Get Involved...Schools

 

"Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world."
- Nelson Mandela
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The Art of Peace Tyler provides a powerful and important opportunity to engage students in many activities related to envisioning peace, developing global awareness, and making a positive difference in their world.
 
Peace education is at the top of our agenda. This handout is being offered to support you in your efforts to raise awareness about the importance of peace and provide you with ideas, tools and tips by planning and promoting peace related activities. Inspire and empower your students to use and apply their knowledge and skills in the name of peace!

“Establishing lasting peace is the work of education. All politics can do is keep us out of war.”
- Maria Montessori
 

Here are some suggestions for peace activities and events you might choose to implement at your school:
 
• Peace Posters - created by students and displayed throughout the school.
 

• Peace Mural - a peace mural created by groups of students and displayed in a prominent location. 

• Peace Quotes - have students research quotes about peace which they can then display on posters and illustrate. 

• Peace Research Project - encourage students to investigate the lives of renowned peace makers and create a report or presentation that they can share with others.

• Peace Library Resources - create a section in the school library devoted to peace where books about peace and peace makers are displayed.

• Peace Buttons/Badges - if your school has a button maker, create personalized peace buttons for students and encourage them to wear these throughout the 12 days of the Peace Festival.

• Peace Concert – teach students songs about peace which they can perform at a school wide concert. Perhaps community musicians could be invited to be a part of this.

• Peace Play/Readers’ Theater – individual classes or groups of students may choose to discover or develop a play about peace which they could then perform in front of other groups.

• Peaceful Conflict Resolution – this is a good opportunity to provide students with tools and strategies to use in order to resolve conflicts in a peaceful manner. This is certainly a key component of developing a culture of peace focus in schools.

• One Sky, One World Kite Flying – have students create bright, colorful peace kites and fly these in small groups in the school field.

•    - Planting Peace Garden/Flowers – Develop an outdoor space in the school yard as Peace Garden and have students plant seeds, bulbs and shrubs.  Add student decorated Peace Rocks or Peace Stepping Stones.

• Cooperative Games Day – a field day featuring games and event based on cooperation rather than competition.

• Multi-cultural Day – a day to celebrate diversity and the different cultures which make up the school population. Include food, dance, music and presentations.

• Peace Service Project – the school as a whole or individual classes can embark on various service projects aimed at making the world better for others.

• Peace Pole – erect a pole bearing the phrase “May Peace Prevail on Earth”
 
These are just a few ideas but we know that you will be able to come up with many of your own.
 
Here are just a few of the many online resources you may want to investigate:
 
•    Peace One Day
•    Peaceful Schools International
•    Teach for Peace
•    Cultivating Peace
•    Building Peace

“Unless we teach children peace, someone else will teach them violence.”
- Colman McCarthy