TRAINING ACTIVITIES Building the Foundation: Peace and Conflict Education in Early Childhood Development Programs Project Implemented in Partnership between Child Institute of Al-Quds University & Meridian International Center 2008

MODULE TWO: Getting Along in My Classroom and Neighborhood Learning Objectives: 3 Objectives & 9 Activities First Objective: To introduce children to alternatives to conflict (conflict resolution) Second Objective: To initiate peaceful engagement of the children with one another (getting along, accepting others) Third Objective: To explore what happens to the children and others when problems are solved violently

Materials Required Poster paper, colors, stickers, cut out symbols. Puppets made out of socks or other readily available materials; children or their parents can make puppets. The Tower and The Storm are good books for this. There are also a series of books from Lebanon in the market that address social issues and children. Objectives of all of these books are that hitting does not work. Talking about the problem, going to someone else for help, and facing the problem are all suggested.

Activity No. 1 Accepting Others, Group Play Second Objective Engage students in discussion of what getting along, being friendly, and accepting others. Means – teacher can use puppets to engage students in this conversation. The conversation focuses on environments that are familiar to them (their home, their classroom, their neighborhood). Examples are specific – e.g., siblings fighting, classmates wanting the swings at the same time, children fighting over who can play where or taking the ball from one. Teacher facilitates discussion of how children, their parents and teachers can resolve these problems.

Activity No. 2 Accepting Others - Second Objective Duration: minutes Materials Required: Drawing paper, crayons, construction paper, other materials to decorate pictures Activity: Students draw a picture of what getting along means to them after they have interacted with the puppets and engage in teacher-facilitated discussion of the picture and what they were trying to represent.

Activity No. 3 Role Play of Conflict - Third Objective Conflict & its Results Engage children in role play about a conflict/problem (argument/fight). Teacher begins with telling a story of a young girl who wants to play with the blocks. As she starts playing, someone pushes her and takes the blocks. Another child comes to see what has happened…then the teacher asks the children to talk about what happened, why, how, who, and what should not have happened. Teacher can then encourage children to tell their own stories. If they are reluctant to do so, teacher facilitates role play in which children depict a fight or problem and then (re-stage it to show how the problem could have been prevented (e.g., if someone pushes you, don’t push back, wait and talk) and then role play about how to deal with a problem after it happens.

Continue… Teacher facilitates discussion about different choices we make when we have a conflict/ fight/ argument with each other. Teacher can make happy face necklaces or smiley suns to give to children whenever they do something positive-- they get to wear this as a symbol of their good behavior and approach to solving problems

Activity No. 4 Group Membership – Group Play Second Objective Duration: minutes x 2 sessions Materials Required: Play dough, paint or other materials of choice Activity: Children work with a partner or in a small group to make a sculpture, painting or other artwork. Children share about what was good about working together/ what do they like about their partner.

Activity No. 5 Peace & Peaceful Coexistence Second Objective Duration: minutes x 2 sessions Materials Required: Reproduction of “The Peaceable Kingdom”. Shara’a Simsim story book on The Treasure Hunt (Haneen and Kareem). Number of story books by ECRC and Tamer and similar stories

Activities What do the children think about the pictures? How can the children and their teachers create a classroom community? How can we all work together to make the classroom a good place to be? Teachers must be prepared to take the children’s opinions into consideration and to make changes in the classroom, as appropriate.

Activity No. 6 Harmony & Coexistence Duration: 20 minutes x 3 sessions Materials Required: Music and stories to be selected from available peace and conflict education materials though they are rare and limited.

Activity Harmony, Coexistence, Acceptance & Appreciation of Others Second Objective Music and stories about getting along, appreciating and respecting others in the classroom and beyond. Teacher plays the music and tells the stories (if musicians available, invite them to perform and engage the students). Music can help control anger, self control and provide basis for harmony and for resolving conflicts Use non-violent approaches to peacemaking.

Activity No. 7 Duration: minutes Materials Required: Poster board and colors

Activity No. 7 Peaceful Classroom Environment First & Second Objectives The activity is about peaceful classroom community that is dominated by rules and regulation among its members. The teacher discuss these rules with the children and includes it as part of the positive behaviour list. All should follow and implement these rules. Create a list of classroom rules to follow (special rules for conflicts). Use exclusion once the rules are not followed by a child. Encourage children to be proactive and admit their mistake(s) and to refrain from negative behaviour.

Activity No. 7 Citizenship First & Second Objectives Duration: minutes per planning session minutes for play and recording Materials Required: Video recording equipment and tapes

Activity Citizenship & Membership in a Group First & Second Objectives Behavioural Rules and Regulation that Keep Peace Engage students in putting on a play about those rules and how they help keep peace in the classroom (teacher- facilitated). Discuss with children the value of having those rules in place. Either present the play to families and friends of children, or videotape the play and show it to parents at some school event. Display the children’s art work (individual and group-prepared) during play; facilitate discussion of the play with families and friends of children.

Activity No. 9 Murals Cooperation & Group Work (Peace & Coexistence) First & Second Objectives Activity Engage children in creating a mural/poster for their classroom/school with the theme of peace/getting along with each other/or creating classroom communities. Children keep a mural/poster “diary” -- every day they select one good thing that happened at school as the event of the day and record it on the mural/poster, or the teacher helps them to write about it.

Continue… Training: Teacher training should focus on the importance of children selecting what the good behavior was…listening to each other reinforcing good behavior is a powerful motivator for children. Teacher must be consistent and this should be done as part of school routine. Children get upset if they are waiting for this moment in the school day and the teacher says, “Sorry, maybe tomorrow.” So be consistent.

END OF MODULE TWO