Sun, 31^st January 2010
All of us had been very excited – today the first headmasters meeting of five European schools to prepare “Improving literacy and numeracy skills” in Norway started. Marianne and Yvonne (headmaster and deputy headmaster of Tollose school / Denmark), Mihaela (school nr.2 Independenta / Romania), Anastazija (OS Kapela / Slovenia) and Markus (Grundschule Baiersdorf / Germany) met at Arnsteins home. Arnstein, headmaster of Morkved skole Brumunddal and project coordinator, had prepared a very warm welcome and a delicious dinner. We had great discussions on our expectations and project ideas.

Mon, 1^st February 2010
Early in the morning we drove to Morkved skole. All of us were very impressed, when we visited some lessons at school. Arnstein and his teachers presented to us “classroom in action” a special teaching method used at Morkved skole. We could see the schools’ library and visit the department for pupils with special needs. Morkved skole has special training courses for those pupils and tries to integrate them as often as possible in regular classes. After a short break pupils invited us to the gymnastic hall for a show. In the afternoon we had a beautiful trip by car to Harahorn, a very nice traditional Norwegian Hotel, situated in the mountain area.

pictures: planning staff in front of Morkved skole Brumunddal (pic 1), Arnstein in headmasters’ office (pic 2), pupils working on literacy (pic 3/4)

Tue, 2^nd February 2010
After breakfast at Harahorn hotel, we had the first workshop on the project program. We discussed and expressed the objectives of our project:
- to improve the schools’ methods for early learners education in literacy and numeracy
- to develop better learning strategies based on good practices
- to improve the schools’ work with assessment in literacy and numeracy education
- to promote intercultural competences and knowledge for pupils and teachers
- to achieve better learning outcomes for the pupils in a longterm perspective
In the afternoon we established the responsibilities of each school during the project period and choose cultural events, that accompany our project aims best. In early evening we took a sleigh ride in the snow.

pictures: Harahorn Hotel (pic 1), dinner at Harahorn Hotel (pic 2), planning staff (pic 3), sleigh ride in the snow (pic 4), ... some of us expected to
see an elk (pic 5)

Wed, 3^rd February 2010
In the morning we worked on the application for our “literacy and numeracy” project. We were very lucky, that Alf from Ringsaker Kommune was with us, because he helped us in a very effective and goal-orientated way to find accurate formulations. We discussed the topics of our project meetings and what has to be done between the meetings at local and common level in our schools. Late afternoon we went back to Brumunddal. Some of us were very excited because of the snow flurry on the road, others expected to see an elk (a moose). “Back home” to Brumunddal, we had a final meeting at Rica Hotel to reflect our intensive work we did.

Thu, 4^th February 2010
It’s time to say good bye. We went back to our home countries with a lot of impressions and ideas. Everyone is very curious about the first teachers meeting in Denmark in September 2010. “Thank you very much” to Arnstein and Alf for the hospitality and of course for the great preparatory work you did.