Today we woke up with our host families. We met at school at 8:35. We did our presentations and the Finnish kids did theirs. Then we listened to a presentation about today’s project.

We got on a bus and drove to a stream where we did some measurements. Then we got back on the bus and drove to Rokua. We had lunch there and tried Finnish sausages. They were very good.

Then we were divided into small groups and each group did a measurement on a lake. We took samples and measurements. After that, all the groups met in the Rokua house and compared the results.

After that, we headed back to Vaala. All the kids met at Petra’s house and had fun. The day was very fun and we are excited for tomorrow.

Written by Anna Lára, Birkir Snær and Stígur

We woke up early to go to the airport at 5 am. We had one hour to shop and eat breakfast.

Our flight was at 7:30 and was 3 hours and twenty minutes long. When we arrived in Helsinki we had to wait at the airport for three hours. We used the time to study, eat and explore a little bit.

Then we boarded a plane to go to Oulu. The flight was with Norwegian airline and was one hour long. After arriving in Oulu we had to sit in a bus for one and  half hour to get to Vaala, where we finally met our friends from Finland.

Written by Mateja and Selma

 We all met at our school, FAS just before 13:00. Everybody were really excited for the trip to come. It was raining in Höfn, it was cold and dark when we left. We followed the sun that disappeared behind the dark clouds and the bus driver drove for about two hours.

After a short ride, we stopped at Freysnes. There we bought some food and drinks and stood up for a bit. Shortly after everybody came back to the bus, the teachers (Eyjólfur and Hjördís) taught us about how water works, and the global goals, precisely the 6th. The quest came to a pause, as we stopped at  Selfoss as we ate the chicken of the cornel of the Kentucky (KFC). Then we feasted on the delightful hallucinogenic Ice-cream of Skalli. Then we marched to Keflavík, were we hopefully sleep like baby’s.

Written by Sævar Rafn and Tómas Nói

Written by Sævar Rafn and Tómas Nói

This schoolyear is the second year in our project. Last year we were not able to travel because of COVID 19. According to the plan the first visit was to Iceland in September 2020 and to Norway in spring 2021. We worked instead together over the internet. It was a challenge for us all but it went well anyway.

Things are better for Iceland and Finland this year but there are still stright rules regarding travel in Norway.

Next country to visit according the application is Finland and when schools started this autumn we decided that Iceland would travel to Finland. In Finland the Finnish and Icelandic groups are going to do some fieldtrips.  The students in Norway are going on some field trips close to Brønnøysund. The three countries are also going to use some time to work together on Teams.

The Icelandic group is leaving from Höfn next Sunday and we plan to be in Vaala on Monday evening. We are all looking forward to the trip to Finland and we are going to tell about the trip on our page.

See you soon.

Our plan to visit Norway in week 15 was not possible because of COVID-19. Instead we decided to work online like last autumn.

The Icelandic group started the week with a visit to Djúpivogur, the next village east of Höfn which is about 100 km away. Since 2013 Djúpivogur is a part of the Cittaslow organisation. Cittaslow is an organisation founded in Italy 1999 and is inspired by the slow food movement. Cittaslow fits very well with Global Goal 12 which is about responsible consumption. In Djúpivogur we got a lecture about Cittaslow. We took a walk in the village and saw how they inhabitants introduce Cittaslow into their daily life. It was a good day and we gained a lot of information about the benefit of being a part of the Cittaslow organisation.

On Thuesday we “met” our partners online. We saw some films from Norway which we would have seen if we were able to be there. It was good to see a little bit from the Norway and how our partners in the project are living. Then we started the group work. Two students from each country worked together and the aim was to make a poster connected to Global Goal 12. This work went very good and on Thursday the groups introduced their work.

Allover  it was a good week and we can be happy about the success. Next autumn it is planned to meet in Vaala in Finland and hopefully that will  happen.

The first task this semester was to design a logo for the project. Due to COVID-19 there are different rules in the three countries and therefore it was decided that the students should work in groups in their home countries. Finland lead the groupwork for the competition. All schools got the same information in regards to the work: the logo should somehow represent the whole Nordplus Junior project; its theme and all the partners. The students got three weeks to design the logo.

