VISITING ICELAND

Getting to Gullfoss,Iceland's natural wonders...

pupils performing Music

We just came back from the meeting held in Digranesskòli. It was a great experience for all of us both to work as an European team and to see how well Icelandic pupils were prepared, performing Music with Thordis trough different languages.We could feel the warmth of the school welcome even if the weather outside wasn't really mild, in fact according to their calendar the first day of Winter was October the 25 th.:we had snow,wind and rain ! We enjoyed anyway our stay in Iceland and we will remember the wonderful lanscape with all the white mountains ranging above the sea....

Siamo appena rientrati dall'incontro tenutosi presso la Digranneskòli. E' stata un'esperienza davvero importante per ognuno di noi lavorare in un team europeo ed ammirare gli studenti islandesi, preparati da Thordis insegnante specializzata in musica, danzare e cantare in cinque lingue. Abbiamo apprezzato l'atmosfera accogliente ed ospitale della scuola, anche se il tempo fuori non era proprio clemente, infatti nel calendario islandese l'inverno inizia il 25 di ottobre!

La nostra permanenza è stata comunque indimenticabile e ricorderemo il paesaggio meraviglioso con le montagne innevate che si stagliano sopra il mare...

We had the chance to visit the classes, getting the possibility to talk with the students and their teachers, comparing our two school system organization. We particuraly appreciate the Icelandic way to carry on a flexible schoolyear schedule within the different laboratories: home economics, technical & textile and artistic. We were also amazed seeing how good were the girls working the wood and on the other side how well boys managed cooking!
We share the idea that pupils learn by doing trough active experience and the possibility to adopt or change if necessary between curricular subjects and more relaxing activities in order to allow a balanced growth of the child.

Abbiamo avuto la possibilità di visitare le classi, di dialogare con gli alunni ed i loro insegnanti, comparando i nostri sistemi scolastici. Abbiamo particolarmente apprezzato la maniera flessibile di gestire i laboratori durante l'anno scolastico, alternando attività più impegnative ad attività più rilassanti, permettendo una crescita armoniosa ed equilibrata del bambino e consentendo un'apprendimento attraverso l'esperienza diretta. Abbiamo constatato con meraviglia, quanto disinvolte fossero le bambine nel laboratorio di falegnameria ed i maschi in quello di cucina !

The meeting was also important focusing the tasks for this year, deciding how to carry out activities. Our new Principal Mrs Luciana Renna took part in the meeting and realized how important is the influence of an European project both for the staff members and for the pupils motivation. She went into the classroom congratulating with pupils for the work they have prepared with their teachers and yesterday talked to our monthly plenary teachers meeting about our visit.

Durante l'incontro abbiamo potuto definire le attività da realizzare quest'anno e condividere i materiali prodotti dai nostri alunni durante la realizzazione della Story Circle Task. Il nostro nuovo Dirigente Scolastico Mrs Luciana Renna ha partecipato al meeting ed al nostro ritorno ha desiderato personalmente congratularsi con gli alunni ed i loro insegnanti per i lavori inviati, informando in collegio docenti tutto il circolo dell'importanza di questa esperienza.

We came back empowered on our motivation and aware of the bond we've create during these three years with our European team.
So far I can personally say that on the part of even our little pupils they know they have new friends even if they haven't seen them yet!

Siamo ritornati sicuramente arricchiti , motivati e consapevoli del legame che si è venuto a creare in questi tre anni con i nostri colleghi europei.

Posso personalmente affermare che persino i nostri più piccoli alunni sanno di avere dei nuovi amici, anche se non li hanno mai visti!

Sabina for the Italian team

Skipulagsfundur - Project meeting in Iceland Oct. 2008

Benjamin and Birkir performing on the recorder (Above)

Grade 6 singing the well-known song "Head and shoulders" in Portuguese. (Below)

Imagine Piece Monument by Yoko Ono on the Videy Island off the Reykjavik Harbour, seen when the moon was full. During the meeting the weather did not permit entering the island. The guests only saw the light from the harbour.

Maria and Susana, the Portuguese teachers showing the presents their pupils had made.

The guests and pupils with their teachers in the Digranes School auditorium. From left: Alessandro, Luciana the school principal, Sabina from Italy

Árlegur skipulagsfundur Comeniusverkefnisins „Tales of Europe – Promoting Creativity, Communication Skills and Cultural Awareness“ var að þessu sinni haldinn í Digranesskóla dagana 22.-24.okt. (miðvikud. til föstudags) og sátu fundinn fulltrúar allra samstarfsskóla okkar, þ.e.a.s. Finnar, Ítalir og Portúgalar.

