Peace

Peace by Todd Parr is a great new find, thanks to Stella at My World-Mi Mundo in a recent article she wrote for Choice Literacy.  Stella urges teachers to find similarities and suggests peace as a common thread through cultures.  Peacy by Todd Parr is bright, bold, and colorful.  It's also a perfect mentor text for all ages, especially primary students.  The child like drawn illustrations help convey each example of peace.  I found the vast amount of peace definitions easy for young children to understand and make connections with.  Here a few examples from the book.

"Peace is making new friends.
Peace is planting a tree.
Peace is reading all different kinds of books."

Todd captures every day things that represent peace.  I found myself stopping and thinking how these every day things do show peace.  I think as an adult our thoughts of peace are quite grand and quite global.  However, peace begins with daily choices and decisions.  I love the idea of a common thread through cultures.  We have to learn and help our students to be more global.  We have to help them see beyond their immediate selves.  We need to embrace cultures, similarities, and differences beyond the typical holiday time in the United States.  We have so much to learn from others.