Spring and Easter were the themes of the last lesson of the term. The pupils got to know Jan Brzechwa’s poem ‘Przyjście wiosny’ (‘The Arrival of Spring’) and completed quizzes, riddles and worksheets.
Jan Brzechwa (1898–1966) is one of the best-loved Polish poets writing for children. In ‘Przyjście wiosny’ the animals argue about how spring will arrive, while in the meantime it simply comes on foot. The humour and strong rhythm of the poem help with learning new words and with attentive listening. At the interactive whiteboard, the pupils also answered questions about the spring months, the symbols of spring and its first calendar day, and in crosswords they guessed words from clues – for example, the name of the river that flows through Warsaw.
The class also learnt about Polish Easter customs, which include the blessing of food on Holy Saturday, decorating painted Easter eggs (pisanki) and śmigus-dyngus on Easter Monday. The pupils worked their way through four activity stations in turn. They also made colourful festive decorations – scratch-art bunnies and Easter eggs – and the eggs were given cheerful drawn faces. Scratching out a pattern in fact echoes one of the old techniques of decorating eggs: this is how drapanki are made, eggs on which the ornament is scratched into the dyed shell.
With smiles on their faces and spring in their hearts, the pupils finished the term, ready to meet again in April. More photos from the lesson can be seen in the gallery.
