Herald in the new school year with Peace Day! Stand Up for Peace One Day is a lesson taken from our USA Peace Education Resource and provides the ideal opportunity to get the whole school or community involved in a positive celebration for 21 September, Peace Day. These Resources are free and available in the six official languages of the United Nations; they can be accessed by completing a short registration process.

We invite you and your students/colleagues/friends to participate in Peace Day by making a commitment and taking a photo or video of this commitment. This could involve painting banners, spelling peace words or images through students making the shapes by standing in formation. Over the years we have been sent some incredible images from all over the world and we are hoping 2010 will be the best year yet!

Lesson 4J –Stand Up for Peace One Day provides a guide on how to organize this event in a straightforward and flexible manner, relative to what is feasible within your school or community. As this creative and inclusive opportunity happens at the beginning of the school year it is an excellent ‘icebreaker’, allowing students and teachers to get to know one-another. This is a group activity, encouraging students of mixed ages and ability to work together; they will have opportunities to develop confidence and compassion through working together for a common goal.

There are 2 activities:

·         Deciding what you want to spell out and who will be responsible for which letters

·         Making the formation and taking the photo/video

This activity is not just about the end result it is also about the process of a group coming to a unanimous decision about how would they like express their commitment to Peace, and working together to make it a reality.

Wherever you are in the world we hope you and your students will join in the Peace Day fun!

PLEASE REMEMBER to send us your pictures or videos to the following email address: web@peaceoneday.org, so we could post up your work on our website to motivate others to take part in this event next year and give them the opportunity to enjoy it as you did.

Thank you for Standing up for Peace One Day.

Emily Dew

Emily.dew@peaceoneday.org