Halloween

Scary monsters wandering on the hallways… You can feel the horror every place you go…

Yes, the scariest time of the year was here again! I mean Halloween, of course. It arrived to our school on the last day of October. You could even see it on the walls. Bats, spiders and pumpkins adorned the walls and I saw a skeleton in the canteen. The whole day was truly fun! In the first two lessons we were hardworking students like all high school pupils are.  After that the fun began! We all went to the gym hall. There was music playing and they offered juice. Everybody was in a good mood.

 

Like last year, we had the sports day and Halloween put together. This year the sports were volleyball and floorball.

   At first, it was time to play volleyball. On another field played 1A, 2A and 3A against each other and 3A won. 1B, 2B and 3B played on another field. Although the games were really intense and everybody played well, eventually 3B won.

   So in the final there were the third graders playing against each other. It was a rough game. The teams were very equal but after a tough final 3B won the tournament.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  After the volleyball tournament it was time to play floorball. The teams were the first class, the second class and the third class. The games were equal and tough. The first and the third classes made their way to the final. Many  thought that the first graders would win because they had beaten the third class in the first round overwhelmingly. But it didn’t happen again. The third graders gathered up themselves and won the tournament.

 

 The day was fun and the tournaments weren’t too serious. The games were fun to watch and there were fun and cheerful vibes. After  the tournaments it was  time to clean the gym hall and go home.

One of the main things in Halloween is the costumes (or at least I think so). And boy there were really many great outfits in our school this year! I’m not sure if it’s just my point of view, but I think that in the junior high  school the pupils don’t really put an effort on their costumes if they even are wearing anything special. Maybe they feel that it’s stupid and so uncool. But that’s not how it is in the senior high school! You can really see that these students have put a thought on their costumes. I don’t even understand how can they get such amazing ideas for their costumes but they really are fine for sure!

I have always thought that in Halloween you are supposed to look really scary but I don’t think so anymore! There were great non-scary costumes like the SpongeBob SquarePants and a smurf. They looked really cute and even though they weren’t scary they fitted in just fine among all the zombies that I saw.

Every class had their own color code which you could notice in their outfits. The first graders wore green, second graders had red and the seniors were wearing blue.

So this is what Halloween looks like in F. E. Sillanpää’s high school. I hope that it will be as fun next year!

Written By Johanna and Sara 1B

Graduation day

                            Congratulations to our new graduates, Essi H. and Essi K.!
                              (Photo by Kirsi Kankaanranta.)

Our German guests

Last week 6th October to 10th October some German students visited our high school. They came from Germany from Torgau, where we have our friendship school. The German students stayed that week in host families. Most of the senior high school German readers and some of the junior high school German readers the were hosts. We senior high school German readers had a similar trip to Germany last spring and we also stayed there in host families. Now it was the Germans' turn to travel and speak a new language and our time to be the hosts. It was also our time to use our language skills in both German and English and maybe learn some more and also teach some Finnish for the Germans.

               On Monday we left for Helsinki to fetch the Germans from the airport. After that we made a little sightseeing tour in Helsinki. We visited for example the Sibelius monument, Helsinki Cathedral, Helsinki´s market hall, the port and the Temppeliaukio church. After sightseeing we headed back to Hämeenkyrö and the Germans were divided in their own host families.

On Tuesday morning our school's headmaster gave a little welcoming speech and showed our school to the Germans. After that we had a little coffee moment in our school canteen. The Germans weren´t so excited about salty liquorice but Finnish chocolate they liked. Then we Finns had a normal school day, but the Germans made a little sightseeing tour in Hämeenkyrö. They visited inter alia Maisemakahvila, Timi´s pine and Mannanmäki.   

On Wednesday we were in the school for just a couple of lessons and then we left for Tampere. It was a bit rainy weather, but that didn´t disturb us much. We went to Tampere´s art museum to watch the Moominvalley. There we saw some Tove Jansson´s drawings and Moomin books and the miniature of the Moominhouse. After the museum we visited Tampere´s library Metso quickly and then we headed to the center. Then we visited the factory Finlayson area and we went there in the museum too. The rest of the day we had some free time in Tampere and the Germans could for example do some shopping there.

On Thursday the Germans were just in our school and visited different lessons. Thursday was their last day in Finland, so we had a little social evening in Särkijärvi. We ate there and the Germans had an opportunity to try the sauna and swimming. Those who didn´t come to the sauna, played some ball games outside. We had a very nice evening there. The Germans were excited to try the sauna and thought it was nice. The swimming they liked too, even though they thought that the water was very cold.

