Follow-Up on Pinwheels for Peace

For those of you who loved the Pinwheels for Peace Tutorial on September 11 by Barbara from The Corner on Character, click here to see a follow up of what her school did for International Day of Peace on September 21. 

That is all. Have a wonderful week!

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.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FOLLOW THROUGH OF THIS ACTIVITY AT BARBARA'S SCHOOL ON INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE

Wishlist Wednesday:The Corner on Character

Hello Friends! This week's guest blogger is Barbara from The Corner on Character. Her blog is truly inspiring and helping to make the world a better place. Please take a moment to check out her blog which always finds a way to put a positive spin on things. Just reading her posts cheers me up every time!

Peace On Earth by Barbara Gruener 

It’s Wish List Wednesday and I’m going to go all out and wish for peace.  Peace on earth.  Peace in my back yard.  Peace of mind.  I know, I know, it’s a lofty goal, but don’t worry, I have a plan.  Here’s what I’m thinking are some of the essential ingredients that we’ll need as we make PEACE a reality.  If only we could add these virtues to our Core Standards recipe somehow, we’d be cooking up a whole generation of Peace Makers!  

P – A scoop of Purpose and Patience

E – A heap of Empathy and Enthusiasm

A – A dollop of Acceptance and Apology

C – A generous helping of Compassion and Charity

E – A dash of Encouragement and Energy

Patience and Purpose:  As we teach children to navigate their way through life, we need to be intentional; to do things with purpose.  Let’s not leave anything to chance.  Help them figure out where they belong.  Then teach them to be patient and give themselves (and others!) the gift of time.

Empathy and Enthusiasm:  Help students learn to put themselves in each other’s shoes so that their empathy will grow.  Look for elevating experiences to share with them.  Foster enthusiasm in students by sharing their joy when they make good character choices.

Acceptance and Apology:  Teach students to accept – celebrate and champion even! – one another’s differences and to apologize when they stray from the path of character choices to put us that much further down the road toward peace on earth.

Compassion and Charity:  Show your students how to think with their hearts and they’ll find themselves in the service of others.  Build that capacity for caring and compassion so that inner and outer peace naturally follows.

Encouragement and Energy:  Encourage literally translates into empowering with courage.  Help students find the courage to do the right thing; it will positively energize tomorrow’s leaders as they make footsteps worth following.

You may be wondering if I have a favorite teaching tool for this intangible concept, and the answer is an unequivocal YES!  Check out the book entitled Shhh! by Jeanne Willis.  In this treasure chunk full of onomatopoeic words, a little shrew has something important to share but the hustle and bustle of the world around him drowns out his voice and keeps him from being heard.  He’s got a secret; wanna know what it is?  If you don’t already have a copy on your shelf, put it on your Wish List.  In the meantime, sing it with me:  Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me!