Initial Prayer
First: tell the children the story called Water, the holy gift.
Obs.: we suggest the Spiritist Teacher uses newspaper cuttings as you are telling the story to the children. This will enable you to be forming the scenes. The end result will look very beautiful.
Second - stimulate a dialog around the story:
Why did the amount of fish in the water and the size of the river itself decreased as time went by?
How did Zequinha behave in relation to the usage of water, before his dream? Was he behaving correctly? Why?
Do you believe we can waste water just because we can afford to pay our bills? Why?
What did Zequinha learn from his dream?
Please ask the children what their behaviour is in regards to water usage.
Please remember we need to care for the nature by not polluting, not throwing rubbish in the rivers, oceans, forests, streets… Please mention we need to recycle as well this is a great opportunity to help the nature and the environment.
It is important to look after nature so our children and grandchildren can enjoy a world with fresh water, birds, rivers, oceans, forests and fresh air.
Most of us, if we deserve it, will reincarnate in Earth in the future. The world is becoming a World of regeneration; so we will inherit the world and the nature we look after today.
Third: please remember the following to the children (here are some tips which were taken from the page www.corsan.com.br, in 28th January 2007):
Take a short shower rather than a bath could save you up to 400 litres a week. If you do have baths, just half fill them.
Turn off tap while cleaning your teeth, shaving or washing your face. You can waste can up to 9 litres a minute by just letting the water pour down the sink.
Don't overfill the kettle when making a cup of tea; only fill and boil what you need.
Only use the washing machine and the dishwasher when you can put on a full load. It wastes both water and energy to run only a half full machine.
Check for home for leaks, hidden water leaks can be wasting water without you even being aware of it.
Keep cool water in the fridge so that you do not need to run water down the sink to have a cold drink.
Think before throwing used water down the drain, e.g. water in a pan after cooking, this could be reused for watering plants around the house when cooled down, or in the garden.
Fourth: please find here some suggested activities.
Activity 1: please distribute a copy of each of the following drawings to each child and talk to them about it. Please ask them to choose one of the ‘faces’ that corresponds to the attitude that is represented in each picture.
Drawing nbr. 1. Please reinforce the need to avoid water waste. We should try to use just a little bit of washing up liquid when we are washing the dishes.
Drawing nbr. 2. The correct attitude is to turn off tap while washing your body in the shower. Take a short shower is much better than a bath. You can turn the bathroom water back on when you want to.
Drawing nbr. 3. Please highlight the importance of turning off tap while cleaning your teeth, shaving or washing your face.
Activity 2: please ask the children to draw the right behaviour in regards to water usage. Please join all drawings together to make a big panel out of it. You can now write the name of the lesson at the top and place it somewhere in the classroom.
Activity 3: Water conservation is an abstract idea that most kids cannot relate to. Using activities and games about water conservation can help them understand why it is important to conserve water. Make it a game with them. The spiritist teacher will need to make a fake ‘shower’ together with them,
a) The water pipe should be made of paper; you can roll it into a long tube.
b) The main body of the shower can be made from pet bottles. You can join them together to form the shower body.
* The spiritist teacher can invite the children to represent the process of taking a shower by highlighting the importance of washing our ears, feet, nails, etc.
* Please mention the importance of turning off tap while washing our body in the shower. Taking a short shower is much better than a bath. You can say that they can turn the bathroom water back on when you want to.
* Younger children really enjoy pretending they are taking a shower. The spiritist teacher can use this opportunity to teach them to turn off the tap whilst they are washing their bodies. This activity will help the students take a shower in a shorter period of time.
This class was sent to us by Guto, from Sant’Ana do Livramento
Closing Prayer
Class suggested being suitable for: Kindergarten (5 to 6 years old).
Spiritist Teachers: Carla and Cleusa.
Translation: Carolina von Scharten, London, Sir William Crookes Spiritist Society linked to BUSS - The British Union of Spiritist Societies.
