The 64 Days of Peace

Curriculum Tools for Primary Grades

www.64DaysOfPeace.org

Week 1

• Here is a sample email that you could use to send to your students’ families as an introduction to this unit. Feel free to modify as you wish.

Subject: Beginning January 30* we will begin the 64 days of Peace in our classroom

* This year the 30th falls on a Sunday. Some facilitators choose to begin with the class on the Friday before, or on Monday, or whatever works for their situation.

For the next 64 days, the children and I (and hopefully your whole family, too) will be taking on the challenge of participating in 64 Days of Peace (Part of the Season For Non-violence) which is inspired by the heartfelt work of people like Martin Luther King, Jr., Ceasar Chavez, and Ghandi among others.  The main point being that each of us can find a way to spread a little kindness each day.  

Each morning we will review how the past day's prompt went and discuss the new prompt for that day.  Some of this work will need to happen at home as well.  I will send the ideas by email each Monday.

More info: http://www.64daysofpeace.org/

The first week’s theme is: Non-violence or peace begins with learning how to be more compassionate with ourselves.  We speak and act with respect, honor, and reverence for our own being.

• Day 1 ~ Courage- Have a parent light a candle for you.  Make a wish for peace then blow out the candle to release the wish into the world
• Day 2 ~ Smiling- look at 3 people in the eyes and let them know you are smiling at them.
• Day 3 ~ Gratitude / Appreciations- share with a friend or family member something you are grateful for.
• Day 4 ~ Caring- make a list or tell a parent 3 or more ways you care for yourself.
• Day 5 ~ Believing- Finish this sentence with something good about yourself.  I am ....
• Day 6 ~ Simplicity - Clean up the clutter in your room
• Day 7 ~ Education - Read a book today

Week 2

• Each week’s list is designed to allow you to cut and paste into weekly email messages to your students’ families

Week two’s theme is: Creating a quiet center within ourselves, feeling centered and calm allows us to respond to situations peacefully.

• Day 8: Healing - Remember a time when your feelings were hurt.  How did you take care of the hurt?  Share this experience with a family member or friend.
• Day 9: Dreaming - Draw a picture or write a poem about your dream for peace in the world.
• Day 10: Faith - Draw something you want to happen to you.
• Day 11: Contemplation - Sit quietly listening to your breath for as long as you wish.
• Day 12: Groundedness - Look around your bedroom and notice everything.  Close your eyes and have a parent or sibling count how many things you can remember.
• Weekend: Day 13: Creativity - Share a song or dance with your family or write a story about peace and share it with someone. Day 14: Humility - Tell someone about a mistake you made and how you might have done it differently.

Week 3

Week three’s theme is: Being kind to ourselves can soon be turned into a practice of being kind to others.

• Day 15 Reverence - Take a walk in nature and collect three things.  Please avoid your neighbors yard and flowers.  
• Day 16 Gratitude - Before bedtime, think of 3 things you are grateful for, draw or write them down.  
• Day 17 Integrity - Tell someone you trust about a feeling you have about something that bothers you.
• Day 18 Freedom - No matter your age, there are things you can do now that you couldn't even two years ago.  Think about one and tell a parent or grandparent.  
• Day 19 Acceptance - 3 times today, look into the mirror and just say "I love you."  How cute is that?
• Weekend: Self-forgiveness - be gentle with yourself.  Spend today only saying kind things about yourself.  Inspiration - draw a picture or write a story about  one of your heroes or someone you respect.  

Week 4

Week four’s main idea is that the more compassionate we are with others, the more they can begin to interact with us in positive ways. 

• Day 22 Mission - make a collage of important things you want in life.  Not material things but ideas like "Peace in my family", love, kindness, etc.  Feel free to bring it in to share with the class.
• Day 23 Prayer - Start and end your day by saying, "Peace Begins With Me".  Review your day with someone you trust.  Talk about how peace began with you today and how it might begin with you in the future.
• Day 24 Harmony - Say something nice to someone you don't always get along with or whom you are struggling with.  You can do it!
• Day 25 Friendliness - Say hello to someone new today.  
• Day 26 Respect - Speak only with kindness today. Make sure to avoid name calling or put downs.  
• Weekend: Generosity - Clean out your closet or toy box today.  After checking with your parents, choose something to give to someone who would use it more than you do.  Think about how it feels after you do it.  Listening - Have a parent tell you a joke or story while you listen carefully.  Tell it back to them with as much detail as possible.  How did you do?

Week 5

During week five we focus on the idea that in order to create a Peaceful World, we must learn to practice peace or nonviolence in our day to day interactions. 

