.fi/).
Mr Kristian Aalto (Managing Director) showed us more logs, this time being cut into various forms for making a variety of types of log buildings. We saw the rough logs being processed into perfectly smooth, round logs with a lower concave surface, grooved to match the lower log in an outside wall. This effectively created a wide joining surface which was good for insulation and for strength. We saw machines making joints in rectangular-sectioned timber for another type of construction and we were also shown new ways of jointing which allowed for neater external corners and the possibility of 45 degree angles for such shapes as bow windows.
The company has recently installed new equipment and technology to enable it to manufacture the new joints. The outside of the machine looks like part of a tube train. Two people, working for ten hours, could manufacture all of the parts for one house! Mr Aalto explained to us that, whilst other companies were finding it difficult in the current economic conditions, his company was continuing to expand and orders were very healthy. Wooden houses from here are exported all over the world, especially to France and Japan. Increasingly the Far-Eastern market is taking off and Mr Aalto was, in fact, just about to leave for China within an hour or two.
We were all very impressed and all took brochures and dreamt of owning their own wooden house one day. After this visit we stopped at Hietasaari Winter Wonderland on the beach near Oulu. The ice-fort was interesting enough but something bigger was attracting us away. The sea was completely frozen over and covered in snow; a huge, flat wasteland of snow glistening in the bright sunshine. We could not help ourselves but to run out to sea as far as we could in the time available. We felt like superhuman beings with the power to walk on water. However, people had beaten us to it and everywhere there were ski tracks and even car tracks going out to the opposite shore, almost on the horizon. Some men were fishing through holes in the ice. Rating, 10/10!
Before returning to school we stopped for an hour in Oulu where we could walk into town to look at shops and buildings and also we could visit the Market Hall (www.oululiikekeskus.fi/index.php?285). This was reminiscent of Oxford's indoor market. Some people were able to buy souvenirs and/or reindeer meat (poro).
In the late afternoon, back at school, the children worked in the technology department making wooden key fobs and keeping up with communications with home. Dinner in the canteen included a special cake for dessert; 10/10 again!
Mr Kristian Aalto (Managing Director) showed us more logs, this time being cut into various forms for making a variety of types of log buildings. We saw the rough logs being processed into perfectly smooth, round logs with a lower concave surface, grooved to match the lower log in an outside wall. This effectively created a wide joining surface which was good for insulation and for strength. We saw machines making joints in rectangular-sectioned timber for another type of construction and we were also shown new ways of jointing which allowed for neater external corners and the possibility of 45 degree angles for such shapes as bow windows.
The company has recently installed new equipment and technology to enable it to manufacture the new joints. The outside of the machine looks like part of a tube train. Two people, working for ten hours, could manufacture all of the parts for one house! Mr Aalto explained to us that, whilst other companies were finding it difficult in the current economic conditions, his company was continuing to expand and orders were very healthy. Wooden houses from here are exported all over the world, especially to France and Japan. Increasingly the Far-Eastern market is taking off and Mr Aalto was, in fact, just about to leave for China within an hour or two.
We were all very impressed and all took brochures and dreamt of owning their own wooden house one day. After this visit we stopped at Hietasaari Winter Wonderland on the beach near Oulu. The ice-fort was interesting enough but something bigger was attracting us away. The sea was completely frozen over and covered in snow; a huge, flat wasteland of snow glistening in the bright sunshine. We could not help ourselves but to run out to sea as far as we could in the time available. We felt like superhuman beings with the power to walk on water. However, people had beaten us to it and everywhere there were ski tracks and even car tracks going out to the opposite shore, almost on the horizon. Some men were fishing through holes in the ice. Rating, 10/10!
Before returning to school we stopped for an hour in Oulu where we could walk into town to look at shops and buildings and also we could visit the Market Hall (www.oululiikekeskus.fi/index.php?285). This was reminiscent of Oxford's indoor market. Some people were able to buy souvenirs and/or reindeer meat (poro).
In the late afternoon, back at school, the children worked in the technology department making wooden key fobs and keeping up with communications with home. Dinner in the canteen included a special cake for dessert; 10/10 again!
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
Second project meeting - Finland 17th - 22nd March 2009
Tuesday and Wednesday
The Slovak team arrived in good time and the Turkish team took the train from Helsinki and arrived in Oulu in the morning. The teams were shown different parts of the school, e.g. kindergarten, dentist, the office of the headmistress. According to the programme the children attended various lessons. In the evening our guests got to know their host families.
UK and Czech teams arrived later in the evening and went straight to their host families.
On Wednesday morning all arrived for an 8 am start. The programme of the day included e.g. handcraft, ICT, maths, arts, English. The teachers visited lessons and spoke to local teachers and generally got to know their way around the school. The pupils had their lunch with their Finnish classes. The adults had lunch together and discussed the project so far.
The whole school was gathered in the hall for a party together. There was a lot of singing from all parties involved. The atmosphere was joyful and pleasant. All the 400 pupils enjoyed the experience of having foreign guests at school.
Later in the afternoon the children played games in the hall with their teachers until it was time to have dinner in the school canteen. After dinner the children constructed a Comenius tree made from fabric handprints. After a long day it was time get home to the families.
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