Huhtisen koulu
Huhtisen school is a two-tier elementary school in Porvoo. We have 255 students between the ages of 7 and 12, who are taught by 18 teachers and 5 special needs assistants. The language of instruction is Finnish, although the city of Porvoo is bilingual (Swedish). Our school has a relatively low (compared to other schools in the municipality) but steadily growing number of Finnish as a second language students. Still, plenty of students with varying kinds of learning difficulties and physical disabilities are integrated into general classrooms. Our primary objective is to provide high-quality education to our students.
The 4th Activity took place from 24.3.-28.3.2025 and it
was organized by Huhtisen koulu. The activity was held in Porvoo,
Finland. Huhtisen koulu hosted 29 participants, 10 teachers, and 19 students
from the partner schools in Piraeus, Chios, and Montesilvano.
1st Day: The program for the 4th Activity began with a guided tour
of the school facilities and was followed by a welcome ceremony, where the
staff and students of Huhtisen koulu were introduced to the participants, and
the participants kindly introduced themselves to the school. Introductions were
followed by a song, Matkustan ympäri maailmaa (Travelling around the world) sung
by the entire school, and by teaching the participants a traditional Finnish
dance Letkajenkka, to “break the ice”, i.e., encourage cooperation and
teamworking skills, among the students in particular. The welcome ceremony was
then concluded by the school’s 6th graders, who taught the participants
some basic Finnish words and phrases. After the ceremony, the teachers were given
an introduction to the Finnish school system while students took part in art,
music, or PE classes. The day was concluded by a tour in the historic old town
of Porvoo by a local guide. Porvoo is the second oldest city in Finland,
history dating back to the 1300s, and thus, preserving the uniqueness of the
old town is essential: due to, for example, climate change, special measures
have had to be taken to preserve the old town.
2nd Day: During the second day of the 4th Activity, the
participants took part in a coding workshop focusing on programming and building
Legos. The fun yet educational workshop was held by the city’s ICT teacher, Topi
Lehosmaa. The workshop provided an opportunity to learn how to utilize digital
skills in learning and teaching, as it was one of the main goals of the project.
During the second day, the participants also got to bake a traditional Finnish
delicacy, “korvapuusti”. While waiting for the delicacy to come out of the oven,
the students learned about Finnish nature by completing digital tasks together
in small groups or in pairs. The tasks focused on the differences of Finnish
nature as compared to Greece and Italy. Here are the links to the tasks:
Finnish nature: https://www.outinthenature.com/finnish-nature-quiz-for-kids/
The effects of ice age on Finnish nature: https://www.outinthenature.com/quiz-traces-of-ice-age/
Finnish wildlife: https://www.outinthenature.com/nature-quiz/
Finnish trees and their leaves: https://www.outinthenature.com/out-in-the-nature-quiz-can-you-match-the-autumn-leaves-to-the-trees/
Finnish nature above the Artic Circle: https://www.outinthenature.com/out-in-the-nature-quiz-above-the-arctic-circle/
Finnish wildlife: https://www.outinthenature.com/out-in-the-nature-quiz-wildlife-in-finland/
Finland: https://www.thinglink.com/view/scene/1960329281083015845
Originally the idea (instead of baking “korvapuusti”) was to
explore outdoor activities in winter conditions, i.e. how to dress in the
winter, how to walk on snow and ice, what kinds of activities Finnish children
typical do on snowy and icy conditions, how does the weather affect Finnish
nature during the winter and so forth. Unfortunately, due to climate change, the
winter in 2025 was very warm, and at the time of the Activity, all of the snow
had melted. Thus, we had to replace the outdoor activities with a more suitable
option.
3rd Day: The third day of the activity focused on a workshop given by
the Porvoo Nature School’s Pia Lindström and by a local sustainability teacher, Anni Välikangas. The first part of the workshop was held outside in a nearby
forest, exploring Finnish nature and observing wildlife. The students had the
opportunity to a) witness that forests are everywhere in Finland, even in the
cities, and b) that the forests in the cities contain a lot of life in terms of
types of trees and plants growing there as well as the wildlife found in the
forests. They also had the chance to observe that similar trees and plants grow
in all the participating countries but that they might look slightly different
in terms of, for example, size. Naturally, attention was also paid to the
differences in biodiversity and the typical plants and trees found in Finnish
forests. The second part of the workshop focused around making signs centered
on raising ecological awareness (e.g. Save water, Recycle, Plant trees). Even
though the participating schools’ countries face different kinds of challenges
due to climate change (e.g. water as a resource), many of the issues are the
same, and the same signs could work in all the participating countries. The day
ended in textile and woodworking classrooms. Textile and woodworking
classrooms are classes that are not taught in the other participating
countries. They focus on hands-on skills such as using tools and a sewing machine:
being able to, for example, repair instead of buying new is an essential life
skill in today’s world.
4th Day: On the fourth day of the Activity all the participants, as
well as Huhtisen koulu’s Erasmus teachers and 10 students from the 6th grades, spent the day in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The visit to the capital
region started with a guided tour of Fazer, a Finnish food company founded in
1891, that thrives on making sustainable food (chocolate, candy, bread) by
using as many local resources as possible. Fazer has grown to be a global
company, and it provides a great example of a company that, regardless of its
growth, values sustainability in the way it operates (for example utilizing
local ingredients as much as possible and how they package their products).
Next, we visited the Natural History Museum of Helsinki and
received a guided tour called “A year in Finnish nature”. Finland is a country
of four seasons. Each of the seasons is vastly different from the next, and thus
nature and wildlife change accordingly. As we could not observe Finnish nature
in person during all four seasons and did not get to observe Finnish nature
covered in snow due to the lack of snow in winter 2025, the exhibit provided
the visitors the best chance to see how the appearance of trees and animals’
changes from one season to the next (e.g. winter versus summer coats in
animals, hibernating animals, trees chancing colour, growing season being very
short).
The fourth day concluded in an evening ceremony taking place
in a local and very typical Finnish summer cottage by the sea. The participants
had the opportunity to experience Finnish culture in the forms of sauna, ice
swimming, and typical Finnish delicacies such as mämmi, karjalanpiirakka,
meatballs and products from a local chocolate factory called Brunberg. The
evening ended in a closing ceremony by awarding certificates to all of the
participants.
5th Day: The fifth day of the project was spent in classrooms in
Huhtisen koulu.
Overall, Huhtisen koulu enjoyed having international visitors
from our partner schools!
ACTIVITIES AT SCHOOL
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