Below is an annotated list of children's literature for the elementary classroom. The books are organized by the Six Elements of Social Justice Curriculum Design (Picower, 2007). It is based on work by pre-service teachers at Montclair State University. They have read and reviewed these books and provided insights into how they can be used in K-5 settings.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Peace One Day: The Making of World Peace Day






Author: Jeremy Gilley

Illustrator: Karen Blessen

Grade Level: 3-5


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Resources







Summary:  Peace One Day: The Making of World Peace Day, tells the story of Jeremy Gilley and his quest to create a day dedicated to World Peace. After constantly hearing and seeing horrifying stories of war and other tragedies, Jeremy felt that there should be a day of World Peace. But Jeremy didn’t know if one person could make a difference. Jeremy goes on a mission to create a World Peace Day, and is shocked to find how many political figures around the world support him in his journey to create Peace One Day.

Element: Peace One Day is a perfect example of Element Five: Raising Awareness because it provides children with a true story of an “ordinary” person who made a difference about something he believed in. This allows students the opportunity to feel inspired and step up for the things they believe in. Peace One Day is a story standing up for what you believe in, no matter how impossible it may seem.

Activity: Peace One Day provides students with the opportunity to find something they truly believe in and to try and make a difference. A beneficial activity for this topic would be a writing assignment in which the students choose a social issue that they believe in and write about how they would try to raise awareness and make a difference. Another activity could be done is having the class raise awareness in the school and/or district about Peace One Day. Because Peace One Day is September 21st, it would be a great activity for building a classroom community and unity among the students in the beginning of the school year.

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