A pre-Christmas reading week at Vazrazhdane Secondary School .

A pre-Christmas reading week at Vazrazhdane Secondary School, Ruse, Bulgaria (see more photos in photogallery)

A series of  class activities took place at the primary school just before Christmas. All of them aiming at developing students’ reading skills, higher motivation for reading and performing in public. The Activities were run and monitored by our primary teachers as follows:

17^th December 2013 – “I have already  learnt to count and make calculations with the numbers to 10” – The lesson took place with students from 1^st  graders, students at half-boarding school , classes V and G , under Mrs Rumiana Petrova. Students learnt reading maths problems through fun activities realizing that Mathematics could be fun. They exercised their skills through songs and interesting Christmas characters’ counting problems namely those of the little 7 goats and the wolf as well as the good Santa Claus. First graders could help all of the characters find their solutions.

 18^th December2013 – Recital “Ruse- my hometown” with students from 2^nd V class and Mrs Aynur Chakurova

 
Students had read and learnt by heart poems devoted to our hometown and they recited them. They were shown various articles, books and magazines about Ruse and a presentation on the town animated with some Vivaldi music. They themselves had prepared Posters of their hometown “Ruse in lights”. A couple of students danced a waltz. That inspiring lesson finished with the class singing the song “Rodina” ( My motherland).

20^th December 2013 – Recital “Winter and the Merry winter holidays” – 2^nd graders from 2^nd V class, under Mrs Aynur Chakurova

Children recited winter poems in front of their parents. They showed their parents how they could read in roles, sing songs and dance Latino dances. Parents got proud with their children singing in English, too.

Guests at that open for the public lesson were Mr Georgiev – the school’s headmaster, Mrs Hristova – the school’s deputy Headmistress, Mrs Lozana Uzunova – teacher at the half-board school, parents and grandparents.

20^th December 2013 – “Wintry tale” a students’ spectacle – students from 3^rd D class and their class teacher Mrs Vesela Petkova performed in front of parents and colleagues.

A Muppet show, dramatization, songs and dances on the season’s festivities took place. Children had the chance to perform in public what they had learnt about Bulgarian folk tradition concerning the winter holidays. They acted out traditions such as Koleda and Survaki. Children with special needs were included so as to stimulate their interest in learning and reading and they did well at that open for the public activity.

The script for the show was entirely done by students themselves and monitored by our primary class teacher Mrs Petkova.

20^th December 2013 – Half-boarding school group of students from 3^rd V and G classes under the guidance of Mrs Milena Hristova – A Christmas lesson with students at the half-boarding school group.

Children in national folk costumes, elk and dwarves sang Christmas Carols, solved Christmas mathematic problems, crosswords and wrote Christmas wishes. They recited rhymes about Santa Claus in Bulgarian and English, performed a dramatization of a folk tale and with their work they proved once again that they are eager to take part in the project  Lear to Read and Read to Learn activities.

20^th December 2013 – Christmas and the symbols of Christmas – an extra-class activity with students from the half-boarding school group of 2^nd graders from 2^nd B and C classes and their teacher and supervisor - Mrs Svetlana Veleva. As one can guess songs and rhymes were performed but students also showed their reading skills as they were given the task to read the slides of a Christmas power- point presentation. All students got involved. Teams took part in a competition on the presentation’s content and a parent was helping making the sums of scores.

All students were given Christmas wishes, fortune Christmas scones (with small coins or wishes in the filling) made by Mrs Veleva.