Remembrance Day Peace Education

 With Remembrance Day approaching, I have spent some time over the past week discussing the concept of "peace" with the Kiddoes. We read a story by Todd Parr entitled, "The Peace Book". This book accurately and age appropriately discusses with many relevant examples, what peace is.

We have begun to learn that peace means having all of our "needs" met. (i.e. a safe place to live, enough food and water, the ability to go to school, access to medicine etc.) The Kiddoes have been presented with images/stories from around the world and in our own province and engaged in discussions about whether or not individuals from various countries and those in our own country/province/town have the same amount of peace that we are lucky enough to have. It is an honour to be present when you see the Kiddoes’ heads slightly shift and you can tell that they are thinking deeply about equity/inequity. Challenging the thinking of the Kiddoes (always in an age appropriate manner) is an integral part of our curriculum and in helping them to become global citizens.

We continued our discussion about peace yesterday and today by talking about Remembrance Day. The Kiddos learned that there are men and women all over the world who have in the past, and are currently working to ensure everyone has access to the same peace we enjoy. We celebrate Remembrance Day as a way to say 'Thank You', and we use the poppy as a symbol of this thanks. Once we finished this discussion, the Kiddos headed to the tables to colour in poppies for a contest created by our local legion. Please see your child's portfolio to see his/her poppy.