Diary of Finland

February 25th, second day - Helsinki.

The alarm went off at 7am. We had time to visit Kauppahalli Market, a traditional 19th century place with shops and stalls selling unique Finnish specialties. Then we walked for half an hour to the Pääaraitää station and 5 hours were waiting for us to get to Ylivieska. There, Elina, the school's Principal, came to find us to host us in her home for the whole week. On the way home by car, three Nordic lynxes (a species

in danger of extinction and very difficult to see) surprised us crossing the road. Once at home... a homemade dinner, a sauna and sleep! An intense day awaits us tomorrow!

February 26th, 2024, third day - Nivala

Today we had our first Finnish school experience. They have welcomed us with great enthusiasm because they are willing to join the Erasmus+ projects. The entire school was welcomed us with a traditional Finnish song that the students had previously prepared. VIDEO 'RATI RITI RALLA' Popular. The lessons we have seen have been quite varied given that they have prepared activities for us showing their strengths. We have seen robotics activities both programming activities and robotics applied to other disciplines, such as science.

The spaces, the methods of teaching and learning, the internal organization of the school and the didactic proposals are designed to maximize the resources they have, not very different from the resources we have in our school. Here we leave you a sample of the photographic report that we have made and which collects different ideas that we will surely apply in our school.

February 27th, 2024, fourth day – Nivala

We visit the Erkkilä Koulu school, a rural school with a total of 68 students and 4 teachers who lead the educational project. Today they spent the day with the students doing different activities inside and outside the classroom to rescue moments of Finnish cultural history.

We have made jewelry from recycled and common materials such as pasta, cardboard and colored threads to symbolize period jewelry as part of a treasure.

We had the opportunity to see proposals that combine cultural features with movement activities. We have reproduced and related different historical moments to the classroom context.

When we left school, we went to Nivala and we had the time to go for a walk. After 5pm we were able to share experiences and realities of the world of education while having dinner with teachers from different schools in the municipality: Erkkilä Koulu, Aittolan koulu and Järvikylän koulu, all three schools welcoming us and offering us robotics and science activities among others

February 28th, 2024, fifth day in Nivala

Today at 8am they dropped us off at school; it was still dark. There, some teachers from the school were awaiting us in the main hall. For starters, the first sessions, we went to see how the 4th grade students developed a challenge with Mindstorms EV3 robots: Travel 1 meter in a straight line, change direction and return to the starting point. Once the initial challenge has been achieved, they have been complicating the objectives by adding some obstacles to overcome.

After following the instructions, they've started the robots, and they've learned the importance of the order of the instructions, the possibilities, and the trial and error method. We share some videos of the development of the activity.

After the break we saw different activities with numbering materials to understand the conversion of the different surface measurement units: m2 dm2 cm2 mm2. They also showed us the two classrooms for artistic creation. A handicraft classroom, for fabric making, a Maker Woodworking Classroom for creation with wooden materials. Here they are...

February 29th, 2024, sixth day – Nivala

Today we dedicated the day to explain our project here in Nivala. The school principal has asked us to explain to all the students (grouped by levels) what our school is like, what we do, what projects we carry out. She has also asked us to explain what our Erasmus RISE project is about. And so we did! They have been very attentive and after that they have asked us many questions about our school daily life and also the reasons that have led us to choose these goals in our Erasmus. The teachers have also shown a lot of interest, especially in how to carry out an Erasmus project and in specific aspects of our school organization. Once the presentation was finished, we played with them a Kahoot game, with questions to check if they had understood everything we had explained to them about the Joan Casas school. It was very interesting and fun to see how they were answering and without many mistakes.

At 11am it is lunch time and in the following sessions we kept on learning with them. We have been participating in writing activities. How can we improve writing in a gamified way? The most important and interesting thing is the need and use of using words meaningfully and coherently knowing how to use each type of word. By the use of a colored die, magic, imagination and movement began!

After this session we went to see the two handicraft classrooms. The 5th and 6th grade students have been finishing their carpentry crafts: some food trays and a wooden support to hold the head in their saunas. In the meantime, the third and fourth year students participated in a sewing workshop, making cushions with aromatic herbs and dried peas sewn with sewing machines. They have also finished making fabric bags with their initials, to carry their ski boots.

To finish the day the principal of another Primary school, a friend of the principal hosting us, invited us to his house to share information about making a good Erasmus project. We hope we succeded! 

We offered them a delicious Spanish omelette for dinner. They loved it! It’s really been an interesting day. Good night!

February 30th 2024, seventh day – Nivala

It’s the last day at school. Next week they’re taking a holiday week at school. In Finland, holidays are organized in different areas and the whole country does not coincide on the same dates. For the students, therefore, it is a last day before leaving for a few days with the family. The school has organized, as every year, a skiing day with all the students and teachers. The bus leaves the school at 9.30am and at 10am we arrive and organize ourselves into groups. Every 30 minutes or so the director of the center blows a whistle and we change station and activity. One activity is Nordic skiing, the students are autonomous and ski on closed circuit tracks. The second activity is the one that generates more smiles and screams, the descent with sleds, snowmobiles and similars down a long and steep descent. The third activity is a slalom and agility circuit with skis and the fourth station is for resting and reconditioning: The barbecue, where they usually eat a Frankfurt, a sandwich and a juice. Most even bring their thermos with a hot chocolate. A good farewell to come back with renewed energy!

At the end of the skiing day, we received a gift from the school and a farewell from the students and teaching staff. They conducted an interview with Laura Bertran as principal of Joan Casas which was published the same day on the local press.

Early tomorrow they take us to the train station; then we have our 5-hour train ride to Ylivieska and 20 minutes to Helsinki airport. There we will wait for 4-hours flight to Barcelona.