Australia

I returned to school today after an 18 day trip to Australia (I apologize about the tardiness of this newsletter!) I shared some pictures and experiences from my trip with the class, including the wildlife and art that I encountered.

I brought home a didgeridoo, an aboriginal musical instrument made of tree branches hollowed by termites. The didgeridoo is the world's oldest wind instrument. The children all laughed at the deep resonating sound the instrument makes. The instrument will join our music shelf in the class, and we will have an ongoing art lesson to create didgeridoos of our own. If your child would like to design his/her own didgeridoo, please send a paper towel roll to school.

Teaching Peace

From Buddhism – “Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.” (Udana-Varga 5, 18).

From Hinduism –“Do not unto others what would cause you pain if done to you.” (Mahaoharata 5,1517).

From Judaism –“What is hateful to you, do not do to others.” (Talmud, Shabbat 3 id).

From Taoism - “Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.” (Tai Shang Kan Ying p’ien).

From Christianity – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” (Matthew 7:12).

From Islam – “No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.” (Sunnah).

This maxim, in any of the above wordings, serves as a base for acquiring common virtues we want to develop in the children of our classroom community: love, compassion, forgiveness, honesty, truthfulness, kindness….

We develop these virtues in our class not by lecturing the children but by letting the children put these virtues into practice. The children interact with one another moving about the class calmly, speaking to one another with words and tone that are respectful, helping one another when needed, teaching a friend a new lesson one has mastered and comforting a friend who is sad or hurt. The adults in the class act as role models in the class we treat the children as we want the children to treat one another. The adults move about the class the way we want the children to move about and we speak to the children and each other the way we expect the children to.

Last week a parent came to observe our class and wrote this on the observation form: “I’m afraid my daughter will be too disruptive for this class.” Keep in mind the incredibly calm class she was observing was in the first week back after the holiday break and we had several new children in the class. I know many of you felt the same way when you observed and your children have successfully joined our community without causing chaos.

We have focused the past two weeks on teaching peace and learned a little about our school’s namesake, Dr. Maria Montessori, and how important she believed children are in the future of peace on our planet. We also learned about Dr. Martin Luther King who devoted his life to helping all people be treated with respect and dignity. Dr. King made great changes in our world and he did this through peaceful exchange of ideas. The children celebrate peace in our class in honor of these two leaders who long before they joined the world worked toward helping us have a peaceful environment to live, work and play in.

One of our favorite songs is called Teaching Peace:

Teaching peace all the world around.

You and me, every city, every town.

One by one, in our work and in our play.

We are teaching peace by what we do and what we say.

It’s up to us to show we care reaching out to every body everywhere

So take my hand and come along, it’s time to teach the world a brand new song.

Teaching peace all the world around….