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Suomikoululainen
The Finnish School of
Seattle serves and
supports all Finnishminded families in the
greater Puget Sound
area by enriching
their children's experiences in Finnish.
Our mission is to provide a safe and motivating Finnish speaking learning community for children. With
quality programs children learn and maintain Finnish language
as well as gain an
appreciation for Finnishness.
Our Goals:

Kids have fun in
Finnish.

Kids are happy to
learn and speak
Finnish.

Kids have tolerance and respect
self and others.

Kids
experience
the Finnish spirit
and culture.
Volume 16, Issue 1
Maaliskuu / March 2015
Me Opet
Teksti: Tuulevi Syrjäkari
Vuodenvaihde oli yhtä juhlaa Suomikoulussa. Ensin vietimme Itsenäisyyspäivää ja heti perään oikein mukavat ja tunnelmalliset joulujuhlat. Joukko vanhempia oli ahkeroinut kesästä asti myyntiin
joulukoristeita ja perinteisiä suomalaisia
jouluherkkuja.
Myyntipöydistä löytyi
mm. Karjalanpiirakoita ja lanttulaatikkoa. Kaiken huippuna oli kauniisti katetut pöydät, maistuva riisipuro ja herkulliset joulutortut. Kiitos Tea ja tiimi!
Toivottavasti saatte ensi vuonnakin vapaaehtoiset mukaan ja saamme taas nauttia jouluisesta herkuista ja yhdessäolosta.
Juhlan huipennus oli lasten iloiset ja suloiset esitykset sekä tietenkin itse Joulupukin vierailu. Tästä olikin hyvä lähteä
joulunviettoon!
Nokialaisten siirtyminen Microsoftille on
tuonut alueellemme monia uusia lapsiperheitä. Se on näkynyt myös kasvavana lasten määränä meillä Suomi-koulussa. Tällä
hetkellä torstaisin kokoontuva ryhmä sekä lauantain 7-8-vuotiaiden että 9-12 –
vuotiaiden ryhmät ovat täynnä. Uusia
lapsia tulee mukaan kesken lukuvuoden,
mikä on joskus hieman haastavaa varsinkin pienimpien lasten ryhmässä.
Vanhemmista saattaa välillä tuntua, ettei
oma lapsi millään sopeudu ryhmän tavoille ja ehkä häiritseekin muita. Opettajana
haluaisin rohkaista vanhempia päästämään huolesta irti ja antamaan lapsen
tutustua rauhassa uuteen paikkaan ja
kavereihin. On ihan luonnollista, että pienimmät koululaiset haluavat mieluummin
vielä leikkiä itsekseen ja kuljeskella ympäriinsä kuin osallistua laululeikkeihin.
Kokemuksesta tiedämme, että yhteisten
leikkien ja laulujen aika kyllä tulee.
Kevät Suomi-koulussa jatkuu tuttuun
tapaan. Mukaan mahtuu tavallisia koulupäiviä ja välillä taas juhlitaan. Helmikuun puolivälissä juhlistimmekin jo Ystävänpäivää!
Toivotamme myös kaikki perheet tervetulleiksi lapsille suunnattuun Sibeliuksen
syntymän 150-vuotisjuhlakonsertiin Suomi-koululle 14.3. klo 11! (Lisätietoa sivulla 4)
Hyvää kevättä teille kaikille toivotteleepi
Tuulevi
www.finnishschoolofseattle.org
V O LU M E 1 6 , I S S U E 1
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S U O MI K O U LU LA I NE N
President’s Message
ting together such a fantastic
event. And of course big thanks to
everybody else who helped with the
event as well as to everybody who
participated and supported our
school.
Get involved
We have a few great opportunities
to get involved with the Finnish
School. At the end of this year, a
few board members will be stepping down and we may have a few
position changes as well. We have
a great board, really fun environment to work and we are always
looking for new ideas and perspectives!
"Warm" welcome back to school
everyone. We have had a great
start to our spring semester.
