Peacemaking Skills for Little Kids PreK/K is a program designed by the Peace Education Foundation to promote conflict resolution skills in young children. It builds on the Creating Caring Children resource through the use of 85 scripted activities that explicitly teach lessons on cooperation, diversity, recognizing and managing emotions, and taking responsibility for our actions. The program offers many strategies for continuing the learning across the curriculum and nurturing a caring classroom throughout the day. The PreK/K resource is appropriate for children ages 3-5 and can be implemented in preschool, Strong Start, and kindergarten classrooms. This sets the tone for a collaborative school community and one that is able to implement Peace Works resources to establish a shared vision for social emotional learning and a common language amongst educators and students.

 

The resource begins by stating the importance of creating a nurturing environment where children feel safe to take risks and develop conflict resolution skills. The teacher plays an integral role in establishing a caring classroom community by being reflective of language choice, tone of voice, and body language. Educators are in a unique position to strongly influence the attitudes and behaviors of their students. Effective implementation of Peace Works means the teacher ideally must continously model lessons from the program.

 

The I-Care-Cat is a puppet character that helps teach children each new concept. The Peace Works resource includes: 

 

• An I-Care-Cat puppet. 

• A CD of songs

• An I-Care-Cat poster of the I-Care rules

 

The I-Care Rules are: 

 

• We listen to each other

• Hands are for helping, not hurting

• We use I-Care language

• We care about each other's feelings

• We are responsible for what we say and do (www.peace-ed.org)

 

The program promotes concepts:

 

• ​Concept 1: The basis for a peaceful world is an environment where children become friends, learn to work and play cooperatively, and to respect the interdependence of living things. 

• Concept 2: We are all human beings. We are similar, yet each of us is unique. We accept and enjoy our commonalities and celebrate our differences. 

• Concept 3: Feelings are a common bond that all of us share. Feelings link us together as a human family. 

• Concept 4: Peacemaking skills help us to get along as responsible members of the human family. We are all connected to the web of life. (Schmidt & Friedman, 1993). 

 

Within each concept, there are 3-5 learning objectives. These are called focus ideas. Each focus idea is linked to a peace point. For example, concept one's first focus is: I am getting to know you and you are getting to know me (Schmidt & Friedman, 1993). The foundational peace point is: Listening skills help children get to know each other and their environment, to build a sense of community (Schmidt & Friedman). 

 

Children work on each focus (or learning intention) through a variety of scripted lessons and activities. 

 

Each lesson includes: 

 

• ​Italicized words indicating teacher talk. 

• An audio icon signalling it is the I-Care cats turn to talk

• A peace point (learning intention)

• An introduction, core lesson or discussion, and closing remarks

• A list of required lesson materials

• Art, music, and literacy integration

 

Peacemaking Skills for Little Kids PreK/K includes an annotated bibliography of children's books related to topics such as: self, feelings, families, environment, conflict resolution, and cultural diversity (Schmidt & Friedman, 1993, p. 88).  

 

Please see "Peace Works in Action" tab to see sample lessons and extension ideas.