Salt Dough Christmas Decorations - Thornfield House School, Belfast Northern Ireland

Taking inspiration from out trip to Varazdin, Croatia and the Art training we did, Alexis though her class could have some Christmas fun to remember.  Unfortunately  Air-clay had dried out.  So! They had a Salt Dough Recipe that they used instead.

 

Christmas bakery in Friedrich-Elvers-Schule - Heide, Germany

 

Galway Christmas Market - St Joseph's Special School, Galway, Ireland

The Christmas Markets in Galway are relatively new having only started in the last 10 years. In that time they have grown in popularity with people from all over Ireland coming to visit. Here Senior 6 visit the markets to have hot chocolate and a ride on the Carousel. Check out the youtube video below to see what the markets are like after dark.

Galway Mince pies - St Joseph's Special School, Galway, Ireland

Kayleigh and Senior 6 made mince pies this week. These are traditionally served warm with cream or brandy cream.

Ingredients

For the pastry

175g plain flour

75g cold butter, cubed

25g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting

1 free-range egg, beaten

For the filling

250g good-quality ready-made mincemeat

(or see homemade recipe attached)

Emer makes Christmas Cake with Junior 5- St Joseph's Special School, Galway, Ireland

 

Christmas Cake is usually made a few months out to allow the cake to mature and the flavour intensify.

Ingredients:

• 375g Dried Fruit Mix

• 280g Plain Flour

• 100g Ground Almonds

• 1 tsb Mixed Spice

• 1 tsp Cinnamon

• 150ml of Brandy + extra for maturing

• Zest of 2 Lemons

• 100g Nibbed Almonds

• 225g Butter or Margarine

• 225g Soft Dark Brown Sugar

• 5 Large Eggs

 How to Make Christmas Cake

1. Soak the fruit mix in brandy overnight.

2. Stir the nibbed almonds into the mix.

3. Mix the flour, ground almonds, mixed spice, cinnamon and lemon zest together. Add to the fruit mix and stir.

4. Cream the butter and sugar togehter until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in the eggs.

5. Preheat your oven to 150°C / Gas Mark 2.

6. Add the butter / sugar /eggs into the fruit mix and then stir until fully combined. Turn into a lined 9" cake tin and flatten the top. If using a fan oven, tent the cake with foil. Bake for 2 1/2 - 3 hours or until a skewer comes out clean.

7. Cool in the tin overnight.

8. To store the cake, wrap it in greaseproof paper and then in tin foil and place back into the tin.

9. Every fortnight, spoon 2-3 tsp of brandy over the cake to mature it until a week or so out from Christmas, when you will cover with almond paste and royal icing.

December activities in Tomislav Špoljar school, Varaždin, Croatia

Every year, students mark International Day of Disabled Persons by going to the cinema. The same happened this year as well. The students saw one of three different movies, depending on their age.

In anticipation of the holidays, the students decorated the school and are now enjoying the holiday spirit.

At north west part of Croatia, the traditional Christmas meal is turkey with mlinci (traditional homemade pasta). Watch how the oldest students of the Centre prepared it.

SCHOOL CHRISTMAS MARKET - Primary school dr. Ljudevita Pivka Ptuj, Slovenia

Today's Christmas time in many Slovenian schools is still dedicated to writing and sending greeting cards, decorating the school space and  the Christmas tree.

An important role is played by children, who, with the help of teachers, diligently make greeting cards, school decorations and hang ornaments on trees.

Our students traditionally make various Christmas and New Year decorations, which they then offer to the people of Ptuj at the school stand. The voluntary contributions that are collected are used for school activities.

In the attached video, you can see what all our students did and what products were created in the end.

Dear  partners, You will also receive our Christmas cards,

WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

Y7 Apple Crumble through the Vikings - Thornfield House School, Belfast Northern Ireland

This is the easiest apple crumble recipe and an all-time favourite quick and easy dessert.

Ingredients: 

For the crumble

-       300g/10½oz plain flour, sieved pinch of salt

-       175g/6oz brown sugar

-       200g/7oz unsalted butter at room  temperature, cubed, plus a little for  greasing

 

For the filling

-       450g/1lb apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1cm/½in pieces

-       50g/2oz brown sugar

 

Christmas Holidays in Slovenia: Habits, Customs, and Events- Ljudevita Pivka Ptuj, Slovenia

Christmas is a Time for Family

Sveti večer: Christmas Eve

Christmas is  the special time of the year when the whole family gathers together.  In general, Slovenians tend to stay at home on the Christmas Eve. The Christmas tree will receive its first decoration if the family has not added the decor just yet.

