Pinwheels for Peace Project

Friday, September 21^st  is the International Day of Peace. To recognize this event, my elementary students created Peace Pinwheels that were placed out on the front lawn of our school in front of the school sign.

 

This idea was created by two art teachers’ years ago that wanted a way to make a visual public statement to celebrate Peace.  I collaborated with the high school art teacher to bring this Day of Peace to all of the schools in the district by having all art students create pinwheels.

 

Before creating Peace Pinwheels students in grades K-6 discussed what the word “Peace” meant to them personally and as a school community.  Student responses included “being nice to someone,” “a quiet place to read,” “no war,” and “standing up to a bully.”  Each class also discussed ways to promote a Peaceful, Safe, and Happy world of Harmony every day not only on Friday.  Students then visually drew a picture using symbols and words to explain what Peace meant to them. 

 

Some students drew peaceful places while others used words to express their peaceful message.








 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th grade students helped assemble and place the pinwheels for the Day of Peace.

 

 

 

 

“Every day, we are bombarded with television images, video games, music, and magazine articles/newspapers that give importance to conflict and war. Violence has become commonplace and accepted as part of our society and, for some, it is a way of life. It is our hope that through the Pinwheels for Peace project, we can make a public visual statement about our feelings about war/ peace/ tolerance/ cooperation/ harmony/ unity and, in some way, maybe, awaken the public and let them know what we are thinking.

This is not political. Peace doesn’t necessarily have to be associated with the conflict of war, it can be related to violence/intolerance in our daily lives, to peace of mind. To each of us, peace can take on a different meaning, but, in the end, it all comes down to a simple definition: a state of calm and serenity, with no anxiety, the absence of violence, freedom from conflict or disagreement among people or groups of people.”

 

-excerpt from the Pinwheels for Peace Project website. 



 Learn more at www.pinwheelsforpeace.com