Activities for a Time of Stress This is the time of year when we often think about peace and yet many times find ourselves stressed from holiday preparations and rounds of visitors. Below are some activities that teachers can do with their students, and parents can do with their children, or that you can do on your own, in order […]
The arts are a universal language of peace
by Joan Koster, author Growing Artists: Teaching the Arts to Young Children We may not understand the words in a song or the techniques in a painting from another time or place, but we can feel the artist’s humanity and feel what is important to him or her. In this way we can cross boundaries […]
Delayed Gratification
Who can wait longer for a reward? A human or a chimpanzee? In an article in Eric Jensen’s November blog, Jensen cites recent research that shows that chimpanzees can delay gratification longer than people. Here is an excerpt: *************** …The study pitted 19 chimps against 40 humans in a groundbreaking experiment. What you’re about to […]
I want to be a good person
There was once a boy named Nikolai who sometimes felt uncertain about the right way to act. “I want to be a good person…but I don’t always know the best way to do that.” So writes Jon J. Muth in a retelling of a story by Leo Tolstoy: The Three Questions. When is the best time to do […]
Bully by Patricia Polacco
Patricia Polacco has a new picturebook out. If you are expecting a sweet-hearted book like Thunder Cake or Renchko’s Eggs or Bun Bun Button, be forewarned, Polacco has again gone to the nub of an issue and faced it square on. This is a picturebook for middle schoolers not elementary school children. The characters are […]
Be Strong, Be Mean, or Give In?
In the corner of the preschool, Tio is building a block tower. “I’ll put this block on.” Andy says picking up a big blue block. “No way,” Tio says. “This is my tower.” “Then you can’t use this block, ” Andy says clutching it to his chest. Tio stands up. “Give it back.” […]
Is War Inevitable?
Modern man inherits all the pugnacity and all the love of glory of his ancestors. Showing war’s irrationality and horror has no effect on him. The horrors make the fascination. War is the strong life. William James Last Friday, September 21, was the International Day of Peace. Did you honor the day? I did. Thousands […]
Celebrate – Create Sustainable Peace
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a day when people everywhere stopped fighting wars, and instead gave humanitarian aid? By Tim Wolcott Well, there is a day dedicated each year to the cessation of hostilities and to public awareness of issues related to peace. It’s the International Day of Peace, established by the United Nations […]
International Day of Democracy
September 15th is the International Day of Democracy. A good day to check out how democracy plays out in your own family, community, and school. When I was a child, I attended a “Democracy in Action” elementary school. In every class from kindergarten to sixth grade we voted – every day. We voted on which […]
Remembering Hell
Remembering Hell by Joan Koster What are you planning to do tomorrow? Get up? Eat breakfast? Go to work? Sixty-four years ago on August 6th, 1945 the people living in the city of Hiroshima were getting ready for their day. At 8:15 AM the first atomic bomb was dropped, killing 140,000 people in a man-made […]
CEASE
Does what we teach our children match what is happening in the world? In 1979 peace educator Peggy Schirmer and a friend walked into the preschool on Otis Air Force Base and told the teachers about the mock nuclear explosion to be set off at the Cape Cod base. The preschool teachers, like all teachers, […]
When Violence is the Answer
In light of the recent event in Aurora Colorado, it behooves us to re-examine the violent nature of our society where all too often the solution to one’s personal hurts seems to be go out and hurt someone else. Why? It’s on the TV, on the movie screen, in the video games: According to the […]
