Three Rivers is a twinning project between three European primary schools from different parts of the continent. It is a meeting between the schools of CEIP Federico Romero from La Solana in Spain, Comprehensive school Valery Petrov from Pleven in Bulgaria and Utra school from Joensuu in Finland. The students investigate and explore the rivers they live nearby. The rivers ; Guadiana in Spain, Tuchenitsa in Bulgaria and Pielisjoki in Finland are connected to each other through these students and teachers. The project includes a variety of perspectives where scientific approach meets artistic views. The students and teachers stay in contact with each other during the project through the online platforms; they make blog postings, online exhibitions, meet in chats or videomeets and learn to use information technology throughout the project. The project is hosted by Environment Online -ENO programme and is part of the Sustainable Development via Co-creation project, which is funded by the Central Finland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment.
PROJECT DIARIES
Utra school, Joensuu (Finland)
Valery Patrov, Pleven (Bulgaria)
CEIP Federico Romero, La Solana (Spain)
Project diary of
Utra primary school (Joensuu, Finland)
15 Aug 2022 Sailboats woodcarvings
Utra primary school students started with wood carvings by making sailboats.
We started the sailboat project by thinking about how goods and people have been and are being transported to different places along the River Pielisjoki. Pielisjokis water flows through the lake Pyhäselkä and the lake Saimaa to the Gulf of Finland and from there to the oceans. In this way, we can think of the waters around the world ending up finally in a big common ocean.
We looked at pictures of sailboats. We think about the names of the details of the boat (hull, cabin, mast, keel, deck, etc.). I, as a teacher, showed pictures of boats made by children. Each child designed a boat by drawing on paper. You could also give the boat a name.
Based on the plans, we started making small boats out of wood. We practiced measuring and marking. The shape of the bow was sawn into the boats according to the plans. For the cabin, we chose suitable pieces of the frame.
The sail was decorated with a real plant leaf. We put a leaf under the canvas and tapped a small stone on top of the canvas and thus the green color transferred to the canvas.
Next:
We mark the places of the railing posts and nail them to the hull of the boat. Then we attach the cabin to the frame and drill a hole for the mast in the boat. Then we saw the mast.
We sew the necessary stitches for the sail. Even before attaching the sail, students can paint the boat. Finally, we put the railing cords.
26 Aug 2022 Beach visit -life under the water and beach cleaning
We Utra primary school 2 graders visited the beach to clean it up from the trash and explore life under water. The result: Luckily there was not much garbage on the beach. We also played the litter-bingo. With the nets we found a lot of water bugs.
Next:
We will investigate the quality of riverwater by using Earth Echo World Water Challenge kits.
1 Sep 2022: The water quality and opening our senses
With the ENO Environment Online environmental educator we spent the day in Utra islands. Utra islands are a beautiful outdoor recreation area nearby our school. We investigated the water quality with simple measurement tools using Earth Echo World Water Challenge kit: temperature, turbidity, Ph and dissolved oxygen values were solved. The Result: water quality is good and good for life under water and suitable for waterbugs, fishes and plants. We also made a silent walk to work on our 5 senses: vision, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. Through our walk we had small tasks with small groups to deal with senses. In the end we ate lunch at the campfire.
29 Sep 2022 The river scenery
We have studied the animals and organisms found by the river and made small presentations about them. Recently we have drawn fishes from the model. The drawings succeeded wonderfully and rewarded their creators! The idea was to use the picture as a pattern to make a stitched fish. We have been watching episodes of Stories from the lakes that have been extremely interesting.
Next:
We will start making drama with the characters based on our mother language book stories and characters.
14.10.2022 River dramas
27.10.2022 Sailboats are ready!
The wooden sailboat studnets were preparing are now ready.
Next:
We’re gonna flow the sailboats on the river
7.11 Sailboat floating on the River Pielisjoki
We made a short video of floating the boats by the river with sensitive message and students thoughts about the river.
8 Nov 2022: The visit to the restored Laurinvirta rapid
Read the article from here
23 Nov 2022 Dambusters – European documentary movie
WWF Finland organized a movie event in Joensuu and Helsinki. ENO invited the teachers to follow it since the movie also happened in Finland, Spain and Eastern Europe.
“Who are the most inspiring individuals working tirelessly to restore rivers in Europe? We call them the “DamBusters”. Pao Fernández Garrido from the Dam Removal Europe coalition is on a mission: to see their work at their local rivers and share these exciting stories to inspire more river restorations.
The film #DamBusters follows Pao’s journey through native Spain, France -the European cradle of river barrier removals-, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland. The most iconic river freeing cases so far, ready to impress you.”
To be updated soon!
Project diary of
Comprehensive school Valery Petrov (Pleven, Bulgaria)
23 Sep 2022 Pictures of the Tuchenitsa river:
To be updated soon!
Project diary of
CEIP Federico Romero (La Solana, Spain)
Images of river Guadiana
22 Sep 2022 Rivers in Art
Rivers can also be explored and studied through art and paintings. How famous painters have pictured the river landscapes and why? Look for example El Gregos View of the Toledo (Vista de Toledo) painting. Read more about the painting:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436575
13.11.2022 Visiting Ruidera Natural Park & River Guadiana
The 3rd and 4th graders travelled to Ruidera Natural Park the 2nd of November 2022. Ruidera is the place where river Guadiana starts.
To be updated soon!
This school project is done in the Sustainable Development via Co-creation project, which is funded by the Central Finland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment.