Giant Colossus is a windmill. He works hard to provide electricity for the people. But he is upset when he notices that people are wasting so much energy. He calls out to the people, but they don't want to listen. Giant Colossus then decides to halt his waving wings. The lights, the heating, and all the people’s other appliances stop functioning. The people panic. The technician does not understand what is happening with Giant Colossus. A little girl does understand. Together they make a plan to save energy. Giant Colossus is satisfied with the proposals and starts waving his wings in the wind again.
Theme: waste and save energy / electricity
Sub-themes: wind, mills, windmills, renewable energy, living without or with less electricity, what works with or without energy / electricity
- There has been a lot of wind or stormy weather or it has been forecasted.
- There has been a power cut at the school or in the neighbourhood.
- There is or will be a windmill near the school and this raises questions.
- A child has seen a windmill on a trip with his/her parents and wants to tell about it. Professions: what do I want to be when I grow up; girls and technology, what does a technician / electrician do?
- Your class or the school wants to take part in Earth Hour (around 27 March - see https://www.earthhour.org ) or in Warm Sweater Day (around 11 February).
Science and Technology
- Technology: Core components of technology: 2.1 The pre-schoolers can indicate whether technical systems they often use themselves are made of metal, stone, wood, glass, paper, textile or plastic.
- Technology: Core components of technology:2.2 the pre-schoolers can demonstrate from a simple technical system in their environment that various parts of it are related to each other in function of a predetermined goal.
- Technology: Technology as a human activity: 2.3 the pre-schoolers can in a simple situation verify which technical system best meets a need.
- Technology: Technology as a human activity: 2.4 The pre-schoolers can come up with ideas for a simple technical system.
- Technology: Technology as human activity: 2.5 The pre-schoolers can choose suitable material and tools to make a simple technical system.
- Technology: Technology as a human activity 2.6 The pre-schoolers can make a simple technical system, whether or not based on a step-by-step plan.
- Technology: Technology as a human activity 2.7 The pre-schoolers can check whether the goal was achieved with a self-made technical system.
- Technology: 2.8 The pre-schoolers are prepared to work hygienically, safely and carefully.
- Technology: Technology as a human activity: 2.9 The pre-schoolers show an experimental and exploratory approach in order to learn more about technology.
- Technology: Technology and society: 2.10 the pre-schoolers can indicate that a technical system they use can be practical, dangerous and / or harmful.
Man and society
- Man: me and myself: 1.2 The pre-schoolers can describe in a dialogue with an adult, in simple language, a recent situation they were involved in and tell the others how they felt about it.
- Man: Me and the other: 1.4 in concrete situations the pre-schoolers can recognize different ways of interacting with each other and talk about it.
- Man: Me and the other: 1.5 the pre-schoolers can recognize in other people, feelings such as being afraid, happy, angry and sad and can empathize with these feelings.
- Man: Me and the other: 1.6 the pre-schoolers know that people can experience the same situation differently and react in a different way to it.
- Man: Me and the Other: 1.7 the pre-schoolers can show a sensitivity to the needs of others.
- Man: Me and the others: in group: 1.10 The pre-schoolers can make agreements in concrete situations with the help of an adult.
Languages
- Languages listening: 1.2 The pre-schoolers can understand questions intended for them in concrete situations.
- Languages listening: 1.3 The pre-schoolers can understand a message they’ve listened to, which was intended for them and supported by images and / or sound.
- Languages listening: 1.5 The pre-schoolers can understand a story they’ve listened to, intended for their age group.
- Languages listening: 1.6 The pre-schoolers can demonstrate willingness to listen to each other and to empathize with a message.
- Languages speaking: 2.1 the pre-schoolers can (re)formulate a message and/or story which is intended for them, in such a way that the content is recognisable.
- Languages speaking in: 2.2 the pre-schoolers can talk about experiences or events from their own environment or about what they have heard from others.
