モンテッソーリ流の平和教育

In this multi day class, learners will have the opportunity to understand the many facets of peace education within the Grace and Courtesy Curriculum and its importance to Montessori education. By exploring a variety of peace-based activities, students will be able to develop skills in the area of conflict resolution.
Maria Montessori dedicated her life to the spiritual renewal and progress of humanity through the child. She wanted the child to have a vision of the whole universe. Maria taught that all things are connected in the universe to form one whole unity. This is the basis for her Montessori teachings. 
In this course, we will begin our first meeting with introductions, overview of rules and a short icebreaker activity. Our class meetings will follow the format below: 
Meeting 1, February 26- Our first lesson will center around the theme of peace and what that looks like in our world. We will do this through learning about the symbols of peace such as the dove and peace rose. In addition, students  will learn a few simple songs about peace. We will also do a peace dove activity in which learners will cut out dove templates and write kind words on each dove (
Kindness, patience, gentleness) to place on a peace tree. 
Meeting 2, March 5- In our second meeting, learners will spend time Learning how to create and promote a peaceful environment. This will include learning the actions of speaking and acting with kindness, treating others with respect, understanding others points of view, and working/playing cooperatively. Learners will also practice communicating “I messages “ to express  thought and feeling in our experiences with each other. Examples of this would be: “I feel, when you, because, and I would like.” Students will also learn the difference between “you“ messages and “I“ messages through role play activities. By doing this, students practice stating their needs and work together towards compromise. It is important that each person be able to learn how identify their feelings, reflect on them, and communicate the feelings in a manner that promotes peace, respect, and understanding.  As a closing activity, students will listen to the read aloud “The Peace Rose“ to reinforce the theme of peace when dealing with conflict. 

Meeting 3, March 12- For this third meeting, we will begin by using our senses to participate in a call and response activity which promotes the idea of “peace will come.” (Ex: When  we use our hearts to love each other as much as ourselves, peace will come.) 
Students will then learn how to create a peaceful area (peace table or shelf if possible) in their environment. The purpose of a peace corner is to create an inviting space for a child to find peace, which can be seen as a safe haven during times of conflict. We will create calming jars through a teacher led demonstration which uses a few simple home ingredients. Other items that learners will be encouraged to find and use include a plant/ flowers, rocks/shells, pictures and a book which reinforce peaceful and calm feelings. 
If time allows, learners will observe and create Montessori origami paper peace cranes through a teacher led demonstration. 
Maria Montessori believed that all children have been themselves the tools for resolving conflicts peacefully. But using the techniques taught in this class, children and adults can learn to interact with each other in ways that promote peace, respect, understanding and communication.