I say "warm" because this winter, if
we can call it that, has been quite
exceptional. I've lived here in the
Pacific Northwest since 1992 and
this is absolutely the warmest
"winter" I've ever experienced. Some of you may know that Saku and
I are big skiers and we are still hoping that the snow will come and
we all get to go out there and enjoy
the snow. Crazier things have happened so we don't give up yet!
We ended our fall semester with a
huge hit, our Christmas celebration. This year, we decided change
things a bit and do something a
little different. New things were
Joulupuuro and glögi, as well as
the holiday items for sale. The
event was a huge success and we
have received a lot of positive feedback, which is always great to
hear.
Upcoming events
We have number of exciting event
coming up:
you. We need your financial support for this school year.
You can make your gift to school
through our website or during our
events. Please also note that many
companies have matching programs where you financial support
doubles automatically.
Another way to support our school
is programs such as volunteer matching. Many companies, such as
Microsoft, have special programs
where they match volunteer
work. This means that each hour
you work to support our school, is
eligible for financial matching from
your company. Please check your
company HR department for details.
Terveisin,
Sibelius Concert for Kids
March 14t at 11am @ Suomikoulu All Seattle area families are
welcomed. Please note that this is
not our normal Finnish School weekend. More information about the
event is provided in this Suomikoulainen.
Mikko
Skating event
April 4th from 13:00-15:00. This
has always been a great fun for
everybody and all Finnish School
families are welcomed.
To celebrate this milestone, we have some exciting events planned for
our students and parents — stay
tuned for more information!
Pesäpallo event
May 30th. As usual, we are going
to wrapping up this school year
with a sporting event and this year,
pesäpallo is back! More information will follow but for now, please
Save the date!
We need your support
Joulujuhla was our main fall
fundraising event and we raised
over 1,000 dollars for the school.
A big Thank You to Tea and Alyssa
for all the new great ideas and put-
By Mikko Lahti
School needs your financial support
30% of school funding is coming
from fundraising and donations
from generous supporters like
PS. The Finnish School of
Seattle celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2015!
V O LU M E 1 6 , I S S U E 1
S U O MI K O U LU LA I NE N
Tunnelmapaloja joulujuhlasta
Kirjeitä Suomikoulusta
Tarun ryhmän suomikoululaiset
kirjoittelivat kirjeitä ja viestejä
kirjeenvaihtoprojektissa.
Nämä kirjeet lähtivät Teksasin
Suomi-kouluun.
PAGE 3
S U O MI K O U LU LA I NE N
V O LU M E 1 6 , I S S U E 1
PAGE 4
Sibelius-juhlakonsertti Suomi-koululla
Welcome to Jewels of Sibelius Children’s Concert!
TERVETULOA LASTEN
SIBELIUS-KONSERTTIIN!
Lauantaina 14.3.2015
Klo 11:00 a.m.
@ SUOMI-KOULU
4174th Place NE
Redmond, WA
Huom! K o n s er t i n aj an k o h t a ei o l e k o u l u l au an t ai .
Tilaisuus on maksuton.
Please note that this is not a school Saturday.
Free admission.
The year 2015 is the Sibelius 150 Jubilee--the 150th
anniversary of the birth of the great Finnish composer, Jean
Sibelius. The Jubilee year will feature concerts and other
celebrations recognizing this famous and beloved son of
Finland. Programs honoring Jean Sibelius will be supported
by Finlandia Foundation National (FFN). FFN has a
strong connection with Jean Sibelius; he was the first patron
of FFN when it was established in 1953.
Jewels of Sibelius—School Concerts
The Jewels of Sibelius concert tours will be presented by
Jussi Makkonen, the award-winning Finnish cellist, and
Ruusamari Teppo, the gifted pianist who is finishing her
music doctorate work in Texas and is the greatgranddaughter of Jean Sibelius himself.
The Jewels of Sibelius school concerts are 45-minute
presentations for students from kindergarten through high
school. Jussi and Ruusamari play Sibelius music, talk about
the background of each piece, and tell stories about the life of
the composer. The arrangements of some pieces are accessible
only to the Sibelius family members, so this gives the audience an exceptional opportunity to experience and explore the
music of Sibelius.