- Languages speaking: 2.10 The pre-schoolers can empathize with clearly recognizable roles and situations and respond to them from their own imagination / experience
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Feel: empathize |
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Think: observe and explore |
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Do: work in an organized and active way with the children |
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'4.7 by 2030 ensure that all learners acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development' | |
‘7. Ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy services ’ | |
'Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.' |
Prent 0 – titel + cover
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Picture 1 – Giant is not satisfied
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Possible key questions for this picture
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Picture 2: People waste energy
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TIPS
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Picture 3: Giant is upset |
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Picture 4: Giant is waving his high wings |
Possible key questions for this picture
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Picture 5: Giant Colossus halts his waving wings
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Possible key questions for this picture
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Picture 6: Loud shouting in the houses
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Possible key questions for this picture
Tip: Organize an Earth Hour with the class / the school (www.earthhour.org/belgium). |
Picture 7: Technician and little girl 1
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Possible key questions for this picture
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Picture 8: Technician and little girl 2
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Possible key questions for this picture
TIP: You can choose to stop the story here (or after picture 10) and let the children come up with their own ending. Then have them fill in the illustration that accompanies their ending in an expressive-creative way. |
Picture 9: People have a plan
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Picture 10: Giant is satisfied |
Possible STEM activity (STEM= Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths)
TIP: work together with the third-grade students |
The characters in the story
- Giant Colossus: pictures 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 10. Can you describe the Giant’s appearance? How can you tell for sure that he is a giant?
- The girl: pictures 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. What name do you like for the girl?
- Technician Hannelore: pictures 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
- Cat: picture 2.
- Mummy and Daddy: pictures 6 and 9; Daddy on picture 10?
- The people: pictures 6 and 9.
- The workers/technicians: pictures 7 and 9. How many workers do you count?
Feelings
- Picture 3: Giant Colossus is upset, dissatisfied, disappointed in the people.
- Picture 4: Giant Colossus is upset.
- Picture 5: Giant Colossus is fed up.
- Picture 6: The people are surprised, ignorant, helpless, frightened, panicking,...
- Picture 8: Technician Hannelore is ashamed, she is blushing.
- Picture 10: Giant Colossus has pity. Everyone is happy.
Research aids
- Picture 2: What do we need energy/electricity for? What runs on energy/electricity? What colour indicates that on the picture? Can we hang yellow stickers in places where energy/electricity is used in our classroom/school?
- Picture 3: Does a windmill always have three wings?
- Picture 6: What does the girl use energy/electricity for at home? And we? What do we use energy for at home?
Observing in detail
- Picture 1: Are all houses the same?
- Picture 2: What do you see? Why is the window open? Is that OK? Do cats watch TV? What could be done better?
- Picture 6: Does the girl have the same hair colour as her mum's?
- Picture 7: What do the workers need in order to work on the giant? Are all the workers men?
- Picture 8: Can you see mummy and daddy? How do you recognise them?
- Picture 9: where is the girl? Is this really possible? What is she carrying? Why?
- Picture 10: what are people doing to save energy? Who rides the bicycle?
Comparative observation
- Compare the houses in picture 1 with those in picture 5.
- Compare the houses in picture 10 with those in picture 1. Why does in picture 10 a sun shine?
- What works in picture 2 and does no longer work in picture 6?
- Compare Giant Colossus’s facial expression in picture 3 with the one in picture 10.
- Compare picture 9 with picture 7. Can you find the worker with the glasses?
General
If only that ended well / realise / van / learn a lesson / peculiar / not a wisp of
smoke / howling and screaming / tools / ranting and shouting / simply / growling / it’s of no use / I’m tired of it / I won’t do it any longer / I’m done with it now / loud noise / pity / not realising what is happening / investigating from head to toe / an awful lot / call / become read till behind the ears / look sad / cracks and crevices / admit / ring out / knowing what’s going on / she simply didn’t consider it / leak as a sieve / almost
Energy / Electricity
A giant windmill / towering above the earth / raging / wasting / saving energy / swinging / wings / high wings / large wings / catch the wind / shut down / pitch-dark / freezing cold / chimney / more economical / he slowly puts his large wings in motion / spin with joy / energy provider / insulate houses, save energy / run out of energy / the heating is switched on
Clarifying and re-enacting Giant Colossus’s story
Clarify Giant Colossus’s message to each other
Exchanging experiences and feelings by means of group discussions
Offering opportunities for free play
Processing the story musically
Clarifying and re-enacting Giant Colossus’s story
- Let the children empathize with the characters' feelings:
- Giant Colossus’s anger and satisfaction.
- Giant Colossus who refuses to produce any more energy / electricity.
- Feelings of the people when they have no electricity.
- Make the story more concrete: what’s the name of the girl? Does she have her own room and some devices that work on electricity? Does she have a brother, sister, other family situation? Is a technician and a windmill nearby? Are there concrete plans in the aria? A windmill for every home?
- Provide some clothing and other features so that the children can better empathize with the characters of the story.
- Let the children make up and act out a sequel to the story themselves.
