International Day of Peace

I always like to do a project for International Day of Peace, I've done something for almost all of the 20 years I've been teaching.  Many of those years I did Pinwheels for Peace.  Which is a great project, the kids love doing the pinwheels and we always made a big deal out of "planting" our pinwheels.  We got everyone involved, music, PE, Enrichment classes, and of course the art class. 

 Although there were many positives to this activity, there are a few things to consider if your going to do it.  Number one, how many kids do you plan to do this activity with and how many people are helping you?  I always had around 600-700 kids, and I had NO help.  My fingers were tired and bleeding from pushing the pins in to make a pinwheel.  Even if the older kids can do it, you will end up helping many. And forget it, Kinder, 1st and 2nd grade, I was envisioning the worst!  So I did ALL of those.

Also, another thing to consider is your soil that you will be planting your pinwheels.  Many years we are in drought stages here in the great state of Texas, and let me tell you, even planting a pencil can be a might feat! There were many tears shed because their pencils broke before they could get it planted.

  These days, I'm teaching just under 900 kids, there is no way I could make these and keep my sanity.  So, years back, I did take a much needed break from the pinwheel project and came up with the idea to do these Positive/Negative dove images.  These are great collaborative projects that can be done quickly.  I did these on the first day of school after we went over a few expectations of the art room.  I rotated tables to add to the art work and to sign their poster.  This also fits in nicely with our anti bully program.

  I did these on the first day of school after we went over a few expectations of the art room.  I rotated tables to add to the art work and to sign their poster.  This also fits in nicely with our anti bully program. 

It is also nice to have the peace language up in the hallway, it will hopefully encourage some good discussions and make kids (and adults), to stop and think about kindness.  

The vocabulary is great, and I have heard a few teachers discussing some of the words with their students!  I'd say that is pretty successful.

These were mostly done with sharpie colors, except for kinder, I subbed the crayola art sticks for the sharpies.  Each class chose a symbol, word, line, or shape to fill in the negative space, or positive space.  

Most posters have a different word, although I did repeat a few.  In the future, I might print out the words before hand.   It would look much better than my handwriting.