                                      

  Like most European countries, most families and friends celebrate the 24th together with a special meal. Depending on the family, they will have some mulled wine as the beverage of choice. For the dishes, several types of meat and pastries will be available.

Roast meats like turkey is a staple food, including pastries like POTICA AND CHRISTMAS FRUIT BREAD OR BOŽIČNI KRUH. Božični kruh comes from the stollen or the Weihnachtsstollen from German traditions.

Traditional Christmas dinner

A  modern Christmas menu

During this time, families will have several activities, depending on how modern they are. Olden families usually attend a midnight mass and then will sleep off after the event.

They usually visit their family and friends during the day.  They would also bring each other presents and enjoy the special holiday delights.

A modern tradition has also evolved.  Nowadays, Slovenians tend to go for a walk around nature on the Christmas day.  It’s great to be free from the technological burdens of the daily life for at least a day.

The period around Christmas is a time for us to reflect on the past year and to be surrounded with people we love.  It is also the time to leave everything bad and negative behind, and to focus on a new start. 

Učenci in učitelji OŠ dr. Ljudevita Pivka Ptuj vam želimo

VESEL BOŽIČ in SREČNO NOVO LETO.

 Pupils and teachers of the primary school dr.  Ljudevita Pivka Ptuj  wish you a 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

without masks just for photography

 

 

 

Let's make a traditional Slovenian Christmas cake - Potica, OŠ dr. Ljudevita Pivka Ptuj, Slovenia

 Walnut cake - POTICA

One of the biggest Slovenian Christmas traditions is the baking of  POTICA. 

Slovenian potica consists of a rolled pastry made of leavened paper-thin dough filled with any of a great variety of fillings, but most often with walnut filling.

The most characteristic Slovenian poticas are made with ground walnut, tarragon, quark, hazelnut, pumpkin seed or poppy seed. It is a festive pastry and could be baked in two ways: in the oven or directly on the hearth, but original Slovenska potica is a ring-shaped pastry, baked always in the special shaped potica baking mould (ceramic, glass or tin one), called potičnik, which has a conical protrusion in the middle.

Potičnik 

                                                                                    Potica

 

 Potica made by our  students

Ingridients

Dough:

• 1kg of smooth flour

• 450 ml of milk

• 100g of butter

• 100g of sugar

• 2 egg yolks

• A pinch of salt

• lemon peel

• 1 cube of yeast

Stuffing:

• 1 kg of ground walnuts

• 450 ml of milk

• 350 g of sugar

• 3 tablespoons honey

• 100 g of melted butter

• 2 proteins (egg white)

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• lemon peel 

The process of preparing the dough

1. Pour the flour into a bowl and add salt. Make a small hole in the flour in which you grind the yeast and add a little lukewarm milk, add a teaspoon of sugar. Stir and let the yeast rise. About 10 minutes.

2. Separate the yolks from the whites. Mix the yolks with the sugar. Add butter, lukewarm milk and grated lemon zest.

3. Add the resulting mixture to the yeast flour. Mix everything well and knead into a dough. Let rise for about 40 minutes.

The process of preparing the filling

1. Add sugar to the egg whites and beat them in the snow.

2. Pour the walnuts into a large bowl and pour boiling milk over them. Add melted butter, honey and cinnamon. Grate the lemon zest and add it to the mixture.

3. Mix everything well, add snow and mix lightly.

Assembling the incentive

1. Divide the dough into two parts. First roll out one and then the other half of the dough to a thickness of 4 mm. Coat the rolled dough with half of the filling.

2. Wrap the potica and place it in a baking dish lined with baking paper or coated with butter and sprinkled with flour. Pierce the rolled potica. Then rise covered for about 30 minutes.

3. Coat the potica with beaten egg. Place the pan in a preheated oven. Bake at 180 ° C for about 40 minutes until golden brown.

4. Turn the baked potica on a wooden base, cover it and leave it to cool.

We invite you to try to  bake a potica together with your students. In the attached video you can see how our students baked potica just for you during the household lessons.

We look forward to seeing your products.

                         students baked potica                  

Thornfield's Christmas dinner- Belfast, North Ireland- UK

 

In the UK many people  vary their starters and pudding.  We usually have turkey, sausages, roast potatoes, creamed potatoes, brussel sprouts or peas, glazed carrots and parsnips, gravy and cranberry sauce. 

There is  the menu for our school dinner  which our pupils will eat on the 8th December 2021.