Tekið var á móti gestunum í sal skólans þar sem Comeniusbekkirnir voru hver með sitt tónlistaratriði. Þórdís Sævarsdóttir tónlistarkennara hafði haft veg og vanda af þessari dagskrá. "Leynigesturinn" var ítalski kennarinn Alessandro sem hafði tekið með sér til Íslands sekkjapípuna sína og blés gamalt þjóðlag á henni. Einnig hafði Alessandro samið sérstakt lag, Vináttulag (Canzone dell' amicizia) fyrir Comeniusfólkið og kenndi það meðan á dvölinni stóð.

Gestirnir voru einnig viðstaddir lokatónleikum 7.Á. bekkjar á föstudaginn, en þá lauk formlega þemadögum Músíktilraunir sem eru árlegur viðburður hjá 7. bekkjum skólans. Milli þess að funda um málefni sem tengjast útfærslu verkefnanna heimsóttu gestirnir alla Comeniusbekkina í stofum þeirra, kynntu sér náms- og kennsluaðferðir hér og spjölluðu við nemendur. Þeir sýndu mikinn áhuga á verklegar námsgreinar og töldu að aðstaðan hjá okkur væri til fyrirmyndar. Hin nýi forstöðumaður Fræðslusviðs Kópavogsbæjar, Anna Birna Snæbjörnsdóttir, ásamt nánustu samstarfsmönnum sínum hafði svo móttöku fyrir gestina á föstudaginn. Eftir að formlegum fundardögum lauk, á laugardaginn, fóru gestirnir svo í “menningarreisu”, ýmist til að synda í Bláa lóninu eða aka hringinn um Gullfoss, Geysi og Þingvelli, en áður höfðu þau m.a. heimsótt Sögusafnið í Perlunni og skoðað gömlu handritin í Þjóðmenningarahúsinu.

Verkefnið og þau tengsl sem hafa myndast hafa verið mikil lyftistöng fyrir okkur í Digranesskóla og eflt kennara í starfi sínu. Með því að fá slíkar heimsóknir og fara sjálfur að kynnast skólastarfi annars staðar fá kennarar nýjar hugmyndir sem þeir geta síðan útfært og aðlagað að þörfum nemenda sinna. Heimsóknir erlendra kennara hafa einnig verið skemmtileg tilbreyting fyrir nemendur og gefið þeim tækifæri til að sýna hvað þeir geta. Eitt aðalmarkmiða verkefnisins er jú að fá okkur að skilja sérkenni okkar og þekkja eigin menningu en um leið greina það sem tengir þjóðirnar saman og gerir okkur alla að Evrópubúum.

SUMMARY IN ENGLISH:

Project meeting for „Tales of Europe– Promoting Creativity, Communication Skills and Cultural Awareness“ was this time held in Digranesskóli, Iceland on 22-24-25 October. All the partner schools, Finland, Italy and Portugal, had sent their representatives. For the opening day the Icelandic children had prepared a musical program, each class having a role in it. Responsible for this was Thordis the music teacher. The guests also attended the concert given by class 7.Á. on Friday. It was the outcome of the Musical Experiments which are a yearly event in Digranesskóli.

Later the guests also visited all the Comenius classes, made themselves acquainted with Icelandic teaching methods and teaching aids and chatted with the children. They were specially interested in the non-academic subjects, such as home economics, technical and textile works and arts teaching. Alessandro, one of the three Italian representatives, had made a special song of friendship (Canzone dell’ amicizia) for this occasion and he taught the pupils and the Comenius teachers. Hopefully it will be soon published here on the page. In between were the formal meeting hours when the tasks and different activities of the project year were discussed and decisions made.

The project and the connections it has created have been very important to all partners. To visit schools in other countries and get visitors from abroad, to get acquainted with different methods and attitudes, al this has a stimulating influence both on staff members and the pupils. What we see and here can serve as a source of empowerment and enhance creativity in all parties. At the same time as we learn about other cultures we feel our own identity more keenly, but also perceive the ties that bind us together so that we can say: I am a European.

Með kveðju / With best greetings from

Marjatta Ísberg, project coodinator

Polite forms in October

Hello, everybody!

Now we start studying languages. This month each school makes a folder with the following words:

Hello!
Good bye!
Thank you!
Please
Good morning
Good night
What's your name?
How are you?

The folders will be sent to partner schools, collected and each school makes a poster of them, prossibly even more. The words will even appear here on our web site.

With best wishes from Digranesskóli
Marjatta