The girls started school this week and so far they are really enjoying it. On Monday we spent about 2 hours at the school just visiting as a family and on Tuesday they started right in. We have found some big differences from their schools in Connecticut, but also many similarities.
Tea and Talia are both attending an English Pre-School. It sounds funny to know that Tea, who is in first grade in America, is back in pre-school in Finland. There have been some recent publications about American schools turning the first grade curriculum into the kindergarten curriculum and pushing our students to read, write and do math earlier than ever before. Kindergarten in the US is almost always now a full day program, students may get homework at that young age (our daughter didn't), and teachers are pressured to teach children sight words and reading and writing skills all year long. Compulsory education for most Americans starts the year the child turns five. By age seven, a child is in second grade in America and is expected to be reading short chapter books, writing short narratives and fiction, and using different mathematical skills to solve problems. One writing standards from the common core for second grade reads: Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure. One example of a math standard is to add up to four two-digit numbers using strategies based on place value and properties of operations.
Finland, on the other hand, does not start children in compulsory education until the age of seven. So Tea, after attending a year and a half of academic elementary school in the United States is back in pre-school! I have absolutely no problem with this. In fact, I love it. It's just very different. Both girls only go to school for a half day, from 9:00 to 1:00. (Well, to be honest today was the first day Tea made it on time and Talia was still late - we are still adjusting to the time difference and lack of light in the morning). The schedule is very open and there is a lot of time for play. Tea's class is called Pre-K and Talia's class is called the Nemos (as in Finding Nemo). The two- and three-year olds are the Ladybirds. There are about 10-12 students in each class for a total of about 35 students in school. The language of instruction is English, but most of the children come from Finnish families so the children are all fluent in Finnish and that is the native language for the majority of kids. The day starts with Circle Time for each class and that is conducted in English.
Just like at home the children talk about the day and date, the weather, and sing some songs. Above is a picture of the calendar and circle area for Talia's room. The calendar weeks start on Monday here, as they do in most of Europe, so the girls (and I) have to get used to looking at a different kind of calendar. I heard the very familiar months of the year song as I was dropping off Tea the other day. The rest of the day consists of indoor play, outdoor play, some teaching and learning in Tea´s class, and lunch. Tea's classroom is pictured below. She has her own desk and they do sit down for part of the day to do some formal learning. She has a math workbook and a reading workbook. Both are well below the expected level of an American 1st grader, but she is not complaining. Our main goal is for the girls to learn some Finnish while we are abroad. At night they keep up with some of their American work, but overall we just want them to enjoy school.
At 11:00 the entire school is served lunch. Each child's place is set with a placemat, a real fork and a glass for milk. A hot lunch is brought over from the "central kitchen" and is served to each student. No students bring their lunch and every child is expected to at least try what is served. On Tuesday the girls were given a vegetable stew, bread, and milk. Tea said her teacher asked her to try the vegetable stew six times, and she complied, but still didn't like it. Talia didn't eat hers and wasn't very open to trying, so later when candy (!) was served for a child's birthday she was not allowed to have any. I am so glad they are holding her to that standard. Of course it made her sad, but she will learn to try her food if she wants a treat. Yesterday there was chicken and the girls seemed to enjoy that more. We were also told that all the children bring gum or pastilles (small candies) to have right after lunch. All the gum and pastilles contain xylitol, a sugar that is believed to prevent cavities and the build-up of plaque so the children are encouraged to chew gum or have these candies right after meals. I can't imagine American schools encouraging students to chew gum or have candy right after lunch!
At the end of the day the children all go out to play. They go over to the neighboring park regardless of the weather. As we have heard many times before, the Finns don't believe in bad weather, just bad clothing. So with snowpants, coats, face masks, hats, mittens and boots on, the children all walk to the park wearing reflective bibs and are given plenty of time to run around and play.
It was well below freezing on Tuesday, probably about -6 degrees Fahrenheit when we picked the girls up, but they were perfectly content playing in the snow and on the equipment.
On Tuesday night Tea had homework. I found it interesting that pre-school had homework, but it took her only about 2 minutes and I was glad she had something to do. Her class is learning to compare sizes so she had to label sets of objects from 1 to 5 with 1 as the smallest and 5 as the largest. The directions in her workbook are all in Finnish, so Google Translate helped us figure it out. The system for knowing which page to do was a simple laminated Lego man with sticky tack on the back placed on the page.
The school also has a lot of different activities to keep the kids active and busy during the week. On Monday, Alfrendo the Magician came to the school. We were lucky enough to be there during his show and even though it was all in Finnish the girls were entertained by his tricks and silly faces and actions.
Today, a Greek dance teacher will be teaching a dancing class to each group of children. Tomorrow all the children will go across the street for ice skating lessons. The skating park will be a field of grass in the spring, but right now it is a sheet of ice for skating. It's so exciting to see the girls get so many different opportunities. There is a music room in the building so I am sure some music classes will take place soon. Both girls had physical education this week and played a game called Snake Hunter. They tried explaining the rules...but I guess you had to be there. It sounded something along the lines of tag but instead of touching the person you threw a ball at him or her. They had fun and that's all that matters.
Overall school is great. When the girls are done for the day they still have plenty of time to go home, relax, play dress up, read, use the new toys, color...and of course argue. Our days in Finland are so much more relaxed overall. We don't have to rush out to the dining hall for dinner. I have been home every night to put the girls to bed. I get to work no earlier than 9:15 and leave no later than 4. The weekends are free to do what we want. The pace of life is just much more relaxed. That is something we could get used to!
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