catalunya: our natural environnement
DESCRIPTION
Students from 4th grade of Primary in Catalonia (Spain) participate in the project "School to School" promoted by Vicente Ferrer Organization. They describe their natural environnement and send their work to students from Anantapur (India), in order to have an exchange of experiences between the two cultures.TRANSCRIPT
OUR SCHOOL
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Let's go
to the
classrooms!
WELCOME to CAN SORTS SCHOOL!
Beside the School deciduous trees have
no leaves now, in February. It's winter
and they “are sleeping”.
SEASONS
The Earth revolves around the
Sun.
The Earth takes 365.24 days
to orbit the sun. This period of
time is called YEAR.
The North pole always points
the same way as the Earth
revolves around the Sun.
As we move around the Sun
during the year, the amount of
light each area of the planet
receives varies in
length.
When the Earth's
axis points towards
the Sun, it is
summer for that
hemisphere. When
the Earth's axis
points away, winter
can be expected.
So, we have seasons because the
Earth is tilted (wonky) as it
makes its yearly
journey around the
sun.
When the Earth
orbits the Sun, one
hemisphere receives
more light and heat
than the other. This
causes different climates on Earth
and different seasons.
.....
In Catalunya (Catalonia) we have
four seasons:
spring, summer,
autumn, winter.
Seasons of the
year follow one
another like a
carousel that
turns and turns
forever. Marc
R.
Picture 1: http://www.historyforkids.org/scienceforkids/physics/weather/seasons.htm
Picture 2: http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/time/seasons.htm
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Picture 1
Picture 2
SPRING
Spring begins on March
21 and ends June 23
about.
In spring flowers bloom,
leaves appear in trees
and the hibernating
animals wake up.
It's not very hot nor
very cold. The
temperature increases
and there's usually a lot
of rain.
Deciduous trees start
dressing in green.
There are many
kind of flowers and
colours: red, white,
purple yellow...
Many animals
reproduce
in spring.
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SUMMER
Summer is a hot season.
The temperature is high (over
35ºC in continental areas).
There's usually very little
precipitation (rain) in summer.
Summer begins in June and ends
in September.
We love this season
because we have
summer holidays and
don't go to school.
When we're very hot
in Sentmenat we can
go to the swimming
pool. It's open in
summer.
We can swim, play
with friends and be
fresh there.
It's very fun.
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AUTUMN
Autumn begins on
September 21 and
ends on December
21.
Days become shorter
and nights longer.
Summer is going
away and cold begins
to come.
It often rains in
autumn and it's
windy too.
Leaves of trees dry up and fall
down.
It's time for mushrooms. They
grow up in wet forests.
And it's time for nuts: walnuts,
hazelnuts, almonds, pine nuts.
Pine-tree and other trees don't
loose their leaves in autumn.
They are evergreen trees. In
autumn, a new school year
begins.
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WINTER
Winter begins on
December 21 and ends
on March 21 about.
At the start of winter,
the days are shorter
than the nights, the
temperature is low and
there's usually some
precipitation.
At the end of winter, the
days start to get longer.
Deciduous trees loose their leaves
in winter and many animals
hibernate.
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Picture:
WINTER is HERE
In winter it's cold.
Most days we have
a temperature
under 10 ºC at 9
o'clock in the
morning, when
school opens.
It's often sunny in
winter. But sun
doesn't heat too
much.
Many trees have
no leaves in winter.
But in our
environment
there are many
forests of
evergreen
trees.
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WHITE WINTER
In winter it's very, very cold and
you can go to the mountain to
enjoy the snow.
There you can ski, you can make
a snowman, throw snowballs to
other kids... and you can slide
down the mountain.
It's very fun!
Some years it snows
in Sentmenat in
winter.
It's quite unusual.
So kids, we are
very happy when it's
snowing in our town!
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Sentmenat is white!!
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THE WALK
Spring is the best
season to enjoy our
natural environment.
And we do it!
Every year, at the
end of second term,
teachers of Physical
Education organizes
a Regularity Walk for
students of Primary.
The route is in the
green environment
around us. Spring is
just starting and nature is waking
up!
By small groups of students from
7 to 12 years, we walk for over an
hour on the itinerary
marked: up the hill,
through forest, by
the fields, down the
hill,.. and to school
again.
After walking
everybody's happy
to have done it!
It's a special feeling.
Be sure.
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THE WALK
Walking up, through the forest.
The endurance test.
It smells nice!
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THE WALK
Walking
ON
the field.
Walking IN
the forest.
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THE WALK
Look.
It's a landscape near
the School in spring.
It's green and
diverse.
There are mountains,
forests, fields,
flowers, crops, and
some paths to go.
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THE WALK
Walking by the fields... Look! What wonderful views!
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THE WALK
School ho!
Approaching the end of
the walk.
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GUANTA
In Sentmenat there is a mountain named Guanta.
You can go up on foot, by bike, riding horse or by car.
Along the way you can
find many plants and
trees.
Near the top there is a
castle and a restaurant
too.
Following up there are many streams and ponds. Just on the top of the
mountain of Guanta there is a big waterfall. If you go on you find little
and medium
waterfalls.
You can arrive
to: “Font de
Bou” (“Source
of Beef”) an
ancient source of
drinking water.
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BARCELONA
Barcelona is a very big city.
It's the capital of Catalonia.
Barcelona is a very beautiful
city. It is limited to the East
by the Mediterranean Sea, to
the North there is the Besòs
river and to the South
there's Llobregat river.
To the West of Barcelona
there is the Collserola range
with a famous mountain: the
Tibidabo.
So Barcelona is a very special city:
it's by the sea and in the mountain
at the same time!
In Barcelona you can
go to the beach,
have a sunbath, dive
in the sea or you can
board a ship in the
port.
On the mountain
side, from Tibidabo
(512m) you can
enjoy spectacular
views over the city
and the coastline.
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BY THE SEA
The places near
the sea have a
mediterranean
climate.
The temperature
is high in
summer and it's
moderate during
other seasons.
There can be a lot
of precipitation in
autumn, but
there's very litlle
rain during
spring, summer
and winter.
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RIVERS
Rivers begin in the mountains.
The place where a river begins is
called the source.
When a river leaves its source, it
becomes wider.
Rivers are filled with freshwater
and give life to the land.
Rivers flow to find a main river, a
sea, ocean or a lake.
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IN THE COUNTRYSIDE
If it's sunny, in
winter and autumn
we can enjoy our
natural
environnement too.
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IN THE MOUNTAIN
Mountain areas have a
mountain climate:
It's cool in summer and
the temperature is very
low in winter.
There's a lot of
precipitation all year
and this falls as snow in
winter.
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Picture :
the Pedraforca is a mountain in the Pyrenees. Some deers are running free in spring.
Picture :
”The Valley of Núria" is a south-opening valley coming down from the crest of the Pyrenees.
MOUNTAINS
Catalonia has a
mountanious relief.
The most important
mountain ranges
are the Pyrenees
and the Coastal
ranges.
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MONTSERRAT
Montserrat is a multi-
peaked mountain located
near the city of Barcelona.
It's a part of the Catalan
Pre-Coastal Range.
“Montserrat” literally means
“serrated mountain” in
Catalan.
It describes the peculiar aspect of the
rock formation. You can see it from a
great distance.
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MONTSENY
The Montseny massif
is a part of the
Catalan Pre-Coastal
Range.
The Park is home to a
wide variety of fauna
from Mediterranean to
alpine.
UNESCO designated
Montseny a biosphere
reserve in 1978.
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