1/23/2011

The Legend of Przemyśl Crest


The people of Przemyśl were waking up. The voices of the guards were coming from the city walls. The door in the gate creaked. This way the serfs and merchants were let in. Over the thatched roof slowly the smoke rose in the air – housewives were cooking breakfast. On the hot stones they baked special cakes called “podpłomyk”. The higher part of the town was separated from the rest by ramparts, finished with an oak logs palisade. A constant vigil was kept from the castle tower and through the wooden tower gate a group of armed riders left the town. They were the prince`s messengers who were setting off to the master of the Wiślanie tribe with an important mission. The Wiślanie lived by the river Wisła. The tribes of the Wiślanie and the Lędzianie lived in friendship for many years. The prince of Lędzianie,  Przemysław sent his people to hand presents to the prince of Wiślanie.
The biggest homestead in the town was the manor house of Przemysław. The huge door to the prince`s seat opened and the prince stood on the doorstep. There was an enormous spear in his hand which he used to hunt the king of the  primeval forest – the bear. Przemysław had a hatchet fastened to his belt and a bow on his back. Armed in this way, the prince set off alone to hunt. He went through the gate of his manor, passing his subordinates who bowed down to greet their master.



Suddenly the sound of branches snapping and strange grunt broke the silence. Przemysław was an experienced hunter so he knelt behind a fallen tree-trunk and waited for an animal. Out from the thicket came a sow with her piglets. Their brown fur was decorated with longitudinal stripes. Przemysław waited patiently for them to pass as he was hunting bear, not a wild boar. Nor did he wish to kill the mother of little piglets.
 The prince set off towards a glade in the wood, where, as wild-bee keepers told, one could find the big bear. For the last few days the animal had been destroying wild beehives and attacking cattle which grazed on the meadows by the forest.
Przemysław hacked  through the thicket of bushes, ferns and woodland debris. Finally he found a glade with an enormous oak. He decided to have a rest under the canopy of the tree. He leaned his spear against the trunk and whilst  he was reaching for a“podpłomyk” in his bag, there, just in front of him appeared a huge bear.


The prince realized that he would not be able to seize the spear and he could only fight with his hatchet. The bear stood up on his hind legs, moving his forelegs angrily and showing his huge claws. He gave a roar and returned to the forest. The surprised prince grabbed his spear and pursued the bear. After a while, he caught up with the animal which seemed unconcerned by the hunter. Przemysław did not  attack the animal, it was against an old tradition to attack from behind. He waited instead for the bear to turn around, but to his surprise the animal was walking on with dignity. The prince realized that the bear wanted him to follow.



Walking in this way, bear and hunter reached the hill. The bear stopped, turned calmly and roared. Przemysław  realized that the king of forests wanted to bid farewell, so the prince bowed as one master to another. They looked at each other in silence – the prince of the Lędzianie tribe and the bear whose dark figure contrasted with the blue sky. After a while the animal went on its way, but Przemysław did not try to catch it. He understood that the meeting was symbolic. He, Przemysław, had to be like a bear – serious to his enemies and caring to his people.
Next day when the prince returned home, he called the town council and commanded his knights to paint a black bear on the blue field depicted on their shields. He ordered the same sign to be displayed above the main gate.
More than a thousand years later, you can still see the flag with the same sign on the tower of Przemyśl castle. Later in Christian times a golden cross was added, but that is a different story.   
 Written by Jacek Błoński                                                 Translation Gosia Łupicka


photo Ben Hiemstra





Wojtek age 10

Sebastian age 10


Gracjan age 10



1/13/2011

Slovenian story in Polish

Anita age 8
We enjoyed reading Slovenian story about "The Cat who Steals the Slippers" and draw some pictures to illustrate it. Here is a Polish version of Slovenian fairy tale and some pictures by pupils age 7 to 9.



Kasia

Oliwia age 8
Vanessa age 9
Patrycja age 7

Bartek age 7




Hubert age 9

Madzia age 8

1/10/2011

The Three Wise Men arrived in Artés




Like every year, on the 5th of January, parents and kids went to the street to welcome the Three Wise Men (the White one, the Brown one and the Black one) who arrived in Artés loaded with thousand of presents and a hundrfed of assistants.
During the night, they went to children's houses to deliver their presents.

1/05/2011

Christmas in Rāmuļi primary school

Before Christmas our children were decorating the school and the Christmas tree in the school courtyard. They made Christmas cards and ornaments. In the Christmas time the whole school looked like in a fairy tale.




Christmas Comenius wall.




Every year our school produces a Christmas story and then one day before Christmas eve we show it to parents. 




In this event school headmistress awards the best students by grades and by other success. And then Santa Claus (Ziemassvētku vecītis) comes to visit us.



We have a Christmas event in our kindergarten too.






In the Christmas eve children with their parents go to church and then return to home where they eat home made meals. Usually then Santa Claus comes and brings presents. 

1/04/2011

Storyteller contest in Latvia

In 11 th November the Storyteller contest took place in Rāmuļi school. 43 students participated. We heard interesting fairytales, stories and anecdotes. The jury had a very hard task to choose the winners, because each story was unreapeatable and special.

In 16th November the winners went to semifinal in Priekuli. 50 students participated in the semifinal, students were from different regions. 6 students got a chance to go to the final in Riga including Jana Eglīte from our school.

In 27th November in the Riga Latvian Society the 14th Storyteller competition happened where young storytellers from the whole Latvia came together. Finalists were judged by intelligent Latvian culture workers and teachers. Thanks to our Jana who honorly represented our school in the Golden Hall of the Riga Latvian Society.



