Because of today’s: world situation, hurried lifestyles, lack of family structure, lack of opportunities to engage in quiet gentle activities, lack of positive role models, abuse and neglectful situations, the TV, and on and on, children have little chance to develop an inner peace that builds self esteem, self reliance and self resilience.

For some children, we as teachers, will be the only positive role model a child might come into contact with to see how life situations should be handled. We can model the gentleness and peacefulness that is needed right now through: our tone of voice, direct physical contact and physical presence, patience, empathy, respect, creating a sense of belonging and a sense of security.

The following are 5 PEACE (Finding inner peace) lessons that could be done in your classroom.

PEACE

I. Introduction: Finding Peace Within Yourself

Brainstorm:
What does the word peace mean?
Where do you use it being heard?
Where would we like to see peace?

Express: we can’t control what others do in our world; but we can do a lot to make ourselves at peace.

1. What can a person do to find peace in himself? Be calm, Be kind, Be cooperative, Find good things about each day and focus on them…not the bad.

2. Using a body map – ask the children to label uses of their body in peaceful ways – examples could include: I use my hands for helping, I use my mouth for saying kind things, I use my stomach to eat foods that I enjoy, I use my legs to exercise when I am stressed, I use my arms to hug, I use my heart to love my parents, etc.

3. End with a Peace Circle: Go around the room and each person gets to share something good that happened to them that day – or something good they did for someone else that day.

II. Introduction: Being Peaceful

Brainstorm:
Ways to make our bodies peaceful
Exercise, sing, think good thoughts, relax, listen to music, go for a quiet walk, etc.
Express: Sometimes we don’t feel very peaceful inside and we need to take a few minutes to get calm and peaceful. A good way to do that is to squeeze our peace balls.

1. Make peace balls (or stress balls): Fill balloons with flour, rice, cornmeal, dried beans, etc. You should use latex balloons, and you may want to double them.

Have materials out for children to play with a little – let them feel the materials, pour it back and forth, put it in and out of funnels, and then decide which to put into their balloons – the activity itself will be calming for children – they will enjoy pouring, and feeling the material in their hands. (The plastic shoe boxes are good for holding this material.)

Children will fill their doubled balloons with a material – which ever felt best to them. After, they can write the word peace on their balls with markers– or whatever they may choose to call it.

While the children are doing this activity, it would be a good time to play classical music and ask them to work quietly.

2. Process this experience with the children – Did it help make them feel calmer? – Did they like the feel of the material in their fingers? Do they think it could help them if they are worried or upset to squeeze the ball? Practice some – squeezing the ball while listening to calming music.

3. Peace Circle: Each person squeezes their ball and tells something good about themselves and how they handle tough situations.

III. Introduction: Peacefulness in Your Family

Discuss ways to keep peace in your families. Some examples include: don’t argue with your brothers and sisters, do your chores, don’t talk back, have a kind attitude, seek ways to help each other, go to bed without a fuss, etc.

You may also need to discuss that we can’t control what the grown ups in our lives do – but we can stay out of their way when they are upset.

1. Ask the children to draw a picture of your family doing something that would be fun and peaceful together. As they are drawing, you could go around the room and ask children individually what they could be doing to make sure everyone is having fun and feeling peaceful in their picture. (You are helping them establish what their role is in keeping
peace at home.)

2. Peace circle: Each person shares their picture and tells how they will help out more in their families.

IV. Introduction: Peacefulness with Friends

Discuss how peace is often disrupted with friends – arguments, teasing, lying, jealousy, etc. An example might include playing on a ball team, and the teams start arguing about the score. Is arguing more fun than playing? What can we do to have more peace in our friendships?

1. Friendship Map: Lay out a large sheet of butcher paper on a long table. (You should draw in a few roads on this paper for later use.) Have the children stand around it. (You can also do this on the floor, because you will probably need more than one large sheet of paper.) Ask each child to draw his house in front of him and add himself at his house. If time permits, the children could also add the park, a store, McDonalds, etc. After this is all drawn in, give out toy cars – have the children visit with friends, using the cars as vehicles to get from one house to the other.

2. Peace Circle: Process what the children did. Did they enjoy visiting each other? Can they see that friends are close by? Again, reiterate what needs to be done to stay in peace with our friends.

V. Introduction: Peacefulness at School

Discuss ways to be peaceful in school. Introduce the word compromise – define it - putting ideas together to make a new idea. Ask the students what a school would look like that is not peaceful; then what a peaceful school would look like. Ask the students which would be better and why.

1. Draw a picture of your peaceful classroom. As they are drawing – ask them - What is taking place? Where are they? What are they doing? What are they going to do when someone gets mean? Are they learning better because it is peaceful? Are they happy? If you were the teacher, how would you help make the classroom more peaceful?

2. Peace Circle: Share the pictures, and each child tells something they are going to do to make the classroom a peaceful place to learn.

After this introduction to peace for a week, you might want to continue with the peace circle in your room. It could be a time when children could share with you what they are worried about, scared about, proud of, etc. (A point about disclosure – a child might disclose something in this atmosphere that you are uncomfortable with – like, my dad drinks beer every night and my mom yells at him and tells him to get out of the house – you would simply say, that’s sounds sad for you, maybe we could talk about it later, and move on. Afterwards you might ask the child if she wants to talk about it, or you might ask the child if she wants to see the counselor.)

Resources: The Kindness Curriculum, Judith Roe
Peacefulness, Lucia Raatma