CHRISTMAS BAKERY - Schulzentrum Quellenstraße, Vienna, Austria

 

UROMAS VANILLA KIPFERL

Ingredients

250 g    flour

210 g    butter

100 g    almond(s), ground

80 g       sugar

2 pck.    vanilla sugar

1 pck.    icing sugar, for turning

2 pck.    vanilla sugar, for turning     

 

Preparation

Knead the ingredients for the dough well together. Then place wrapped in foil in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, sieve the icing sugar into a large, closable bowl and mix with two packets of vanilla sugar. The closable bowl is so important because you may be able to reuse leftovers for the next serving of vanilla kipferl.

Form the kipferlteig into rolls with an approximate diameter of 4 cm. Then cut into slices about 1 - 2 cm thick. Form the Kipferl from these slices and do not place them too close to each other on a tray covered with baking paper. Bake in a convection oven at 175 °C for about 10-15 minutes. When the kipferl begin to tan, they are good.

Let the Kipferl cool for about 3 minutes. Then place in the prepared icing sugar mixture and turn from all sides in it. If they are still too warm now, they break very easily; if they are too cold, the icing sugar no longer adheres well. It is best to try again and again whether they are already firm enough.

 

NUT-NOUGAT-CHRISTMASTREE

Preparation:

Turn on the oven to 180 degrees. Put one puff pastry on your

countertop und coat it with the nut-nougat-cream. Now you

can put on the second puff pastry on top. Cut it like a christmas

tree und roll in the ends of the tree (like in the picture). Put on

some egg yolk with a pastry brush and then put it into the oven

for about 15 minutes.

At the end you can sprinkle some powdered sugar on the tree.

Ready!

Ingredients:

- 2 pieces of puff pastry

- Nut-Nougat-Cream

- powdered sugar

- egg yolk

SHORTCRUST COOKIES

Put the sugar, the vanilla sugar and the butter into a bowl. Now

you have to put the egg, the flour and the salt to the other

ingredients in the bowl and model a fine dough with your hands.

If you are ready put the dough in a bowl and than into the

refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

After that you can spread some flour onto you countertop and

model the dough once again.

With a rolling pin you roll out the dough and with different

cookie cutters you can now cut out some christmas figures. Put

the cookies on a baking sheet and after that into the oven for

about 10 to 15 minutes with 180 degrees.

Ready!

Ingredients:

- 100 gram sugar

- 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar

- 200 gram butter

- 300 gram flour

- 1 egg

- 1 pinch of salt

ADVENT CAMENDAR - Schulzentrum Quellenstraße, Vienna, Austria

Advent calendar

On short, dark days in Advent, the best way to wait for the Christ Child is with an Advent calendar.

 Whether among children or adults, the Advent calendar finds many friends every year. Advent calendars are now firmly one of the most popular customs in the Advent season. They are real classics in the run-up to Christmas. Advent calendars filled with delicious chocolate, small gifts or great toys are the big hit from 1 to 24 December. Advent calendars are among the younger customs of the Advent season

 It's a bit like counting the clock down to the big moment, like a countdown. And quite a few think that this has always been the case. But the history of the Advent calendar is shorter than you think. The tradition of the Christmas calendar, as some call it alternatively, did not emerge until about the middle of the 19th century in Germany. However, its origin cannot be assigned to an exact person.

Today, the Advent calendar is part of the Christmas season as well as St. Nicholas, Christkind and Christmas tree. With every window or door that people open day after day to enjoy the treats, photos or sayings hidden behind them, the anticipation of Christmas, of the arrival of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ and, for children, above all of the presents, of course, increases.

Earthquake investigation of Year9/10 class - Thornfield House School, Belfast Northern Ireland

9/10 class have been learning about Volcanoes and Earthquakes.  We carried out our own experiment in class as well as checking out some Youtube videos for kids on Earthquakes.

The English 5th November - Thornfield House School, Belfast Northern Ireland

 Whilst most of the Celtic countries (Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) in the UK celebrate Halloween, either as the Winter Festival and have bonfires or All Saints Day Eve, a Christian reminder of the faithful who have died.

England have always celebrated the 5^th of November.

This is a reminder of Guy Fawkes who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London, when James I, his son and all the protestant leaders of the time would be there to open Parliament.  He was discovered and killed for treason.  James I decreed that the 5^th November should always be remembered.

This was after the reformation when Protesters broke away from the Catholic Church.  They were called Protestants.  There was a Holy war between the Protestants and Catholics it was in the Middle Ages and both sides thought they were doing God’s work!

In England, they used to make up a dummy guy and pull him round the houses with a request not for treats, but a Penny for the Guy.  The Guy was then burnt of the bonfires on the 5^th of November.