Christmas in Slovenia

Christmas is a very popular holiday in Slovenia, like everywhere in the world. People send Christmas cards to their friends wishing them 'merry Christmas and a happy new Year'. We decorate Christmas trees and sing Christmas carols. Some people put nativity scene under the Christmas tree.
Father Christmas brings presents to good children. He usually comes at night. It is said that he climbs down the chimney and leaves his presents under the Christmas tree.
Christmas time brings also a pleasant atmosphere in our homes. Everything smells of good food and the whole family gets together. A lot of people go to midnight mass, called " Polnočnice" in Slovene.
 It usually snows here these days and because of it Christmas is even more beautiful. This year we weren't so lucky.

December in OŠ Gustava Šiliha Laporje



December is a busy time in our school and a lot is going on. There is a  Christmas fair, we have a Christmas lottery, a dance, children decorate a Christmas tree, Santa Claus comes to visit us, pupils make Christmas cards, ornaments etc. On the last day of school older pupils visit younger ones and children in kindergarten an they teach them something that they know. They get Christmas presents, usually a book and some sweets.



Our school Christmas tree, decorated with ornaments made by our pupils




This is our Christmas Comenius wall full of cards that you sent us. The pupils loved them! And the teachers too off course!

POTICA

What is potica? It is our national holliday pastry. It is quite difficult to make it, but it is worth the hard work.



Here is a recipe:

Walnut/Orehova Potica

Mix
1 Tablespoon dry active yeast 
1/4 Cup warm milk   ----------- Set aside untill it becomes "foamy"
1 Teaspoon sugar   ------------- That activates the yeast

Mixing the dough
1/4 Cup Butter*                    
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Sour Cream
3 Egg yolks
4 Cups All-purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Salt
8 ounces Evaporated Milk
the Yeast mixture from above

Filling
1/2 Cup Honey                       
1/4 Cup Butter*                    
1/2 Cup Milk
  2  Cups Granulated Sugar**

Heat untill everything is melted, Then just keep warm and add the other ingredients.***

1 Pound ground Walnuts
1/2 Lemon Rind, grated
3 Egg Whites, Whipped****
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

* The Butter can be replaced with ether margarine or Shortning.
** mixing spices with the sugar will keep them from clumping in the filling. I like to add some Cinnamon and Nutmeg (even Cocoa) to Taste.
*** Not cooking to make a thick syrup, just to incorperate.
**** Every reciepe I've seen called for Whipped Egg Whites, They are whipped because if you put straight Egg White in hot filling they would cook and you would have strings of egg white. But I really don't see a flavor or texture reason to have them, I've left them out and was pleased with the result, I do it because it is tradition.


Roll up as for a jelly roll and place in a loave or "Bunte" Pans and set in a warm envionment covered
till it rises twice  in size. bake for 1 hour at 340 F . When out of the oven brush with salad oil.

Another tip, nut filled filling can tear the dough when spreading, If you don't have alot of practice spreading, mix in only half of the nuts in the filling, spread, and then sprinkle the rest of the nuts on the dough. You need to put some nuts in before because you need to cool it some before it touchs the dough.

THANK YOU Tina for adding yummy Slovenian cake to our blog :-) We hope to try it while in Laporje.
I just found a video how to make it so I am adding it to make the whole story more vivid. I might try it myself.
http://www.dailymotion.pl/video/x5r0re_how-to-make-potica_lifestyle

Okusno! Smacznego! Bon Appetit!
Gosia

THE CAT WHO STEALS SLIPPERS



THE CAT WHO STEALS SLIPPERS


This is a story from a famous Slovenian writer of children books Ela Peroci. The  story was first published in 1957, but it is stil up to date! It is a story from my childhood, but still very popular today. I thought it might be interesting to your pupils too. Enjoy!

1/02/2011

Presenting our partner countries

During the Christmas festival, the Catalan school presented our Comenius Partner Countries to our pupils' parents.
Each country was presented by children carrying the name of the country, their flag and some objects wich identify each country:


                        
 
 In Poland we can find bears in Przemysl's mountains...
 
Flowers are beautiful in Holland...

Latvia is where the first Christmas Tree was decorated...

Slovenia has plenty of mountains to practise skiing...
                                                                 

There are many wineyards in Portugal...
                  
and... Catalonia did show its traditional costume to the rest of Europe.
            

 A professional actress did a good performance of the Countries' show


Happy New year !


At Dr Ferrer school, in Catalonia, we displayed all the Christmas material in our Hall Comenius corner.

1/01/2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

"Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have a vision now and then
Of a world where every neighbour is a friend
Happy new year
Happy new year..."


( ABBA song)

HAPPY NEW YEAR to our dear Comenius Friends and all visitors who are always kindly welcome to our blog.
Today 1st January 2011 we had 1,091 visitors altogether and they came from:
USA, UK, Canada, Germany, Norway, Australia, Belgium, Hungary, Lithuania, Russia, Finland, Ireland, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, Taiwan, Czech Rep, India, Ukraine, Singapore, France, New Zealand, Brazil, Philippines, Turkey, Slovakia, Estonia, Mexico, Romania, Chile, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Thailand, Malaysia, Switzerland, Aruba, Greece, Cambodia, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Qatar, Macedonia, Bangladesh, Japan and Pakistan. Lovely to see you all !
Our pupils have great Geography lesson by looking at the flag counter and map :-)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!