Improving literacy and numeracy skills
Comenius project 2010 – 2012

The project “Improving literacy and numeracy skills” is a partnership between the following five (primary) schools:
Tollose Centralskole / Denmark
Grundschule Baiersdorf / Germany
Morkved skole / Norway
School no. 2 Independenta / Romania
OS Kapela / Slovenia

The main focus is on pedagogical and management issues within the schools.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.

Project coordinator:
Mr. Arnstein Naerlie, headmaster
Morkved skole, Postboks 253, N – 2381 Brumunddal
Telephone: +47 62 33 63 60
Fax: +47 62 33 63 61
Email: ane@ringsaker.kommune.no
further responsibilities:

website: Grundschule Baiersdorf / Germany
newsletters: school nr. 2 Independenta / Romania
shared writing of a storybook: OS Kapela / Slovenia
questionnaires for evaluation: Tollose Centralskole / Denmark

Progress

December 2011: publishing the 3rd newsletter

(click picture for download)
6th mobility:
14th - 18th May 2012: project meeting at Morkved skole, Brumunddal, Norway

  
The norwegian pupils presented their school in a well organized warm harted welcome ceremony. They prepared songs, short stories and national traditions.
 
During the workshops in the classrooms we saw for example the practical work of Morkved school within the field of the Early Years Literacy and Numeracy Program.
     
From left to right: Anne-Cathrine (1) and Moyfrid (2) informed us about the schools' pedagogical work and explained the LP model.  At the mayors' office we presented our project to the mayor and the head of administration in the municipality of Ringsaker. (3) Alf and   , (4) major ...)
   
17th of May: pupils explain the history and traditions of the Norwegian National Day (up left).
Pupils, teachers and the Comenius team are participating in the National parade of Ringsaker municipality .

 
 
 
The national teams of the 6th mobility:            Germany         Slovenia
                                                                                    Romania          Denmark

 

   
Dear Norwegian friends, dear Arnstein and collegues! Thank you very much for the great program you prepared for us and for the lovely weather you ordered. We would like to say THANK YOU as well for the delicous food you prepared by yourself and the great service you offered.
 
5th mobility:
25th - 28th March 2012: leaders' meeting at Bled / Slovenia


5th project-meeting was prepared as a leaders' meeting to evaluate the project's progress and to discuss the final report's structures. 

information sign at Hotel Golf, Bled                       the hosts: team Slovenia                                team Romania
      
                          
team Denmark                                                                      team Germany
 
                                                            
team Norway                                                                              leaders' team

The main topics of the 5th mobility at Bled:
- discussing the survey "what we have learned these two years"
- making decisions about the shared writing story
- introduction of the program of the 6th mobility in Norway
- how to work with the final report during the leaders meeting in Romania
- the homepage - how to make it useful for others

   
                                                                     Slovenias beautiful nature in early spring
       
;                      
Bled lake and Bled castle                                                                Bled lake and isle of Bled
   
                     guided tour at Bled castle
   
Slovenian lunch at Postojna                     Arnstein, leading the discussion                                         leaders' team
 
 
 
4th mobility:
26th Sept. - 1st October 2011: project meeting at schools no.2 Independenta, Romania

   

History and culture tour around Bucharest (left); welcome traditions at the schools' entrance with bread and
salt for the guests (centre); speach of the headmasters of school no. 1 and 2, Adrian and Mihaela, at the start
of the opening ceremony (right)
Thanks to both of you and your team - you did a wonderful work!

 
opening ceremony: folkloristic and athletic performances by the pupils
   
children working in their classrooms (left and centre); activities at the school yard (right)
   

visit to the Tudor Vladimirescu Monastery (left); Tavi, giving a workshop on cooperative learning methods (centre), pupils during the break (right)
   
participants of the 4th project meeting (left); team Slovenia (centre); team Germany (right)
   

team Norway (left), team Denmark (centre); project leader Arnstein during the closing session (right)
June 2011: publishing the 2nd newsletter

(click picture for download)
 

3rd mobility:
24th - 28th May 2011: project meeting at Grundschule Baiersdorf, Germany

 
welcome ceremony: performance with the topic "Europe" (left); maths 4th grade: "converting a problem into a mathematical formula" (right)
      
German 4th grade: "activity-orientated introduction of a poem" (left);
German 3rd grade: "self-controlled learning in literacy: silable deviding h" (right)

              
Jürgen Fischer explaining the work of teachers' unions in Germany (left); Dr. Klaus Wild talking about studies and teachers' training at the university in Bavaria (centre left); Christine Durschang explaining the method "reading through writing" (centre right); project leader Arnstein during a common evaluation session (right)

Guided tour through Nürnberg by Sabine Bartsch

Renate Hübschmann, Oliver Dekrell and Astrid Schwarzmann (from left to right) explaining the school's work with pupils with special needs
      
sightseeing-tour to different Franconian places: fortified church of Effeltrich (left) and a little walk to the top of Walberla (right)
 
2nd mobility:
1st - 5th February 2011: project meeting at OS Kapela, Slovenia
   
Comenius workshop decoration at Primary School Kapela (pic 1), Welcome at Hotel Radin (pic 2 and 3)
     
Welcome celebration: Anastazija Avsec, headmistress of Primary School Kapela, introduces her school during a welcoming speech (pic 1). Pupils giving some very nice examples of slovenian traditions and music (pic 2-4).
       
during the workshops all participant got very detailed impressions about the schools' work with literacy and numeracy (pic 1-3).
 
Visit to Radenska bottling company (pic 1) and to Kapela wine cellar (pic 2), including a delicious dinner (pic 3 and 4).
    
