Year 1: Welsh day for 6 years olds!

Morning assembly. The pupils are wearing school-uniforms.

The six-year old children have a lot of sitdown activities in our shcool, and I was impressed by the way they were organizing the day for the young-ones in  Alderman Davies School .We wanted to copy some of it.

The class was divided into small groops, and after 30 minutes they would change activities. At this station they were playing with lego.

 

This is fun! Playing wiht lego at school!

Anne Sofie is making words with lego.

The reading corner.

Smiley-room. Not as cosey as at Alderman Davies.  But we tried to make a nice atmosphere with soft music and candels :-). We talked about feelings and wrote nice things to each other.

The painting corner.

Silje is painting St. Claus.

Deep consentration.

Lunsh -time! We had a welsh packed lunch.

I've been looking forward to this..... chocolate-milk, biscuits, crisp and white bread....jummy!

Greetings

from year 1 and Ingvild

Our Comenius display at the moment.

 At Torvmyrane our Comenius-display is now focusing on Wales. Here we find reports form our Welsh week, items from the Treasure Box from last project, and the Goody Bag we received this fall. We also have a few English books from pupils at ADS. Very interesting for our pupils- and teachers- to see how you work at school, as well as what children of Wales are interested in.

England, Iceland and Poland are waiting in the glass displays, together with Estonia from last project.

Next focus will be on Iceland- we look forward tio it!

WELSH WEEK AT TORVMYRANE, THE KINDERGARTEN

We started our day with all the children in Fugleberget. The children are 3, 4 and 5 years old. We were talking about Wales, singing English songs, counting to ten in english and learning to say «My name is......» Really a good session, the children found it very interesting and were participating. Many of them were interested in talking English rest of the day.

We wanted to try the activities we saw a the School with our children. Bjørg had this nice activity, where the childen made their own letter. The childeren were exited and everyone wanted to do it.

Nina and Sonja liked very much the way fairytales were told by the teachers in Wales. We wanted to try this with our children. We chose the same story which they used, «The Three Little Pigs». The children liked it a lot and it was a good way of telling a story, using moves and sounds. Many children told the story along with us.

Britt had a creativ activity, the children had different materials to make a nice «Heart». The children were encouraged to use their fantasy. This heart we brought along when we went to church some days later, there they would use the heats as decoration for Christmas.

We put some easels in one of the rooms, where the children were able to paint, mix coulors and use their fantasy. A lot of beautiful works of art were made.

We had bought white bread, chocolate spread and jam, and chips for lunch. The childrens faces sayed «Is this true......?» Of course everbody wanted to taste as this is not usual to eat for lunch in Norway.

Both grown ups and children found this day very calm and the way of organizing activitities were very good. Active and curious children:) Involved grown ups:) This way of doing things we hope will give us ideas to do our own work with the children even better!! Thanks for all good ideas, Alderman Davies Primary School:)

Welsh week at Torvmyrane skule, Norway

Our Welsh week was arranged in the end of  November 2010. Different classes and agegroups learned about Welsh school life through different activities. This is the report from 6th grade,  on their Welsh Friday, the 19th of November.

"Welsh Day.Last Friday we had Welsh Day. We have Welsh Day because we are in a Comenius project. We had our school day exactly as it is in Wales. Now we will tell you what we think about your school day." -  Lene, 11.

"The Carpet. We sat on a carpet because Welsh pupils sit on a carpet on the floor. When we sat on the carpet it was too small..... The carpet was way too small for our class, because we were too many children. Only some of us fit in. The carpet was blue  with a pattern. We sat on the carpet for a while. the teacher sat in front of us. It is weird to sit on the carpet, because normally we sit on a chair by a table.  We have a "ring" of benches where we gather like the Welsh do on their carpet. " Vegard, 11.

"Uniforms. We had uniforms. The uniforms were black and white. The trousers and skirts were black and the jumpers were white. They were nice. At Norwegian schools we don't wear uniforms, we wear our own clothes. Some of us liked wearing uniforms, some did not." Linn Kristin11,  and Andrea, 11.

"Activities. When we had Welsh Day we red the story of "The boy who cried wolf". Our aim was to learn to tell the story. Our classroom was arranged to fit many different activities. Some of us painted.
Some of us searched the internet:

Some of us made a role play about it:

Some of us were reading and writing in English, and some of us were sculpturing clay:

Now we know how your school days are, you have fun! We had a lot of fun" - Julie, 11.

"Breaks. In our break we had to stay in a limited area. Normally we can run into the woods, this time we had to stay close to school. It was cold, and some uf us ran out without their jackets. " -Kristoffer, 11.

"Lunchtime. In our packed lunches today we brought chips, cookies and white bread with something sweet on. On my normal packed lunch I have brown bread with white cheese. I would not like to have chips everyday, but sometimes it would be ok!" - Marion, 11.

"Hot lunch. Now I will tell you what we ate and what it tasted like. First we had to sing a prayer. Then we had our own food, and finally we were served hot lunch. We ate fish and chips with white sauce and vegetables. We were served in the cafeteria (actually our classroom...) abd it tasted good. I thought it was very tasty. It was cooked and served by our dear Mrs. Lindgren. Thank you for reading this. Bye, bye."- Robert, 11 and Ivan, 11.

