of Peace | Peace is a Sunset | Puppets
for Peace | Peaceful Places in our School | Peace Cranes
in Mrs. Bauer's Grade 4 class have been exploring the symbols of peace.
The sunflower is an internationally recognized symbol of peace which represents
the end of nuclear weapons. The children planted sunflowers and made wishes
of peace for the earth. The students have created wire sculptures of a
sunflower and inside of each sunflower, then chose another symbol of peace
such as the kite, poppy, dove, or hand.
is a Sunset
to listen to "Peace
Is a Sunset," a song by Grade 1 Room 17 (MP3)
at Olympic Heights School enjoyed Puppets for Peace presentations by The
Project Ploughshares organization. These interactive puppet plays introduced
“the ‘Footsteps to Peace” strategies and grade appropriate
scenarios which explore what bullying means and how to handle it peacefully.
Places in Our School
Grade 1 Room 17
The children talked
about all the peaceful places there are around our school and how they
felt when they went there. They thought it would be great to share these
special spots. They broke up into groups and took pictures of places that
they loved with the digital camera. Then they used a photo editor to turn
the pictures into art. Here are some of their works of art.
Click to enlarge
Sadako Sasaki was two years old when the bomb was dropped on her home city of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6. 1945. Sadako seemed to escape any ill effects after her
exposure to the bomb, until, ten years later, she developed leukemia “the atom bomb
While she was in the hospital, her friend Chizuko brought her a folded paper crane and told her the story about it. According to Japanese legend, the crane lives for a thousand years and a sick person who folds a thousand cranes will become well again.
Sadako folded cranes through her illness. The flock hung above her bed on strings. When she died at the age of twelve, Sadako had folded six hundred and forty-four (644) cranes. Classmates folded the remaining three hundred and fifty-six (356) cranes so that one thousand were buried with Sadako.
In 1958, with contributions from school children, a statue was erected in Hiroshima Peace Park, dedicated to Sadako and to all children who were killed by the atom bomb.
Each year on August 6, Peace Day, thousand of paper cranes are placed beneath Sadako’s statue by people who wish to remember Hiroshima and express this hopes for a peaceful world.
Their prayer is engraved on the base of the statue:
This is our cry, this is our prayer; peace in the world.
“Paper crane, I will write peace on your wings and you will fly over the world.”
Sadako Sasaki, age 12
In memory of Sadako, Olympic Heights School has made peace cranes as our offer to promote peace in the world.
We are a member of Peaceful School International.
Click to enlarge