FINLAND
Finland is a big country but only five million people live in Finland. There are a lot of forests and lakes in Finland.
The president of Finland is a lady. Her name is Tarja Halonen.
Lapland is in northern Finland. There are lots of reindeer in Lapland. Santa Claus lives in Lapland.
Winters in Finland are cold and snowy. You can build snowmen, go downhill or crosscountry skiing or skate. Finland has a very good ice-hockey team. Summers in Finland are warm but short and sometimes rainy.
Helsinki is the biggest city in Finland. Turku, Tampere, Oulu and Jyväskylä are other big cities in Finland.
HELSINKI
Helsinki is in southern Finland. Helsinki is a big and beautiful city. It is the capital of Finland. The population of Helsinki is 562 500.
Helsinki is by the sea. You can come to Helsinki by plane or by boat. We have a zoo called Korkeasaari. It is on an island. Another nice island you can visit is called Suomenlinna. It is an old sea fortress. There is a funfair called Linnanmäki in Helsinki. You can also visit the Olympic stadium. The Olympics were held in Helsinki in 1952. There are also many statues and churches in Helsinki.
(written by classes 5b and 5c)
LAAJASALO
Laajasalo is an island, it’s the biggest island in Helsinki. It ´s about ten square kilometres. 16,000 people live in Laajasalo. Laajasalo is a very good place to live because it is very peaceful. Life in Laajasalo is very comfortable. There are lots of trees in Laajasalo and of course the sea is near us. In winter you can walk or ski around Laajasalo on the ice. We have a new church in Laajasalo, just opposite our school.
OUR SCHOOL
Our school, Laajasalo Primary School, is one of three primary schools in Laajasalo. It was built in the 1970’s. Our school is white and quite big. We also have a big school yard. In our school there are about 370 pupils and 22 teachers. Our headmaster is Liisa Rainio. We don’t wear school uniforms. We have a football team and an ice-hockey team in our school.
SCHOOL LUNCHES
We have a free lunch at school every day. The school lunches are very healthy. We always have bread and salad with our meal and milk or water to drink. Sometimes we have a dessert, for example ice cream. Every now and then we have ’an international food week’ when we taste food from different countries.
(written by class 6a)