"Worship. We had to have worship in class this day. That is because ADS is a church school. In Norway we are not allowed to do worship in school. On Welsh Day we sang and said prayers, lit candles and had a little worship corner. Mrs Bugge led the worship. She normally teaches us religion and PE. Normally we call her Maria, we always use our teachers first names." - Sunniva, 11.

"Rewards. If someone was behaving good, or working hard they could be The Star of the Day. Their reward could be extra playtime, special attention or special tasks like lighting candles on assemblys. It was nice. If you were the teachers helper, you could be the Star of the Day. On our Welsh Day, the Star of the Day was allowed to go out of class to play Nintendo DS. On our school we do not have this kind of rewards, but we would really like to!" -. Sara Eline, 11 and Amalie, 11.

We liked trying out a Welsh Schoolday, and most of all we would like to visit ADS ourselves!!
Best wishes from your friends at grade 6, Torvmyrane Skule, Florø, Norway!

Comenius Report - Bowes School - 29th November 2010

Comenius Report 29-11-10

After spending a very interesting and informative time in Wales, it was good to get back into Class One and try out some of the learning strategies seen in the Alderman Davis School, Neath, Wales.
First and foremost was their idea of having a ‘Poem a Week’. Class One quickly took to it and after two to three weeks we have learnt not one, but nearly three poems! What was noticed was how children (who would not normally engage or participate) soon got into the flow of the poems. The use of repetition and rhythm carried out on a daily basis has definitely enhanced their confidence.
Our second initiative seen at Alderman Davis was to use ‘The Bumper Book of Storytelling into Writing- Key Stage 1’ by Pie Corbett. Class one decided upon ‘The Little Red Hen’ as a starter, as we have got some real hens called Doris and Lottie at the school. The children were and still are, very keen to apply hand actions to the story, draw up story maps and use their story cards. Over three weeks children have written short repetitive sentences, changed characters, as well as altering the beginning of the story. Older children (Years One and Two) have written a letter to ‘The Little Red Hen’ as part of their end of Autumn Term assessments. What has been noticed visibly is the increase in the quantity and quality of sentences written. There is also greater confidence across the whole classroom and those who struggled previously have managed a sentence –or two. We have now started another of Pie Corbetts’ stories ‘How the world was made’ and hopefully this will carry on into the New Year.
Children have given positive feedback on both these strategies and the use of the flip-cam has enabled children to see themselves, their reactions and responses instantly. A really powerful tool! In Class One we also set aside a day to dress up in Traditional Welsh Costume and we made Welsh Cakes. The children loved them. They have also looked inside the contents of the Alderman Davis’ Goody Bag and right across the school , from Reception (4-5years) to Year 6 (10-11 years), the children instantly recognised and greeted magazines, music and sweets with the same common enthusiasm as their friends in Neath, Wales. Perhaps this was to be expected…
The children have since written their thoughts and responses to the contents of the Goody Bag, which they hope to post on the Children’s Corner very soon. So watch this or that space!
In school, we are currently setting up the use of Vimeo, Blog, and skype. This will greatly enhance the children’s opportunity to communicate on a regular basis and it will also benefit the staff in terms of learning new ICT skills! !
Overall, we are watching closely to see the benefits and effects the teaching strategies seen in Wales will have on our children’s learning. For now, certainly where writing is concerned there has been a definite shift in attitude (a positive one), especially with those children who are more reluctant or who genuinely find it a struggle. Let’s watch and see!! Thank- you Wales.

Sue Scaife
Key Stage One Teacher
Bowes Hutchinson’s CofE Aided Primary School.
29-11-10

1. All of our teams arrived on Tuesday 19th and were accommodated  comfortably in Blue Bell Hotel. Our first meal together was at La Mancha restaurant. Our lovely hosts welcomed us and handed in very busy  schedules .

2. On Wednesday morning we went to Alderman Davies Church Primary School. First  we visited a new place of education POD – Place of Discovery. We saw how the cross curricular, key skills approach to learning is developed.  There was a lot of new equipment for learning with computers and digital technology.  We watched video about  new methods of helping pupils to learn (new approach of teaching).

3. After that we walked around the school being guided by the teachers and we observed learning-                teaching process. We had an opportunity to watch pupils in their daily routines and activities.  

4 IN the afternoon we were  introduced  to Welsh culture.

After lunch we went  to an old Victorian School situated in Museum of Welsh. We  watched  a lesson held by cruel Ms Black (Sandra – the Music teacher). The pupils were very polite and they couldn`t  answer without   the teacher`s permission.

After that we had free time in Cardiff to try shopping or sightseeing . At 7 pm we went to Welsh Assembly Government Hall. Our lovely host told us about  the  political and social system of management in Wales.

We spent a very nice evening having meal at  Custom House restaurant. We really enjoyed our delicious meals.

On the 21^st October we entered the school at 9.00. We visited classes continuing the  focus on aspects of learning. At 12.30  the leaders met  for planning further actions. Other teachers had free time.

From 5.00 to 7.00 pm the pupils had an Ugly Bug Disco. We were invited for having fun with children

At 7.30 started the Big Top party. It was held in a tent situated in Caryl`s Garden. We saw a circus performance which was done by a clown. He juggled with rings and torches. We had a lot of fun until 11.00 pm.

On the last day of our visit we met at school church for whole school  worship and our farewells. After assembling  we had a cup of coffee and we said “See you soon” (in Iceland probably).

Thank you Caryl and The Best Welsh Team !