The logo competition got two drafts from Iceland, four from Finland and four different variants of one logo from Norway. The arts teacher at Vaala Upper Secondary school chose one of the Norwegian students’ logo. It was considered best to fit the project description for the logo; it is simple, clear and stylish.

Here below you can see all the logos in the compitition and the winning logo will be places on our home page.

The last days in September (week 40) were a challenge for the Icelandic participants in the project. We were supposed to welcome our partners from Finland and Norway in Iceland. According to the application we wanted to visit selected places and work together in groups.

Due to COVID-19 it is impossible to visit other countries and we as hosts for the first visit had to find ways to go on with the project. This semester we are working with global goal 13 in the project, Climate action.  We wanted to teach the participants in the project about climate changes, how it can be seen in Iceland and the impact of climate changes on the whole Earth. We worked on five different topics; retreating glaciers, changes in the vegetation, more frequent landslides, climate changes because of eruptions and climate changes because of human activity.

We decided to take our Icelandic students to selected places which are connected to the topic of the emphasis this semester. The Katla Geopark and Vatnajökull Nationalpark are supporting parties with FAS and experts from those institutions took care of sharing information about topics. We went on our trip on the 29th of September to the south of Iceland and visited places where we can see and experience the changes. From each place our experts gave a lesson which was possible to see online on the YouTube Channel of FAS. Those lectures have now been uploaded to our website.  Our trip lasted two days and we experienced all kind of weather. During the trip, the students’ sense of place was also systematically strengthened by having them pay regular attention to the local environment and what was in front of their eyes. Overall, it was a good trip, and our students learned a lot.

The last day in week 40 the participants in the project worked together in groups. We had five groups and in each group were two students from each country. It was not easy at the beginning but after a while the work started to get better. At the end of the day all groups had done good work.

This partnership has really been a challenge because of COVID-19. However, it is most important to have found a way to make the project work even if no visitors come. Thanks to technology, a lot can be done. But we all hope we can visit our partners in Norway in spring 2021.

Now our pupils have evaluated the project and the project week. The pupils are very satisfied. Many of them have already made personal contact with students from the other countries, and they say that they have learned a lot about nature, geology and climate changes.

After the school had ended today, 14 of the schools employees went out in boats to pick plastic garbage from the shores in the strandflat. It was a beautiful weather, but it was a bit of a shock for us to see all the plastic laying on land– we like to think that the sea shores in our part of the country  are clean.

The plastic pollution is strongly related to SDG no. 12: Responsible consumption and & production and SDG no. 14: Life below water.

The view from FAS to glacier Vatnajökull.

Our application was accepted which is great news. Times are indeed a bit strange now because of COVID-19 and it is difficult to travel. The idea turned up to postpone the project, but all schools had already planned this project in the ongoing schoolyear. Therefore, we decided to go on, but we needed to change the plan which is at the same time challenge for us all.

According the application the first visit is to Iceland in September 2020. Now the land is almost closed and severe travel restrictions. Instead of welcoming the guests to Iceland we are now developing methods on how we can work as planned but without our guests from Finland and Norway. We want to use the technology as much as possible. We will try to work in mixed groups and use both streaming and computers for our work.

Working on the application.

After the summer holidays the parties concerned in the three participating countries decided to apply for funding to Nordplus for preparatory visits to discuss and develop further project plans. The application was accepted and two representatives from Finland and two from Norway came to Iceland late in November to FAS to work on the application and develop the ideas from last spring.

The guests just spent two days in Höfn but during the time it was a very efficient work. We managed to decide what the main emphasis will be and timeline in the project. Some hours were used for common skype meetings. We are also very happy that Geoparks in all participating countries will be partners in the project and the Vatnajökull National park in Iceland. It will strengthen the schools to have an opportunity to work with experts from the parks in field trips.

After the intensive work for two days the guests went back home, and all had some tasks to work on for the application. We are now in the final steps working on the application which must be submitted latest 3^rd of February 2020.

Hopefully our application will be accepted so our ideas will happen.