Thursday, September 27, 2012

In Honor of Peace Day

Last Friday, September 21, marked the occasion of International Peace Day.  As peace is an everyday component of our Montessori classroom, I wanted to be sure to mark this special event with a meaningful activity.  We read the book, Peace Begins With Me, a wonderfully simple representation of how peace begins with each of us - a perfect introduction for our new classmates and a pleasant reminder for returning children.
Available from Montessori Services.
We talked about the dove as a symbol of peace and I showed a prepared canvas with an outline of a peace dove.  This, I explained, is going to be our classroom symbol of peace and each child can make a promise for peace within oneself and with each other by placing a series of thumbprints inside the peace dove.  Each child's name is written underneath and after they have made their promise for peace, they make one more thumbprint above their name.  I saw this idea on Pinterest last year, and knew it would be the ideal group project at the beginning of the year.  What a beautiful way to encourage the formation of our classroom culture while celebrating Peace Day!

Our book and canvas.
As the children arrived in the morning, I had them come to table where I had set up the canvas with a selection of paints.  Each time, a small gathering of children came to watch as their classmate made a "promise for peace" and made their thumbprints in the peace dove and above their name.  It was heartwarming to hear others remark, "Thank you for your promise for peace," as each child finished.

Promises for Peace
There are no words for such beauty!

3 comments:

  1. I high appreciate this post. It’s hard to find the good from the bad sometimes. but I think you’ve nailed it! would you mind updating your blog with more information?
    Montessori

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  2. Wonderful! Thank you for the inspiration!

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