Clarify Giant Colossus’s message to each other
- Start with picture 4 - "Giant is waving his wings" and picture 3 - "Giant is upset". Retell the corresponding text.
- Let the children explain in their own words what Giant Colossus's problem is. Compare this with the "little girl’s" explanation in picture 6: "I know what's going on. Giant Colossus is tired of people wasting so much energy. That's why he quits. He no longer wants to produce energy. People should first be more economical”. Compare also with the text of picture 8 (technician Hannelore). “She simply did not realize that Giant Colossus has to work hard to get energy to her house.”
- Let the children experience for themselves what toiling is, with the help of a torch with a turning handle. Let 1 child turn the handle and supply all children with electricity. This can be done, for example, by means of a scale model with houses or with all children in their own house (a hoop) inside or outside.
Exchanging experiences and feelings by means of group discussions
- Being upset: Have you ever been upset? How does that feel? How do you notice that someone is upset? Then what can you do? Make the link to Giant Colossus's anger.
- What is a giant? Have you ever met a giant? How big is a giant? Colossus is 80 meters high. How much is eighty meters on the ground? Can we experience this in the playground? Is it nice to be big? How does that feel? What else has the size of a giant? Is it nice to be small?
- Experiences related to energy / electricity in your own environment: what electrical appliances have we got in the classroom? What devices do you have at home? Are there any tricks or schemes to save energy?
- Have you ever experienced that an appliance does not work, that the electricity in the entire house / neighbourhood is cut off? How does that feel if a device does not work or if you are without light, without heating ...?
- What is wasting? What else can you waste? How can you waste electricity? How can you avoid this? What feelings do you have about this?
- Who can fix / repair certain things? Who does it? Examples? Feelings about this? Is this important? Why?
Offering opportunities for free play
- Provide clothing and play materials in the house corner and in the play kitchen: mood lamp, television, cell phone, cell phone charger, warm sweater, refrigerator, cooker, oven, microwave, toaster, windows open and closed. Let them act out situations in which they are energy efficient or not. Provide a sign board with a sun on one side and a moon on the other. The children turn the board themselves and experience day and night.
- Provide small objects and figures to re-enact the story: houses, trees, windmill, TV, play computer, lamp, heating appliance, dad, mom, girl,… technicians with helmets, ladder, tools, bicycles, solar panels.
- Don’t forget clothing and materials for builders and technicians in the building corner. Can we build a windmill or a high tower? Can we build a few houses with their own windmill, with insulated walls, a green roof, ... Provide extra materials such as a "van full of tools", helmets, work equipment, a large map as a working plan, ...
Processing the story musically
- Act out all kinds of situations in the house, kitchen and garden. Get some children react as an upset and a happy Giant Colossus would do, by moving their arms (wings) according to the situation..
- Draw/paint an upset and a happy Giant Colossus.
- Make two scale models: one with people who are using energy sparingly and one in which they are wasting energy and Giant Colossus is upset.
- Make a large Giant Colossus in cardboard and dress him up in a striped jumper or shirt, or paint him, etc. Possibly saw a large cardboard tube into rings, paint the outside and put it back together (see the structure of a wind turbine). Use this craftwork as an eye-catcher at the show.
Participation
- Respect whether children are willing to tell about their own environment and home situation or not.
- Give children the opportunity to choose a role when re-enacting Giant Colossus's story.
- Let the children choose for themselves what they want to process musically from the story.
Setting up and engaging a theme table
List and observe what has to do with energy / electricity at home and at school
Experience the power of wind and learn about wind energy
Make a list of how you can waste and save energy / electricity
Guided and independent play in the discovery and construction corner
Promote participation by the children and their environment
Setting up and engaging a theme table
Make sure there is enough variety. Add or discard topics according to the children’s interest.
- Together with the children and the parents, provide all sorts of materials to experiment with wind and windmills: all kinds of small windmills, a watermill for in the water basin, a small windmill with wings, etc.
- Also include pictures, advertising brochures and other images.
- Buy a discovery box about mills and electricity elements to experiment with.
- Provide a research booklet to note down some observations.