On Friday morning we needed to say goodbye to our German guests.  But before our guests left for the airport we took a group picture in front of the F.E Sillanpää statue. Then there was some hugging and thanking and then they had to leave back for Germany. I hope our guests had a nice week here and that they could someday travel back to Finland to see even more.





written by Miranda 2B

This year´s welcoming party for the first graders

On Friday 5^th of September we had our usual welcoming party for the first graders (=Nahkiaiset) in our Upper secondary school. We, the second graders, had the honor to organize a lovely day for our first graders.  So we look back to the day when we were still first graders and had this same welcoming party. We wanted this year´s first graders to experience the same that we did a year ago. So this is what we came up with. 

The topic was a hula girl and a Finnish tourist. And because the point was to make everyone laugh, the boys were hula girls and the girls were Finnish tourists. Hula girls wore a bikini top, a “hulaskirt” and long hair. Finnish tourists had a big belly, a Hawaii shirt, socks and sandals, a moustache and big eyebrows. I must say that the first graders had invested in their costumes and they looked very funny.
Of course, the second graders had organized something fun for the first graders, like tapes on the floor, which they had to follow, some crawling, rolling and dancing and there were also places which were forbidden for the first graders, like our canteen´s tables and some school areas. 

The day started in our school gym, where all the first graders got their own name badges and where they brought us chocolate and vegetables. Then the first graders had to learn the dance that second graders had made for them. They would later perform it.

After that the first graders headed to their lessons. On their way to their lessons, they had to follow the tapes on the floor and, at the same time worship us, the second graders. If they didn´t please us, we could give some minuses or tell them to do something, like hug a teacher.

The day culminated to a party in the gym. The first graders performed the dance and received applauses. The first graders had the honor to taste the drink  which second graders had made for them. It included inter alia the vegetables that the first graders had brought.
Then the first graders did some tricks pairwise and so that everything would be as hard as can be, their hands and feet were bound.  

The second graders had to award  “the ugliest nahka” , so there was a dance competition. The decision was hard, but we ended up awarding Siiri Asula and Johannes Kalliokoski as the ugliest nahka. 

I´m deeply sorry first graders for your suffering on that day, but we, FES high school students, have all experienced that too. Now when you have survived our welcoming day, you can proudly call yourselves  true FES high school students. And I really hope that you also had some fun on that day.
So welcome to our senior high school, this year´s first graders!

Written by Miranda 2B 

Graduation day and senior high school´s party

One school year is over again and F.E. Sillanpää senior high school was celebrating the graduates of 2014 on 31^st May.  The students arrived at school wearing beautiful dresses and suits. Especially the third graders had invested in their outfit. Of course, because it was their big day. Finally it would be the time to put the white cap on, leave the senior high school behind and reach for the dreams.  

Everybody was sitting in the big hall. Full lines of students, teachers, parents and relatives. In front of the hall were sitting the graduates from 50 years ago, who were wearing their old, a bit yellow, but important white caps.

The graduates of this year arrived and it was time to start the party. Annamari Järviniemi welcomed everybody with a little speech and then our senior high school music group performed a song called “On elämä laina” (Life is a loan).

Then the graduates of this year gave flowers to the graduates from 50 years ago and one of the graduates from 50 years ago, Raimo Ylivakeri, gave a little speech and congratulated this year´s graduates and told a bit about that time when he graduated.

After that our school principal Kari Lähde announced scholarships and the music group performed a song called “Lähtövalmiina” (Ready to go).

Then the highlight of this party. Principal Kari Lähde and third graders' homeroom teachers gave the diplomas and the white caps to the graduates who took them with a big smile on their face and bowed or curtsyed in front of the audience. This was it. Three years in this school was over, and from now on it would depend on them themselves what would happen next. They had graduated from senior high school with good grades and now they were ready to make their dreams come true. Now they had the permission to put the white caps on.

After that graduates were smiling to the cameras wearing their shiny, new, white caps while the Gaudeamus igitur song was playing in the hall.

Then our principal Kari Lähde gave a speech and the school´s music group performed the song “Happy” while the video that the senior high school graders had made of this song was rolling on the screen. 






And then at the end of the party graduate Eeva Linnainmaa gave a speech and then we all sang  “Suvivirsi” (The summer hymn) and then, well, then the party was really over. Only the graduates' photo shoot and then this beautiful party was over and the summer holiday was ready to start.

Of course the party was not over for our schools graduates. No. They were heading to somewhere else to celebrate three years of hard work and senior high school´s ending.

I wish all the luck for this year´s graduates and wish them the best for life. 
And now it’s time to relax and enjoy the summer!

Written by Miranda 1B 
Photos by Kirsi Kankaanranta