The Bulldog Readers have become blogging buddies with a very unique school in Scotland.
Burravoe Primary School Website Photograph
This wonderful school has only 11 students and one teacher.
Burravoe Primary School is located on Yell Island in the Shetland Islands, which are located off the north coast of Scotland, partway between Scotland and Norway.
Earlier in the spring we sent them a package with some souvenirs from Seattle.
You can read about it on their blog here.
Last week we received a package from Burravoe!
Two of our first grade classes helped me open the package to see what was inside!
Ms. Breyley wrapped the package very carefully for the 6,000 mile trip to Seattle!
Everything was enclosed in a cornflakes box!
Then the contents were wrapped again!
Inside the wrapping was a gift bag filled with lots of gifts!
We received 11 postcards each showing a different scene from Shetland.
Postcards from the Shetland Islands handwritten by each student at Burravoe PS.
They also sent brochures about Shetland.
Brochures help us learn about this incredible place!
Shetland is part of the British Isles, but also has a strong Norwegian heritage. Every year they celebrate their Scottish/Norse connection with the Up Helly Aa Fire Festival.
Shetland is also one of Britain’s top wildlife destinations. It is home to many kinds of seabirds, including puffins, Storm Petrels and Gannets.
The Shetland Flag
In 1969, Roy Groenneberg and Bill Adams designed the flag of Shetland to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the transfer of Shetland to Scotland from the King of Norway and Denmark.
The design gives equal weight to the 500 years Shetland was part of Norway and the 500 years it has been part of Scotland. It combines the Scottish blue with the traditonal cross found on Scandinavian flags.
A Shetland sheep with a local Shetland book.
Ms. Breyley’s class thought it would be appropriate to send along a sheep, as there are far more sheep on Shetland than there are people! It is very cute and cuddly!
Bookmarks and some stickers.
We sent Dr. Seuss bookmarks to Shetland, and it was fun to receive some bookmarks in return.
One shows a wild looking puffin, one has some handcrafted Shetland sweaters, and two show the scenery of the islands.
The Shetland Times published this book in 2010, which is written in Shetland dialect.
A perfect gift for our library was the book, Bobby an da Burland Pearls by Valerie Watt.
Can you read this Shetland book?
It is written in the Shetland dialect. Here is a photo of page one. Can you read what it says?
If you would like to hear more of what this dialect sounds like, you can visit the Shetland Forwirds website.
An upcoming Backpack Buddy!
Our students were so excited about the sheep and the book that they suggested we make a new Backpack Buddy with the sheep and book inside! Backpack Buddies are filled with a puppet or stuffed animal and a book. They are a fun way to practice reading. We have 35 of them now. If you want to read more about our backpack buddies you can go to our Who let the Flamingo Out post.
Here it all is! Thank you Burravoe Primary School!
Learning about other people and their customs is one of the best parts of blogging.
More than once I have heard our students say, “Wow! I want to go there someday!”
Thank you to Ms. Breyley, Melissa,Bradley,Mia,Leah,Honor, Brydon, Kay, James, Charlotte, and Kerry.
**********
What do you think about our package?
We would like to name our Shetland Sheep. Do you have a suggestion for us?
Have you ever received a package from a blogging buddy in your classroom or library?
Leave us a comment and let us know!
You are so lucky to have such wonderful blogging buddies! It is so much fun to learn about different places and all of your gifts make it even more special. I think I would name the sheep “Shep” it just seems to suit him. Our class has received a number of packages from our Flat Stanley buddies. One of our favorite packages had bottles of a special coffee syrup from Rhode Island. Many people there drink coffee milk instead of chocolate milk.
Aloha,
Mrs. Jacobs
Dear Mrs. Jacobs,
Thank you for your kind compliment. It is wonderful to exchange goodies with other schools! I will write down your “Shep” suggestion. There are some Flat Stanleys in the mail to us from Australia! We can’t wait to see them!
I have to admit we use lots of different syrups in our coffee here too! Starbucks is king of coffee here since this is where the company began. I think Hawaii is the king of flowers! The most beautiful flowers I have ever seen in my life were in Hawaii!
