Our Comenius project At Buchloe primary School we think it is very important to see Europe not only as a collection of countries under the responsibility of the politicians in the different capitals and in Brussels. Many of our teachers believe that Europe is evolved through the sometimes dreadful history and the spirit of Christianity and antiquity. We think it is very important to come to a better understanding in young and elder people all over Europe. “Only what we know and understand can we also love.” This is the message of the poet Antoine de St. Exupéry and his little prince. So we are very proud to be part of the Comenius project. It gives us the chance to know how children and adults in other countries live, to learn about the culture and the tradition, and how pupils live and work at school.
We were very happy to welcome 22 teachers for our first project meeting from England, Poland, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Greece, Turkey and Romania. Especially happy we were to have 8 children from Poland and Finland in our school and in our families.
The weekend we visited nearby cities well known also in the world.
Augsburg with the town hall and the “Christkindl” market and the visit of the Fuggerei was interested for German hosts and European visitors.
The weather was nice, cold but not snowy. So we went to Füssen and Schwangau to visit the castle of Neuschwanstein and the medieval town of Füssen.
It was great to have them at school for the rest of the week. It was at a very special time of year. The time before Christmas, Advent is a very important time for us at school. You can see stars everywhere. Stars are a symbol for Christmas, redemption, peace and Christianity. There are also twelve stars on the European flag, representing unity, peace and variety of nations. So every school was represented by a star.
Advent calendars were our welcome presents for every guest and also very typical for the area we live, called Suabia.A minister together with his wife made the first advent calendar in 1851 for their son and the children of the parish. The minister`s wife sewed 24 “Wibele”, these are little biscuits on a piece of cardboard. This was the first Advent calendar. Since then the Advent calendar became more and more important. Today one can be found in almost every home and every classroom in Primary schools.
The 6th of December St. Nicolas was coming in our school. In all the other years St. Nicolas visited only the first grades but this year we had a big assembly in our hall together with all the European teachers and pupils. Children were singing and saying poems.
Baking biscuits is a Bavarian tradition. We do it in many classrooms and families. The children at school know a funny song what happened while baking biscuits. Weihnachtsbäckerei
In all the other mornings children and teachers were at school and finding out how school is organised in Buchloe.
Lehrerzimmer
In the afternoons and the evenings our teachers planned the seven wonders project and tried to put work on the common website: sevenschoolwonders.org
Our guests visited the town of Buchloe, the Turkish mosque and the Catholic Church and had a warm welcome with our mayor in the town hall.
One afternoon we showed the capital of Bavaria, München or Munich in English to our guests.
Christkindlmarkt München
It was very interesting during this week because the European teachers and pupils had the possibility to learn about people in Bavaria and their tradition and how they live.
We all look forward to the next visit where many of us can meet again.