In Finland during the past two years, over 250,000 students in 800 schools have heard the extremely successful Jewels of
Sibelius concerts performed by Jussi and his accompanist sponsored by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture.
Because of the great success of these school concerts, Jussi has been asked to prepare a new concert script, especially for the
Sibelius 150 Jubilee. With this new program, Jussi is now ready to continue the concert series for another two years,
planning to reach all the Finnish schools with this opportunity to appreciate the classical music of the great Finnish
composer.
Pre-concert lectures at Seattle Symphony
Ruusamari Teppo and Jussi Makkonen will give a pre-concert lecture on Thursday, March 12, 2015, before the opening
concert of the Seattle Symphony’s Sibelius Concert Series, the Symphony’s three-week festival celebrating the beloved
Finnish composer. Ruusamari and Jussi will give another pre-concert lecture before the Seattle Symphony’s Sibelius
performance on Saturday, March 14, 2015.
Links for more information: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBQZGGuB2wA; www.jussimakkonen.com ;
https://www.youtube.com/user/CellistJussiMakkonen
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S U O MI K O U LU LA I NE N
PAGE 5
Luistelutapahtuma
Tervetuloa Suomi-koulun vuotuiseen luistelutapahtumaan
Welcome to Finnish School’s annual skating event on
4.4.2015 klo / at 1—3 p.m.
@ Sno-King Arena, Renton
Tapahtuma on maksuton. Voit ottaa omat luisteluvarusteet mukaan tai vuokrata varusteet omalla kustannuksellasi paikan päältä.
The event is free of charge. You can bring your own skates and equipment or rent them at the Arena at
your own cost.
Ajo-ohjeet / driving instructions: www.snokingrenton.com
Thank you for your support!
Seattlen Suomi Koulu
Finnish School of Seattle
PO Box 15925
Seattle, WA 98115
www.finnishschoolofseattle.org
Comments and feedback most welcome!
newslettereditor@finnishschoolofseattle.org
The school relies heavily on the support of its parent
volunteers and friends. We are grateful for all the
support and we encourage parents and friends to get
involved in different ways.
Please see further information on how to support us at
www.finnishschoolofseattle.org —> get involved
Norman E. Westerberg in Memoriam
For the past 35 years, we have been close with and
knew Norman Westerberg as a Finnish business
associate, a distinguished Finnish Honorary Consul, a
leader and major contributor for the FinnFest USA
festival organization, a founder and president of the
Finnish-American Chamber of Commerce of the
Northwest, an active Board Member of the Nordic
Heritage Museum, a president of the Finnish Lutheran
Church Council, a Chair of the University of
Washington Scandinavian Studies Department's
Advisory Board, a founding member of the SwedishFinnish Historical Society, and a chair or active board
member of numerous other Finnish American
organizations.
United States,
Canada
and
Finland.
His
jovial, friendly
personality and
his
always
ready-to-help
attitude
combined with
intelligence,
experience and
endless
enthusiasm has
earned him a
place as one of
the
most
respected and
well-known
Finnish Americans in the past several decades.
As a Deputy Speaker of the Finnish Expatriate
Parliament, Region of the Americas, he gave his
powerful input in various expatriate issues worldwide.
Best of all, he became a good friend, who always had a
story to tell, a joke to share and a song to sing, when
Jussi and I feel privileged to have had Norm as a
friends got together.
personal friend, and we will miss him greatly. Our
Norm’s keen interest in Finnish America fueled his heart goes out to Benita, his beloved wife, his children
research interests and played a major role in raising the and grandchildren.
profiles of Finnish Americans in the United States and
comparing that information with immigrants from other Sincerely,
Nordic countries. Norm also contributed to the Finnish Satu Mikkola
Institute of Migration as a volunteer researcher. His
numerous, well-received presentations, lectures and
publications on Finnish immigration research earned
him a reputation as an expert, who was oftentimes
approached
and referred to by people of other
nationalities looking for similar information on their
homelands.
All the above associations represent just a few of the
activities he was involved with which offered him the
opportunity to deliberate and connect with fellow Finns
not only in the Pacific Northwest, but all around the