Schooling in Norway

I met with the girl's teachers at school this week and it was eye opening.  The girls are both failing every subject, except English, and are very disruptive in class with their loud outbursts.   haha... They both scored well beyond their age in the British Assessment tests and seem to like their classmates and teachers.  The only request from both teachers was that they raise their hands and contribute more in class.  Someday they will overcome the shyness gene -- just maybe. 

Norwegian schools are quite different in atmosphere from American schools.  The kids are louder and the classes are much less strict.  Annaliese said:  "If kids did what they did today in D and T at home, they would have been sent to the principals. They were running down the hall splashing paint on each other."  I'm told that Birralee International School is more strict than the average Norwegian primary school where the kids call their teachers by first name. Also, public schools get out at a different time everyday and two days a week at 12:30 pm, whereas Birralee gets out at 2:30 pm everyday. 

The curriculum is a bit different here and they seem to foster more creativity and personal expression.  D and T stands for Design and Technology.  Yes, Ikea and the growth of Scandinavian design is not a mere coincidence.   The kids learn how to design from an early age.  Melita's class is working on making scale drawings and how to design an ergnomic kitchen. Annaliese recently built a bridge with paper triangles.  They also have religion class.  Melita's class is currently learning about Hinduism (one girl is Hindu) and Annaliese's class about  Islamism (four kids are Islamic).

Annaliese's favorite subject so far has been social studies when she learned about the Vikings.  She learned such facts as: "Karls or jarls met regularly in a Thing to settle disputes, make laws, and punish crime. All Viking ships had square sails and a steering oar in the back." Annaliese also likes science where they recently built and launched a hot air balloon that burned in flight.  Nice!  There aren't many museums with Viking artifacts here in Trondheim which focus on the later "Christianized" Norway (remember St. Olav and the Stav churches), but maybe we will try to visit some Viking museums in Denmark.  I remember visiting the Vikingeskibsmuseet in Roskilde when I was a girl and enjoyed seeing the old Viking ships.

Melita also likes science and recently finished a science fair project on worms.  "I'm writing this as a victim of wormophobia.  Worms scare me, but my science project is actually interesting.  I'm trying to figure out if the rings on a worm have anything  to do with the length of a worm. "  She  collected data where she actually had to count rings on worms and made a regression plot of length versus rings.  No significance testing on her data though -- maybe next year.  She admits that she could have been more accurate in her counting, but I'm just impressed she touched a worm.

They also have Norwegian classes and learned to say "twenty seven," which is "tjuesyv."  I can't even say it with or without spitting, but Melita's accent is very good.  The kids are mostly trilingual in class with first languages ranging from Indonesian to Russian. 

From recent party at our house with 21 people

They had a Harvest Festival here last month which resembles Thanksgiving.  Melita wrote the following poem, which she read for the school assembly.

Be thankful for the food we eat
Not everyone can afford a treat
Some people live in poverty
because of business robbery.
Even if you're depressed,
you still have the very best.
Be grateful for what you're given
because to some that would make life worth living
On Harvest Day we celebrate
the food and goodness we appreciate.