List and observe what has to do with energy / electricity at home and at school
- Start from picture 2 - "people waste energy". Make a list of what works on electricity in the classroom, in the school and in your own living environment: the living room, the kitchen, the bedroom, possibly the garden, the garage: an electric train, the fair, an automatic door, an elevator, a vacuum cleaner, a lamp that lights up automatically, a computer, a TV, a hot water boiler, an extension cord with switch light, the heating, the remote control of TV or gate, ……
- Discover together in the classroom, in the school and in the school environment all kinds of things that can be associated with electricity: appliances, power sockets, switches, plugs, extension cords, bulbs, possibly cables that are visible on the wall, an electricity meter, the fuse box, overhead power lines or an above-ground electricity pole, an electricity pylon, cables, solar panels, insulation materials, e.g. near a house under construction,….
- Teach them about pictures, energy labels on appliances, the door of an electricity booth, cables, pictures in advertising brochures,….
- Show how you can generate energy with a bicycle: does the bulb light up when you pedal? How come the bulb gives light when we pedal? Where does the energy come from? How is our energy converted into light? Visualize the circuit with a sketch.
- Reconstruct the path followed by a burning bulb in the classroom to a windmill or other source and vice versa: socket, mains, fuse box, (digital) electricity meter, lighting and electricity poles, electricity wires in the street, electricity cabin with danger sign, power plant, high-voltage cables. Put pictures in order if necessary.
Experience the power of wind and learn about wind energy
- On a windy day, observe how children deal with wind. Offer extra materials to experiment with: a paper and a plastic bag, windmills, a kite, a flag line, ... Together with the children, look for set-ups and places where the wind blows strongly or little. Compare the different materials, set-ups and places, ...
- Explore the environment for things that blow, move or make noise with the wind: trees, flags, a weathercock, a beach flag, garlands, a kite, litter, a wind meter, clouds, a windsock, a wind organ, a wind bell, etc.
- Craft all kinds of constructions and windmills together yourself. And try them out.
- Photograph or film what you see. Show this to the children and discuss their reactions.
- Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of wind.
- Explain that people can make energy/electricity with windmills.
Mills exploration
- Is there a windmill nearby? A windmill with wings in a front garden? A large wind turbine such as Giant Colossus? An old mill grinding grain? Observe and discuss from a distance.
- Complete with images and search for videos on the internet.
- What is a mill? How does a mill work? What is a wick or wing?
- What are wind turbines used for (in the past, now and elsewhere)?
- Can we build a mill together and make it work? If necessary, use a scale model, construction kit and toys.
Make a list of how you can waste and save energy / electricity
- Go back to picture 2 - "people waste energy".
- Look together for other examples of how you can waste electricity.
- How come people need / want to use that much electricity? Is electricity always needed?
- Discuss with the children what they think about this. Let them explain themselves why it is not okay to waste energy / electricity.
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of electricity?
- Can we live without electricity? Can we imagine that? What can we no longer do if there is no electricity? Can we do that differently?
- Make the connection with picture 5 - "Giant halts his waving wings". Let the children tell what they think about this.
- How can you avoid waste and use energy / electricity economically? Let the children make a list and show it if possible. Add to it yourself: turn down the heating, switch off appliances, close curtains and shutters, turn heating down at night, use fan instead of air conditioning, use LED lights, switch off lights, only put on the hot water boiler in the kitchen when you really need it, insulate your house better, make sure that you can use the sunlight during the day so that you don't need that much electricity,….
- How come people continue wasting energy? Does that take much effort? Why is it not easy for people to change their behaviour? What can help with that?
Guided and independent play in the discovery and construction corner
- Teach them how to make connections and circuits, how to make a buzzer sound, how to light a light. Use an 'electro kit' to make a wheel, a cogwheel, a fan, a 'flying saucer'. Make a motor turn... See https://www.achtwespen.be/winkel >> rental box electricity.
- Try to get hold of an old 'electro-game' with a battery and a light bulb, 2 wires and assignment cards you can also adapt yourself. If necessary, make it yourself. See also Jumbo Electro-Kindergarten. You can also collect materials to make your own doorbell with push button. Young children can also work with this independently.
- Give the children the opportunity to build a windmill in the construction corner. They can also build houses that are friendly / not so friendly to Giant Colossus: big or not so big, without a window or with a window to get sunlight in every room, with or without insulation, with or without solar panels, with or without its own windmill,... Enrich your construction corner with these extra materials.
Promote participation by the children and their environment
- Have the children bring something from home that has to do with energy / electricity or that does not require electricity (kite, mill, toys, board game, book, pictures, alarm clock, torch with a turning handle, electric kit, ...)
- Visit or receive a visit from a technician, engineer, electrician or architect.
- Work together with the municipality, a company or association to show children where electricity comes from.
