Valentines Day Heart Animals

After the Valentine’s Day morning assembly English Class pupils combined classes and worked together for a couple of lessons to create imaginary animals from hearts they had pre-cut from bits of scrap paper. Third graders and sixth graders are shown working in the collage above.

Pupils made all sorts of creatures, including whales, sea turtles, caterpillars and bees.

There were foxes, owls, skunks, raccoons, monkeys and rabbits.

 There were peacocks, pigs, pandas, a shark and whales.

There were rabbits, dogs, reindeer, butterflies, penguins, mice and ladybirds.

There were cats, elephants, a dinosaur, fish, rabbits and chicks. But most of all, there was lots and lots of creativity and camaraderie. You couldn’t ask for anything better on Valentine’s Day!

Valentine Day Assembly

This morning at 10 o’clock English Class fifth graders held an assembly for the rest of the English Classes to enjoy. Their teacher , Ms. Virpi, was absent today, but the fifth graders carried off their assembly remarkably well, especially considering all of the distractions that were going on at the same time. (Class 6A was holding their Valentines Day sale at the same time so there was a lot of background noise and children and adults coming and going.) Olivia and Veikko started the programme by giving a short talk on Valentine’s Day and its history.

The fifth grade boys did an amazingly well-rehearsed homage to Michael Jackson’s Annie, Are You Okay?  Their moon-walking was impressive!

The fifth grade girls had choreographed a fun cheerleading routine for the assembly. The collaboration between the girls really showed when they did their lifts. It was a great way to begin our day of Valentine celebrations. All of the fifth graders did themselves really proud!

Writing Post Cards for Pals

The Finnish postal service donated a postcard and postage stamp to every single fifth grader throughout Finland in honour of Ystävänpäivä which translates as “Friendship Day” in Finnish, and means Valentine’s Day.  Although Valentine’s Day is traditionally associated with romance, in Finland the emphasis on February 14th is definitely more focused on friendship. The 60 000 postcards that were delivered via the National Board of Education are a means of encouraging pupils to acknowledge and appreciate meaningful people in their lives. The postcard campaign is also meant to encourage pupils to write and send messages using the traditional  “snail mail” system.

Yesterday English Class fifth graders wrote their postcard messages to the person of their choice. The text on one sample donated postcard roughly translates as, You are such a great person that I am sending you a card. For some fifth graders it was the first time in their lives that they used traditional postal services. Finding the postal address and postal code for the designated person receiving the card proved to be an interesting learning experience for some, but in the end everyone managed to solve the challenge. As seen in the photo collage above, some pretty happy fifth graders posted their post cards. More happiness will follow when the recipients get their mail.

Valentine’s Day 2017

All of the English Class pupils, along with the rest of the pupils at Cygnaeus School, participated in a Valentine heart hunt during one recess yesterday. The school’s student council members had hidden paper hearts all over the school from the basement to the top floor. Some of the hearts were numbered. Those lucky enough to find a numbered heart could go to the school library to redeem the numbered heart for a small prize. There was a great flurry of activity as the school buzzed with eager heart hunters seeking hidden hearts.

The school library was decorated in the spirit of the day with hearts from classes signed by the class members.

Rebus Valentines in Fifth Grade

English Class fifth graders took a little lighter approach to English studies this Thursday when they made rebus Valentines. A rebus is a  pictogram puzzle where pictures and sometimes additional letters represent words. The fifth graders had fun creating Valentine messages.

Fifth grader Alisa remembered all of a sudden that a female sheep is a”ewe” so she drew her rebus Valentine message to incorporate that fact.

Fifth grader Tara had completed her rebus message when it dawned on her that a drawing of a housefly would have represented the word “fly” in her message, I’d fly the around the world for you. Many wonderful rebus messages were created in a short amount of time.

Bridges and Love Bugs on Fun Monday

This week’s Fun Monday offered a choice of two activities. One was a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) challenge to build a bridge using craft sticks and masking tape. The other challenge was to make a Valentine love bug. Only a couple of pupils managed to complete both challenges within the time constrictions.

The lucky pupils who got to participate in Fun Monday approached the bridge challenge eagerly.  The goal was to make a bridge that would support the weight of a small engine and train car. That proved to be too easy so the length of the gap was increased. One bridge spanned the space of 150 cm!

Other pupils preferred making love bugs for Valentines Day next Sunday. They formed the body of the bug from aluminum foil and then covered it with glue and pieces of tissue paper. Pipe cleaner legs were taped to the underside and then covered with glue and tissue paper.

Yet another Fun Monday proved the amazing problem solving skills of our pupils: tomorrow’s engineers, designers and inventors.

Valentines Day Activities with Friends

This entire week before winter break at school has revolved around friendship. On the landing of the staircase in the B-wing we have a tree full of hearts. Each heart provides a tip on how to be a good friend. English Class second graders have been learning about social skills that are related to being a friend. We have learned that in order to have friends it is necessary to be a friend.

The entire week culminated in today’s activities. The day began with presentations by visiting volunteer students from different parts of the world including Hungary, France, the Ukraine and Spain. Then all of the pupils in the school were given half a postcard or picture. The challenge was to find the person with the other half, make their acquaintance, complete a colouring task together and then eat lunch with him or her. After lunch all of the pupils in the school had an opportunity to picnic and play “old fashioned” board games together with friends.

Only this friendly note we all begin our week long winter break.

Time for Friends on Valentines Day

English Class pupils exchanged valentines they had made for a secret friend from an English Class this morning. Lunch was spent with special friends because pupils could sit wherever they chose to sit, including sitting with pupils from the Finnish classes. Many pupils hung hearts around their necks and collected signatures on their paper hearts for hugs that they shared. The school day ended (and winter break began) with two hours of playing board games in the gym with friends. In the words on one third grader, “It was noisy but very much fun !”