Peace, Love, Hagemann!
Our school wide Peace Tables are tools that encourage children to peacefully interact with each other. It is a conflict resolution method that teaches children to see things from another person's perspective. The idea is that children see their problems as being something they can solve. We began using Peace Tables in each classroom as well as our cafeteria during the 2011 school year. During the first three days of school, we taught our students how to use the Peace Tables. They embraced it immediately, with children seen sitting at the Peace Table in the cafeteria and within classrooms around the building the first week of school. The adults facilitate and reinforce the use the Peace Table within all areas of their day. We also discuss it at Town Hall meetings. Parents have expressed that their children are using the Peace Table model at home. Parents have even reported that their children have asked to take them to the Peace Table! Each classroom received a large peace sign sticker to place on a table in their room. The Peace Table steps were also provided as well as a small invitation to "Please Come to the Peace Table".