For those who want more
- Establish a link with all kinds of mills from elsewhere or from the past: to grind grain, to press oil, to make paper, to pump water, ...
- Get acquainted with auxiliary equipment, e.g. in the kitchen: a mixing sieve for making mashed potatoes (a passe-vit), a can opener, a salad spinner, a kitchen robot, a mixer, ... Clarify the use of energy / electricity and also the use of gears.
- Use games and discovery boxes with gears. Let the children experiment. Let them experience how gears and devices work, e.g. to transmit movements, to convert wind into energy / electricity, ...
- Also look for batteries. Clarify that some electricity is stored in batteries. Discuss pros and cons. Explain how to deal with it.
- With the KaMOShibai story "Leon" you can find a KaMOShi guide which indicates some similar ideas.
- To elaborate on the connection with global warming, you can use the KaMOShibai story "Terra is ill". There is also a KaMOShibai guide with that story.
Helping each other to be more economical with electricity
Organize a show moment for parents, grandparents, other classes, ...
Participation of the children and their environment
Helping each other to be more economical with electricity
- Organize a group discussion about how children use electricity at home and in the classroom: let them give tips they have already heard before and tips they have invented themselves: do not turn on too many lights, turn off lights when you are not in the room, close doors properly, let the sun in and open and close the curtains as the situation requires, put on a warm sweater and turn the heating down a bit, do not use too much hot water e.g. for taking a shower, use new LED lamps instead of old bulbs, learn to know, detect and avoid standby power or leaking electricity…
- Examples where energy but no electricity is needed may also provide inspiration for actions, e.g. using a wind-up alarm clock to announce the clean-up.
- Together with the children, choose the most important tips they want to apply in the classroom for an agreed period. If you have observed in advance how the children deal with electricity in the classroom, you can confront them with it. Agree on arrangements. Have the children draw the arrangements. Hang the drawings in the places where the arrangements apply. Encourage the children to help each other. Rely on the children’s drawings to make icons for the arrangements.
- Regularly discuss the results. Have the children, as energy captains, keep track of the arrangements in a table: properly followed up / could be improved. Possibly, think of a different name for the "energy captains".
Organize a show moment for parents, grandparents, other classes, ...
- Have some children act out the story.
- Help the children to tell something about some of the things on the theme table. Make sure that they can demonstrate, for example, a power circuit.
- Exhibit the children’s inventions and visual work. Let them explain.
- Support the children when they are clarifying some arrangements and drawings in connection with energy waste. Have them explain how they follow this up in the classroom. Make an appeal to agree on arrangements to combat energy waste at home or in other classrooms. Give a copy of the icons you use in the class to anyone who wants them.
- Provide parents with a topic bundle so they can see how you have handled it in class.
Organize a low-energy / "low-electricity" day with the class or the school as a stepping stone to a sustainable energy policy
- Check what you use electricity for in class and what you can do without electricity.
- Inform other classes and parents that you will be using as few electricity as possible during a full or half day. Let children explain why the class is doing this.
- Ask parents to give them a warm sweater,… and a cap, a hat or other headgear.
- Lower the heating a little. Use an old school bell. Sing together instead of listening to music. Do not use lighting or a computer. Put the toys with batteries on the closet after children have determined they cannot work without batteries. Provide cosiness, a rich range of games and indoor and outdoor activities, stories and a lot of variation. You don't need electricity for a kamoshibai story either. And you? Do you think you would be able not to use your mobile phone or tablet for a day?
- Discuss with the children what they think and what they’ve learned from it. Put together a suitcase with objects and tips to 'survive' with the class group, if one day the electricity is really cut off.
- Discuss with the children how often you want to repeat all this, so that it is not just a one-off initiative.
- See also MOS action card “Energiekje trekt de stekker uit” (E. pulls out the plug).
Participation of the children and their environment
- Let the children decide for themselves as much as possible which action they prefer and what they want to do at the show moment.
- Give children the space and support to propose and carry out their own actions, e.g. gathering batteries.
- Work together with colleagues and management in order to make the school environment fully children safe and sustainable. Make sure that electrical sockets and extension cords do not present any danger to the children. Replace defective bulbs with LED lighting. Ask for sensor lighting in the corridors and on the playground. Encourage the installation of solar panels. Measure and reduce energy consumption. Use a transit plug or an energy meter to measure how much energy an appliance consumes, an extension lead with a switch, a thermometer, draft strips, a shower timer, etc.
- Take part in actions by the municipality and associations to raise awareness of the use of energy and electricity in the school environment.