Settlement of Iceland
Fourth grade students have been learning about Iceland's settlement this winter.
Children learned about early settlers, Icelandic sagas, high-seat pillars, Viking voyages, place names and the fact that animals and plants can also be settlers. Coincidentally, when they learned about polar bears and how they can reach Iceland on ice floes, news about exactly that appeared in all major national media! Students could therefore connect what they were learning to reality. This was followed by a discussion about the news where children pondered philosophical questions about right and wrong in the situation with the polar bear. This class seems to have a knack for their subjects of study happening in the real world. Last year, they were learning about volcanic eruptions and earthquakes at the same time as volcanic activity was occurring on the Reykjanes peninsula.
The image shows a page from manuscripts created by students, where they tried to imitate calfskin.