CIVIL DISCOURSE
CELEBRATING PEACE at the Red Gables Campus
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h i s f a l l , t h e R e d G a b l e s curriculum and develop a sense of Campus was filled with the community,” explains Chinese teacher, sounds of Chinese poems and Caitlin Harris. Spanish songs, the movement of scarf dances, and the sights of wishing stars “The Specials teachers look for ways and paper sculpture f lower gardens. to collaborate on themes during the While these might sound like elements year in the hopes of offering a richer of a mu lt i- cu lt u ra l fes t iva l , t hey learning experience for the children— were student creations that lined the lea rning that they experience in a walkways and hallways of campus as variety of ways with different specials part of the Path of Peace. teachers, and learning that occurs over a longer period of time, giving The Peace Walk was the culmination the students a chance to do a deeper o f a c r o s s - d i s c i p l i n a r y p r o j e c t dive into the topic,” shares Technology inspired by the International Day of Integration Specialist, Terri Schulz. Peace on September 21. Teachers of “The children really shine when they Lower School Specials—Art, World have the opportunity to develop an Languages, Music, Library, Technology, understanding of a topic over time. and Science—coordinated efforts to They use their talents to the fullest create a unit on peace for students because they can study a theme and i n K i n d e r g a r t e n t h r o u g h G r a d e contribute their own streng th to a 5. “ We thought bringing peace into group effort—the touch of an artist, the our curriculum in this difficult year beat of a musician, the experimental would be a perfect way to enrich our enthusiasm of a scientist, the perfect
8 | ENSWORTH ENSIGHTS
pitch of a foreign language, the knack for t e ch nolog y, t he empat hy a nd leadership needed to work together.” Many elements of the project were inspired by readings such as Todd Parr’s The Peace Book, It’s Ok to Be Different, and Love the World; Susan Verde’s I am Human: A Book of Empathy, a nd va rious Spa nish a nd Chinese poems. In kindergarten and first grade, students learned scarf dances in music and created handmade peace crowns and artwork based on the poems they read about endangered species. G r a d e 2 s t u d e nt s d e c or a t e d t h e hallways with wishing stars, fall leaves, and snowf lake art and sent Chinese postca rds of peace to loca l senior assisted living facilities. Third graders painted rocks with messages of peace in Chinese and Spanish and displayed them around the campus for others to