Ljubljana: Visit to the Centre oft the Republic of Slovenia for Mobility and European Educational and Training programme (CMEPIUS) and meeting with representatives (Mag. Andreja Lenc, Ursa Bajzelj, Dr. Fani Nolimal) on pic 1 together with Arnstein (leader of our Comenius project) and Anastazija Avsec. Pic 2: break in Ljubljana city centre. Pic 3: participants are watching a three-dimensional film about the history of Ljubljana.
      
The participating guest-teams from Denmark, Germany, Norway and Romania (from left to right).
 
Building of Kapela Primary School (pic 1), the beautiful environment of the school (pic 2) and all the participants of the workshop in Slovenia (pic 3).
        
Tatjana Persa and Andreja Strmsek presenting the schools' work with pupils with special needs (pic 1 and 2). Arnstein giving a final summary of the Comenius workshop in Slovenia (pic 3). We say "Thank you very much!" to the lovely slovenian pupils (pic 4).
"Anastazija
(pic 5), you and your team, you showed to us in so few days so many different and very interesting aspect of Slovenian school, education, learning methods, strategies and culture. The time together with you was marvelous!"
 
 

November 2010: publishing the 1st newsletter

Newsletter_no1rev[1].pdf
(click picture for download)
 
 
1st mobility:
21st - 25th September 2010:  project meeting at Tollose Centalskole, Denmark

Arnstein, coordinator of the project, giving a common introduction to the projects' issues at Tollose school.

[from left to right:] Marianne (headmistress) giving a presentation of Tollose school. Yvonne (deputy headmistress) speaking about the Danish National Curriculum. Thomas explaining IT-based national tests. Hanne and Dorthe giving an introduction in Tollose schools' work with evaluation in litearacy and numeracy.

 Cultural event: Visit at St. Laurentil church, Roskilde Cathedral

Workshops at Tollose school: "How to teach pupils with dyslexia" (pic 1/2) and "Cooperative Learning" (pic 3/4)

"Numeracy skills in grade 5 - assessment in the classroom" (pic 1) and "the Library as a learning center" (pic 2/3/4)
   
Visit to Danmarks Pædagogiske Universitetsskole (DPU). Dean Lars Qvortrup speakiing about The professional teacher (pic 2). Associate Professor Peter Allerup explaining the assessment and evaluation in Denmark with special attention to TIMSS (pic 3).
 
 
Cultural event: guided Canel tour at Copenhagen

Lisbeth Moltzen, member of the Community Board explaining the system of school organization in the communiuty of Holbaek (pic 1). The participants of the first Comenius project meeting in front of Holbaek town hall (pic 2). We say "Thank you very much" to Marianne, Yvonne and the danish teachers for this great first meeting at Holbaek and Tollose. Marianne and Yvonne, you did a great job!!!
 
 
31st January - 4th February 2010:  preparatory visit of the planning staff at Brumunddal / Norway

Sun, 31st January 2010
All of us had been very excited – today the first headmasters meeting of five European schools to prepare “Improving literacy and numeracy skills” in Norway started. Marianne and Yvonne (headmaster and deputy headmaster of Tollose school / Denmark), Mihaela (school nr.2 Independenta / Romania), Anastazija (OS Kapela / Slovenia) and Markus (Grundschule Baiersdorf / Germany) met at Arnsteins home. Arnstein, headmaster of Morkved skole Brumunddal and project coordinator, had prepared a very warm welcome and a delicious dinner. We had great discussions on our expectations and project ideas.

Mon, 1st February 2010
Early in the morning we drove to Morkved skole. All of us were very impressed, when we visited some lessons at school. Arnstein and his teachers presented to us “classroom in action” a special teaching method used at Morkved skole. We could see the schools’ library and visit the department for pupils with special needs. Morkved skole has special training courses for those pupils and tries to integrate them as often as possible in regular classes. After a short break pupils invited us to the gymnastic hall for a show. In the afternoon we had a beautiful trip by car to Harahorn, a very nice traditional Norwegian Hotel, situated in the mountain area.


pictures: planning staff in front of Morkved skole Brumunddal (pic 1), Arnstein in headmasters’ office (pic 2), pupils working on literacy (pic 3/4)

Tue, 2nd February 2010
After breakfast at Harahorn hotel, we had the first workshop on the project program. We discussed and expressed the objectives of our project:
- to improve the schools’ methods for early learners education in literacy and numeracy
- to develop better learning strategies based on good practices
- to improve the schools’ work with assessment in literacy and numeracy education
- to promote intercultural competences and knowledge for pupils and teachers
- to achieve better learning outcomes for the pupils in a longterm perspective
In the afternoon we established the responsibilities of each school during the project period and choose cultural events, that accompany our project aims best. In early evening we took a sleigh ride in the snow.

pictures: Harahorn Hotel (pic 1), dinner at Harahorn Hotel (pic 2), planning staff (pic 3), sleigh ride in the snow (pic 4), ... some of us expected to
see an elk (pic 5)

Wed, 3rd February 2010
In the morning we worked on the application for our “literacy and numeracy” project. We were very lucky, that Alf from Ringsaker Kommune was with us, because he helped us in a very effective and goal-orientated way to find accurate formulations. We discussed the topics of our project meetings and what has to be done between the meetings at local and common level in our schools. Late afternoon we went back to Brumunddal. Some of us were very excited because of the snow flurry on the road, others expected to see an elk (a moose). “Back home” to Brumunddal, we had a final meeting at Rica Hotel to reflect our intensive work we did.

Thu, 4th February 2010
It’s time to say good bye. We went back to our home countries with a lot of impressions and ideas. Everyone is very curious about the first teachers meeting in Denmark in September 2010. “Thank you very much” to Arnstein and Alf for the hospitality and of course for the great preparatory work you did.