The new logo of the project

Now we have finally got all the votes in the finals of the logo competition. Many have complained that the finalists did not meet all the criteria set for the logo: It was supposed to symbolize the contents of the project: Tales in the widest sense (i.e. told in words, drawings and music), connecting countries and nations AND it should be designed in the way that it should be easy to diminish it - logos are normally small!

Well, even so, the pupils have spoken! According to the rules of the competition it was the votes of the pupils that counted. This is like Eurovision competition: Quite a lot of people did not agree that the Serbian piece was the best one, but it got the most votes and it is the rightful winner! In the same way in this logo competition only five propositions got into the finals and the winner was the one that got the most "twelves".

CONGRATULATIONS, ITALY AND CORDENONS!!! May we now have the name of the winner????

Intercultural dialogue in Venice

One of the topics of the project Tales of Europe is intercultural dialogue, both between the students and the teachers. In connection with the evaluation meeting in Cordenons (May 2-5)the teachers of Circolo Didattico di Cordenons wanted to show their European collegues the perhaps most famous cultural heritage of the region: The old city of Venice, which lies about one hour's way south-west of Cordenons.

The photo shows the team of Sabina (fromleft), Viviana, Sonia and Gladys discussing what to show next.

Drama and other entertainment in Digranes

The town of Kópavogur celibrated its anniversary this week offering all kinds of entertainment for the public. This year Digranesskóli took part in the program by arranging the annual school exhibitions and performances, a.o.th. drama for parents and media.

Comenius 1 project was, of course, part of the whole arrangement. Among the items were folktales that classes of the 5th and 6th grade staged. The pieces will be later taken on a video and edited for the usage of our Comenius partners.

Here you can see pictures of the folktale "Móðir mín í kví, kví", which class 6.G. staged. This is a well known story, supposed to take place in the old times, and a song accompanies it. (Many of our best-known and most appreciated singers have recorded this song. ) The class-teacher Guðrún Hvönn Sveinsdóttir directed and Þórdís Sævarsdóttir, the music teacher, arranged the music, both song and instrumental part of it. Every pupil had a role, since part of the story is dances (in Icelandic called vikivaka). Boys wore typical Icelandic pullovers and most girls were in the national dress.

The Comenius wall with photos, drawings and stories and the show-cases with cd /dvd and story-books drew the attention of pupils and parents.

Greetings from Italy - Kveðjur frá Ítalíu

Evaluation meeting for the Tales of Europe Comenius 1 project was in Cordenons, Italy on 2-5 May. Representatives of all partner schools came together to compare the results og ponder whether a project like this was worth doing. Everyone of the teachers said that the project had meant extra work, for some of us A LOT of extra work, but everyone felt that the project should go on. It is good both for the children and for the teachers. The whole report will later be published.

The five European countries, we often think, are similar, but during this evaluation meeting we realized that each country and each school had also many problems that they had to tackle, only the problems differed. Yet, most teachers agreed that without optimism and an effort from our part there would not be any progress. Ergo: Everyone wants to be optimistic and a project like this is a good medium for empowerment and strengthening our self-efficacy, teh teachers' as well as the pupils'.

Our hosts in the Circulo Didattico di Cordenons had prepaired everything well and we got a warm welcome everywhere. The pupils' performance was excellent, without a flaw. We all were both amazed and impressed by the perfectness of their song and mutual coordination between all parties. We also enjoyed their presentation of the Terra Magre, work that had been cross-curricular, engaging both song, instrument playing, history, folklore, drawing, writing, reading, elocution, digital-editing and English - besides being a good example of team work.

The Italians, both the staff (and their families!), the pupils and representatives of the Cordinons town council will receive our gratitude. All the staff members had worked very hard to make this meeting to be what it was, but without doubt the three of them, Sabina, Vivianne and Gladys had had the most responsibilities, with the blessings of Dott:ssa Elisa Ulivi, the school principal.

The photos show some of the work of pupils in Rodari in Cordenons.

With greetings from Kópavogur town, Digranesskóli

Marjatta the coordinator