• Day 29 Forgiveness- If someone has said or done something that hurt you, let them know you are ready to forgive them and that you are no longer angry.
• Day 30 Amends-  What action can you take to change a behavior that makes someone you love unhappy? Draw it or write it down (and do it!).
• Day 31 Praising- Give every member of your family a compliment today.  Tell them something that they did that was great.
• Day 32 Patience- practice this toolbox tool today by listening without interruption and allowing others to go first.
• Day 33 Acknowledgement- Choose one person to make an award for, tell them what you notice that is special about them and why they are important to you.  We will share these for the next two weeks.  More info. to follow.  
• Weekend:  Day 34 Love - say, "I love you" to your parents, grandparents, siblings and anyone else that you need to.  Write an "I love you" note for someone.   Day 35 Understanding - Send every stranger that you meet today a silent thought like: I know you are doing your best or a simple I love you.  

Week 6

The overall idea for week six is that peacefulness does not depend on others being a particular way.  When we choose to be peaceful in relationship, we invite others to be peaceful in return.  

• Day 36 Mindfulness- Color within the lines today.  Draw anything you want today and be mindful of the lines.  Mindfulness is like using all the toolbox tools at once!
• Day 37 Graciousness-  Use your please and thank you tool all day today.  Let your brother, sister, or friend go first today or choose first today.
• Day 38 Kindness-  Do 3 kind acts today.  For example:  help someone do something, clean up after someone else, help your parents out, etc.
• Day 39 Dialogue-  Choose not to argue today.  Remember to discuss problems while using your toolbox tool - "using your words" today.  
• Day 40 Unity-  Notice how everyone on this beautiful planet is connected today.  Make a collage of faces which may have different colors, sizes, shapes, and ages.  Yet notice how they are all the same too!
• Weekend work:  Openness - try something new today, like a new food.  Accountability - Create a "Peace Place" in your home and be willing to go there when you are ready to talk out a disagreement or struggle.  It can also be used to make up to someone you have hurt.

Week 7

Our goal during week seven is to notice (fully see) and understand others even when we are not in agreement.  

• Day 43 Uniqueness - Look in the mirror and find something about you that is different from mom or dad.  Now think about things that you enjoy doing that are different than what your closest friends enjoy.
• Day 44 Cooperation - Work with a family member to create a story together.  Take turns adding a word at a time.  Write down the story and bring it to share.
• Day 45 Mastery - When you feel yourself getting angry today, count back from 10 to 1. Then take a deep breath and smile.
• Day 46 Compassion - Draw a picture of yourself taking care of someone who needs your help.
• Day 47 Disarmament - Choose not to watch TV, movies, or videos that have weapons today.
• Weekend:  Day 48 Ecology - walk around your neighborhood today looking for things to pick up and/or recycle.  Day 49 Honor - Say a quiet "thank you" before each meal today.  

Week 8

Our challenge during week eight is to stand for truth and take action that honors every human being.  

• Day 50 Choice:  Our job today is to realize and appreciate when we get to choose.  Also today, try to notice A, B, and C choices.  A choices are chosen by the adults in your life (an example might be something regarding safety, like riding dirt bikes).  B choices are things the child and adults work out together (e.g. dinners for the week, homework time).  C choices are made by the child alone (e.g. what to play).  
• Day 51 Advocacy-  Stand up for someone who is being treated unfairly.  Say, "That's not fair."
• Day 52 Equality-  Today, avoid competing with friends and siblings.  Share things evenly today.
• Day 53 Action-  Do something nice for your home today.  Pick flowers, do a special chore, make some art, come up with your own idea.
• Day 54 Giving- Make a gift for a family member or friend.  There's never a bad time to give and you don't need a special reason.
• Weekend Challenges:  Responsibility - pick up trash around your house or neighborhood.  Take care of things you know you are supposed to do.  How many responsibilities did you remember yourself today?  Self-sufficiency - make one meal by yourself today (make sure your parents agree).  Do your chores without reminders today.  

Week 9

During week nine we recognize that through practicing being peaceful, we become better citizens of the world.  

• Day 57: Service  - help someone in your family with a chore or task that is not yours.
• Day 58: Citizenship  - follow through on your agreements today and follow the rules in the larger community, too.  Give yourself a citizenship award for keeping agreements and following the rules.
• Day 59: Intervention  - Talk to your parents about things that worry you or questions you have about growing up.  
• Day 60: Witnessing  - Share a story with a parent or elder about seeing someone do something wrong.  What was it?  What did you do in the situation? Were you a participant, bystander, or advocate?  
• Day 61: Peace  - Ask an adult to help you plant a seed or start in a little pot or somewhere in your garden.  Think of it as your "Peace Plant".  
• Weekend:  Day 62: Commitment - take care of your Peace Plant  every day.  Talk to it, sing to it, water it, confide in it, wish on it, and more.
• Day 63: Release - Remember the candle that you lit on the first day of this journey towards peace?  Light it again, think of all you have learned, and (when you are ready) blow it out once more to release all that you have learned out into the world.  
• Day 64: Celebration - Plan a Peace Party with your family.  Share appreciations and things you are grateful for.  Think about ways that you have positively affected the world around you.  

Inspired by the memorial anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., this international event honors their vision for an empowered, nonviolent world. Season for Nonviolence was co-founded by Arun Gandhi and The Association of Global New Thought in 1988.