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Showing posts with label 9/11. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 9/11. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Tutorial Tuesday: Pinwheels for Peace

Pinwheels for Peace by Barbara Gruener

We'll be celebrating International Day of Peace on September 21st; what will be different about that day for you and your little peacemakers?


At Westwood-Bales, the art teacher, music teacher, and counselor (that's me!) are working in concert to create a visual representation of this International event with our Pinwheels For Peace project. Click {here} for the Pinwheel template.

 

Students in our art rotation will each decorate a piece of pinwheel paper to show how they're peacemakers. Our older artists will learn about squaring off, cutting and folding; the younger sprouts may need help with the cutting once they've finished their pictures. Parent volunteers will do the pinning to the pencil. Sharpen the pencils for easier entrance into the ground. Students can use a straw and a brad if they parade around with them inside instead of planting them outside.


Students in our music rotation will be learning a song about peace (with some Hebrew along with some sign language) that they will be singing and signing while our art students plant their pinwheels in the shape of a peace sign out in front of our school. 

My job these two weeks is to talk with the students about being peacemakers. What does a peacemaker look like? Sound like? Feel like? Act like? Hope for? Do? Why would we want to be peacemakers? And is world peace even possible? Basically I get to prepare them for the celebration and I can't wait!
Are you ready for some Whirled Peace?
Click {here} for a video tutorial.

Thank you, Cachey Mama, for inviting me to share this idea with your readers. For more character-infusion ideas, please come by The Corner on Character.



Saturday, September 10, 2011

Helping Children Understand 9/11

10 years after the terrorist attacks on September 11 and it is still fresh in a lot of our minds. But for the children we teach, they were not even alive when it happened. So how do we go about answering their questions when they hear about it on the news, parents and maybe even other kids talking about it? "We will never forget" has been the popular slogan referring to 9/11. So what will you choose to do? Will you forget or will you honor those that lost their lives by passing the message on to generations to come so that we will always remember? Here are some ideas of ways to talk to your children about 9/11:

Tips on talking to your children about 9/11 from the 911.org site where you can reserve a visit to the memorial.


This is a list of books for teaching about Patriot Day (9/11)



Here is a video with children reading a book about 9/11 aloud: