Students Learn about Scotland

Second grade students in Mrs. Harlow’s class had a special visitor on Friday, November 7 from another continent.  As a VIF teacher, Mrs. Harlow is lucky enough to meet people from all over the world. The special visitor, Mr. Lannagan is from Scotland which borders the country England where Mrs. Harlow was born and raised.   The two countries, along with Wales, make up Great Britain. Mr. Lannagan shared many interesting facts with the boys and girls.

To begin with he read a story called, “The Gruffalo” written by a popular British author, Julia Donaldson. The children knew the story written in English but Mr. Lannagan brought along the Scottish version and although they speak English in Scotland their dialect is very different. The children had a blast trying to figure out the meaning of some of the words as he shared the story with them. Did you know “mucked” is a Scottish word for “big”?  This surprised everyone!

Mr. Lannagan shared the Scottish flag and talked about how it is a part in the British flag. The children asked questions about life in school in Scotland and what the country looks like.

The children were very excited the minute they saw Mr. Lannagan because of his special clothes. He wore a kilt and his sporran (used like a wallet where a kilt has no pockets). He shared with us the special times he would wear this and the traditions involved.

We love to learn about other cultures at Rocky River and this was a great experience for children and staff!

This is the second time that students at Rocky River have had a chance to hear Julia Donaldson’s stories.  A few years ago we did a study of her books and compared our favorites with A Room with a View in Middleham.  What are your favorites?   Do you know of other authors that children love around the world?

Scotland 1

3 thoughts on “Students Learn about Scotland

  1. Dear 2nd Grade students,
    How exciting to have a visitor from Scotland! It sounds like you were very lucky to see Mr Lannagan in his kilt, too – Scotsmen only wear their kilts for very special occasions! Mr Monaghan is also from Scotland and on our wedding day, he (and all the male guests from Scotland!) wore a kilt. He said it was very warm, because it is made of pure wool and is very thick. I wonder if Mr Lannagan told you that all the kilts are different depending on what your family name is – each family or ‘clan’ has its own tartan (that’s the material the kilt is made from) and so you must wear a kilt of your own tartan to show who you are.
    We really enjoyed reading Julia Donaldson books and sharing them with you – that is quite a long time ago now!
    My favourite Scottish writer for children is Mairi Hedderwick and the Katie Morag stories, they are perfect for Grade 2! I wonder if you can get hold of any of her stories?
    Are you finding out more about Scotland? Perhaps we can help you out! Will in our class has Scottish grandparents and regularly visits them. What fact did you most enjoy finding out from Mr Lannagan? What else would you like to know?
    Your blogging buddy,
    Mrs Monaghan
    A Room with a View, UK

    • Dear Mrs. Monaghan,

      Thank you for your email, we are SO excited to learn more about Scotland.

      We enjoyed learning lots of things from Mr. Lannagan:
      Taylor liked learning about the kilt and why Scottish men wear it.
      Jasmine enjoyed listening to “The Gruffalo in Scots”
      Shelby enjoyed learning that the sporon was made from seal fur and he used it for his keys and cell phone.

      We ALL loved trying to say some of the Scottish words.

      We have LOTS of questions we would like to find the answer to.
      1) What is the landscape like in Scotland?
      2) What lessons do you learn in school?
      3) Can you teach us any new words?
      4) What kinds of video or board games do you play?
      5) What are the popular sports in Scotland?
      6) What kinds of shoes do you wear?

      We loved to hear from Mr. Lannagan and we are excited to hear back from you. We hope you have time to answer our new questions.

      Thank you for your time,

      Mrs. Harlow’s Second Grade Class

      • Dear Mrs Harlow’s class – thank you for your questions!

        The landscape in Scotland is quite varied, but the Highlands are famous for high, rugged mountains, barren moorland, lochs (which is a Scottish word for a lake) and stunning beauty. It is green all year round, and in winter there is a lot of snow, especially on the mountains.

        Although in some areas of Scotland Gaelic is spoken, this is not regularly taught in schools – there are some gaelic schools which children can attend if they choose, where lessons are taught in gaelic. However, most children don’t learn gaelic, and most scots don’t speak it. Children study literacy and numeracy (maths and english) – PE (physical education), art, history, geography, ICT, science, design technology, Religious Education and often a modern foreign language such as French or Spanish.

        Some of my favourite scottish words are: wee (meaning small), glaikit (a bit stupid looking), peely wally (pale and ill looking), and they call the parting in your hair a ‘shed’ – which in England, means a small wooden structure in the back garden to hold your tools.

        Popular board games are monopoly, cluedo, operation, buckaroo, twister and guess who. Do you play any of those?

        In Scotland, there are Highland Games in the summer. One of the sports at the Highland Games is ‘tossing the caber’ where very big strong men throw a tree trunk in the air and try to get it to turn 360 and land straight. It looks hard!

        I wonder if Mr Lannagan had his scottish shoes on when you saw him? They have special laces and lace up fancy over your think wool socks when you’re wearing your kilt! They’re called ghillie brogues. They look very smart!

        I hope you get to visit Scotland one day. We spent two weeks camping there this summer, it’s a really beautiful country.

        Your blogging buddy,
        Mrs Monaghan
        A Room with a View, UK

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