Here are videos  to the story and the song.

             story

       The song

      ( klik on the link)

KS3 Maths Investigation - Thornfield House School, Belfast Northern Ireland

The pupils in our KS3 department, aged 11-14 years, completed a maths investigation using a large Halloween skull.  He represented the myth (story) of how the Giants Causeway was built thousands of years ago.

 The first part of the investigation involved them in deciding what resources they would need to measure the Giant skull and their height. 

Then then did the measuring in pairs independently.We found that the Giants skull was just over 2 times the mean size of the pupils' skulls.  We then found the mean height for our pupils.  We used this to estimate of the giants head being twice as big as ours to double our height to estimate the height of the Giant.

The teacher modelled how to work out the Mean, Mode, Median and Range for the second worksheet.

1st LTTA activity in Centar za odgoj i obrazovanje Tomislav Špoljar Varaždin, Croatia

Activity report - Mobility to Varaždin, Croatia

 

Centar za odgoj i obrazovanje Tomislav Špoljar

Croatia, Varaždin

18th - 22nd of October 2021.

Centre for upbringing and education Tomislav Špoljar hosted the first visit of partner schools representatives.

Day 1

 18. 10. 2021. MONDAY 

Partners meeting

At the first meeting the school principal introduced the school and it’s programmes followed by a partners meeting.

We agreed on data for the following exchange visits:

N. Ireland:  31.1. - 4. 2. 2022.

Germany:  16. 5. - 20. 5. 2022.

Austria:      3. 10. - 7. 10. 2022.

Slovenia:   20. 3. - 24. 3. 2023.

Ireland: 22.6.- 26.6.2023

          Zoom meetings schedule between meetings will be every first Wednesday of the month at 1.00 pm London time preferably not more than two people from each school, but more is fine when necessary.

          Communication between meetings is through a WhatsApp group which is very active.

Impressions:

          Participants are satisfied with what they have seen in school and with work conditions. They are glad to finally meet face to face.

Day 2

19. 10. 2021. TUESDAY

 - Partners meeting:

- Agreements about the tasks for every visit: the hosting partner will send an agenda one week before the start, write a summary of visits within two weeks and upload information on the blog. The report is to be sent to every coordinator who can modify the report before sending it to their Agency.

For the next ZOOM meeting (1.12.2021 at 1.pm London time)  we will exchange Christmass traditions from every country - recipes, songs, food, Christmass fair. We can make a video preparing food with students and share the recipe. Deadline is 6.12.

 - Regular primary school with students with disabilities

  Visit to a regular primary school with the largest number of students in integration in regular classes with adapted programmes. The visit was without physical contact with the students. The guests got to know the specific way of working with students with disabilities by talking with the teachers who shared their experience. Teachers lacked the competences at the beginning and had a big support from Centar Tomislav Špoljar. Nowadays they are more confident in their work although with some problems. The discussion afterwards was about experience working with students with disabilities, parents and assistants.

In the afternoon the participants had a guided tour in the town centre.

Day 3

20. 10. 2021. WEDNESDAY

- Participating in occupational therapy for almost grown-up students

          In three groups participants joined our students in making pastry, learning how to play traditional music and making ceramic Christmas decorations. Students were in secondary school classes learning to be cook assistants (15-18 years) and basic skills programme students (14-21 years).

The participants noted that they enjoyed the classes and got ideas for new activities with their own students.

          In the afternoon we visited the old castle museum in Varaždin with a guided tour and stories about Varaždin's past.

          Evening was for the traditional food restaurant and customs of the area regarding winemaking.

Day 4

21. 10. 2021.THURSDAY 

- Classroom visits

- Participants spent three hours monitoring the classroom activities in three different programmes - basic skills, occupational group and adapted programme class.

The reactions were positive, especially the atmosphere which was described as relaxed, positive, students are cheerful talking with guests and trying to make contact. Guests were surprised with the fact that students have tablets and teachers laptops and were impressed about the digital literacy of the students.

-  In the afternoon we visited Zagreb, the capital of Croatia and its museums.

Day 5

22. 10. 2021 FRIDAY

- ZOOM meeting between students

- Students from schools in Ireland, Germany and Croatia participated in a meeting where they saw each other's classroom, tried to talk with each other and said their names. Together they sang a song and played ¨Simon says¨

CONCLUSIONS:

- All the partners were pleased with mobility face to face. During the first visit, we achieved goals we set and all the activities took place as planned, despite COVID. A group cohesion was created which will enable implementation of experiences in our work, but it also helps the relationships within schools. There were already agreements about cooperation between schools aside from the project.

Partners expressed satisfaction about the organisation of this week and about experience they gained on working with almost grown up students with intellectual disabilities and possibilities of their inclusion in the community.