EUROPE DAY - 9th of May

This year, the Europe Day had a very special meaning. You are now our Friends, very special Friends !

Kisses from Manteigas

THERE WOULD BE NO LIFE WITHOUT WATER-Slovenia

Our main goal of the Water week was to teach children how important the water is for all the Earth's inhabitants. Children of all ages made different experiments (floating, tasting, mixing...).We have learned some facts from the books, made posters which we hung outside our rooms so that even parents could learn something about water. We realized that flowers without water don't survive.

That is also true for humans. There is a lot of water in our bodies and it is important that we drink a lot. We filled the plastic bottles with water (60-70% water in each bottle) and made a new friend, this way children saw how much water our bodies contain.

All water is not good for us, with the help of experiments we have seen that we cannot remove all dirt from the water even with the expensive cleaning machines, that is why we need to be careful with how much water we use in our kindergarten and at home also. If the water disapears we will disapear too.

SAVE TODAY,TO HAVE TOMORROW - MANTEIGAS( PORTUGAL)

Manteigas the capital of water

“Success” is the right word to describe the “Water week” at Manteigas kindergarten.
It was a time for discovering and learning, a time for thinking and habit changing (very bad habits, in fact).
Under the slogan “save today so that we can still have it tomorrow”, children and adults have committed themselves to make an effort and change their attitude towards the use they make of water.
Of all the experiments done, the most remarkable and the one which has made all of us rethink our consumer habits was the experience entitled “Let’s check how much water do I use in my bath!”
To perform the experiment we have selected adults and children who either have a shower or an immersion bath. They were supposed to collect the water they used in a plastic demijohn (flagon). In the end, we compared the results and verified that Ricardo, a four year old child, was the one who had used more water. He had used 6 flagons of water (= 35 litres = 125 glasses) to take a bath.
“A day without water in our school” was also an important experiment to find strategies to save water. The water children and teachers used to wash their hands was collected and reused to flush down the toilet. On the kindergarten playground there is a big tin to collect rain water which is used to water the plants and wash the floor. Small gestures can really make a difference!!!
Along with these experiments, children have made some leaflets on basic rules to save water. The leaflets will be addressed to all Manteigas inhabitants who will get them when they get the monthly water bill.
In Portugal, Manteigas is known as the water capital, but resources are not eternal, so we have to speak out loud: “save today so that we can still have it tomorrow!”

Thanks to all the mamas and dads who collaborated in these experiments.

Sucesso é a palavra certa para descrever a “ Semana da água” no pré-escolar de Manteigas. Foi um tempo de descoberta, aprendizagem, reflexão e mudança de hábitos, aliás maus hábitos. Sob o lema “ poupar hoje para não faltar amanhã”, miúdos e graúdos assinaram o compromisso de fazerem um esforço para mudar a sua atitude face á utilização / consumo da água. De todas as experiências que se fizeram, a mais marcante e que fez repensar os nossos hábitos enquanto consumidores, foi a experiência “ Vamos lá ver quanta água eu gasto no meu banho!” Foram seleccionados adultos e crianças que tomam banho de duche ou de emersão. Quem gastou mais água? Cada um recolheu a água do seu banho para garrafões de 5 litros. No final comparámos e registámos que por exemplo: O Ricardo de 4 anos foi quem gastou mais água : 6 garrafões = 35 litros de água o que equivale a 125 copos de água. Manteigas é, em Portugal, a capital da água mas os recurso não são eternos por isso vamos espalhar aos 4 ventos : Poupar hoje para que não nos falte amanhã! Um agradecimento especial para todos os papás e mamãs que colaboraram nas nossas experiência.