Aloha!
Mrs. Hembree
Hi
This is a lovly post about us! All the information is totally true about us and it is nice that you liked the parcel. My postcard was the one with the ferrys on it. The backpack buddies idea is good we might have to do that too!
Kay
Burravoe Primary School
Dear Kay,
Your postcard about the ferrys was very nicely written. We use lots of car ferrys here too. Many people live on islands in the Puget Sound, which is the water around Seattle. They use use huge car ferrys to from home to work. The only difference between our car ferrys and yours is probably the size!
From,
Mrs. Hembree
I think it is super that you put a blog up about us. I think you could call the sheep Skipper. I have got a package from you!
From Charlotte, Burravoe Primary School
Dear Charlotte,
Skipper is a fun name for a sheep. I will keep that in mind when we make up the list of suggestions! Do you have any pets at your house? What are their names?
From,
Mrs. Hembree
Thank you for that lovely post about us. The sheep going in a backpack with the book is a really fantastic idea! How about Frugal which is dialect for generous.
Brydon
Burravoe Primary School
In Shetland dialect it means the opposite of what it means in English.
Dear Brydon,
The kids are very excited about the Sheep Backpack Buddy! Frugal is an interesting name! I am glad you told me that it means the opposite of what it means in English. That could be very confusing! Are there lots of words like this in Shetland dialect?
From,
Mrs. Hembree
We hope you liked the package! Did you like the peanut butter? One of our favorite things was the stuffed lamb. Did you like what we sent you?
Here are our suggestions for the sheep’s name: Lamby, Sheepy, Cady, Shet, Chuckie, Kiplet,, Jackie, Kenny, Kiki, Tron, Nicky, /Fluffy, Cutie, Penny, Sleepy and Tyron.
From,
Mrs. Daly’s class
The lamb was very cute! We like it very much! The flag is really cool. I l ike the colors on it. Thank you for the book and the lamb. Thank you for the package. We wish your entire school could come here to visit us. We liked the cereal box! Thanks for the bookmarks. I really appreciate you!
We like your accent. We listened to the speaker on the Shetland website. It’s hard to understand what she is saying! We also looked at the area around your school on Google Maps! Why are the roads so small?
WE hope you have a good day!
From,
Mrs. Olsen’s Class
Dear Mrs Hembree,
Wow what another lovely gift from another one of your wonderful blogging friends.
I really love this exchange of gifts I, feel BB and I should send you a parcel too so if you can send us your address via my email we would love to do this for you and your students.
However I do have a question will you be finishing school soon for your main holidays as I know your main holidays are very different to ours.
For here in Australia our six week holiday is near the end of December.
Just let me know 🙂
Really love visiting your blog!
From AA.
Dear Bulldog Readers,
You are very lucky to have such a good connection with another blogging school, even though the school is very small. We think Baaabe would be a wonderful name for your sheep. Good luck selecting your sheep’s new name.
From Mrs. Lawrence and 2L
Dear Mrs. Lawrence and students,
Thank you for your wonderful comment and name suggestion. We have so many names to choose from. It will be a difficult choice! I think we may have to narrow it down and then make a final selection!
From,
Mrs. Hembree and the Bulldog Readers
Thank you for the nice blog post on your blog about us! It is GREAT! 🙂
I have a couple of suggestions for your classs pet sheeps name 1. Girsie 2. Jessie 3. Mootie 4. Osla and 5. Vaila. I hope you like the sheep names ;).
Bye Bye
Mia
P3
Burravoe Primary School
We have been thinking of some name suggestions. Here are some that we thought of; Chuckles, Dexter, Roseglitter, Fluffy, Frank, Scruffy, Shettle, Liliana, Coco, Cynthia, Dave, Kite, Sammy, Kalleen, Lightning Flash, Berry-chan, Cody, Tracy, Pancake, Cooper, Blue, Claire, James, Andrew, and Snowball. We had fun brainstorming ideas!