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PEACE TREE
DAY
Objective
On June 1, 2006, the world’s first Peace
Tree Day will be inaugurated at City Hall in Toronto, Canada. Peace Tree
Day will be a day when children and families of every culture, race, and
faith can celebrate peace and diversity together. The concept of Peace
Tree Day is to educate, share, and donate as we celebrate ‘diversity in
unity’.
When…
On June 1, 2006, 300 student Peace Tree Ambassadors from
40 schools
from Southern Ontario, who have worked towards creating peace and celebrating
diversity in their schools will participate in the inauguration of the
world’s first Peace Tree Day celebration at City Hall, in Toronto,
Canada organized by Sandalwood Productions, Educators from the TDSB and
Peel Board, and Harmony Movement (charitable organization)
Students will bring a handmade symbol or peace sign from their culture
or faith that they would like to highlight on the city’s first Peace
Tree. The student ambassadors will wear clothing from their own culture
or borrow clothing from a friend from another culture. Each group of
students will bring a peace pennant created by students from their
school that best reflects diversity and children living in peace in
Canada.
Welcome to Peace Tree Day • 10:00 am - 10:30 am
School groups will arrive with their teachers and register at the Peace
Tree Tent where they will be greeted and given their Passports to Peace.
Volunteer Peace Tree Guides will take each group to the Peace Garden
where they will meet and work with other students to create The Peace
Tree, a tree with symbols from every culture and faith, to reflect the
beauty of ‘diversity in unity’.
Peace
Tree Creation and Discussion • 10:30 am – 11:30 am
As students arrive at the Peace Garden, they will carry their Peace
Pennants, which they will share, and place in a Peace Book to be bound
and sent to the Prime Minister at Parliament Hill. The Masters of
Ceremony (the children from the Peace Tree film) will welcome all the
students to the inauguration. Students will begin to hang their peace
symbols on the Peace Tree. Groups of three schools will form Peace
Circles where they will learn how to create and maintain a Peace Tree
throughout the year in their own schools and how to prepare for their
Peace Tree Day celebrations in their schools next year.
Children will also share peace initiatives in their schools and their
vision of peace in our world. They will also brainstorm new initiatives
on items they can create to organize fundraisers that can benefit
children in war torn countries.
Students can finish their lunches during this time.
Peace
Workshops • 11:30 am – 12:45 pm
Students will be able to participate in a variety of interactive
workshops from diverse cultures led by children and seniors, which will
focus on peace and/or fusion initiatives such as yoga, Tai Chi, How to
Make an Origami Paper Crane, African and Indian drumming, Bharat Natyam
and Kathak dance etc.
Each student will leave with a wide range of creative workshop ideas on
how to create an origami paper crane, how to make a rangoli pattern, how
to write peace in different languages and various cultural activities
that they can share with their peers in school.
Peace
Tree Inauguration • 12:45 pm – 1:00 pm
Mayor David Miller (has been invited, but has not confirmed yet) and
honored guests will hang their symbol of peace on the Peace Tree. The
Mayor will officially proclaim June 1, as Peace Tree Day in the City of
Toronto and speak about the importance of this celebration in a city
like Toronto. Students will sing O’Canada.
Celebrating Peace • 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Students from various schools will perform dances and music from diverse
cultures showing the beauty of mixing and blending different dance forms
and instruments. Some of the performances will be interactive, as the
hosts will invite students from the audience to participate in the dance
and music performances and teach them some simple steps. This will
highlight to students from a young age, the value of having an open-mind
and the creativity that can emerge from embracing diversity.
The Master of Ceremonies will lead all the children to sing Shine
Together in Peace from the Peace Tree film to conclude a vibrant and
educational experience of celebrating diversity and peace in the City of
Toronto through the spirit of children!
Celebrating Peace Tree Day at Home and at School
For Peace Tree Day, children can create Peace Trees in their home,
school and/or cities. Every child can make a donation (toys, clothes,
food etc.) to another child in need to a charity of his/her choice.
Every year a child can choose a culture other than their own that he/she
would like to explore with his/her family and friends. In addition to
reading stories, listening to music and creating art from this culture,
families and friends can come together to have a potluck and/or enjoy a
meal from the chosen culture that year. They can also take a trip to
Chinatown, Little India, Little Italy etc.
At school, children can wear clothes from their culture or borrow
clothes from their friends. They can share music, dance, art, stories
and food from their heritage. Students can conduct ‘How to Workshops’
(e.g. ‘How to Make Sushi’, ‘The Art of Mehndi’, ‘How to Do the Salsa’,
‘How to Make an Origami Paper Crane’, etc.)
It is our hope that Peace Tree Day will be celebrated in every city
around the world, as it is a festival when we can all celebrate peace
and diversity together!
‘Let us embrace the beauty of every culture and faith to create peace in
our world.’
Peace
Tree Day Planning Committee:
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Gary Bray (Principal, Tam O’Shanter Jr. P.S. TDSB)
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Donna Guerra (Equity Officer, TDSB)
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Tova Fisch (Principal, Inglewood Heights Jr. P.S. TDSB)
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Vivian Singh (Principal, Peel School Board)
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Paula Flecther (Toronto, City
Councillor)
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Sanjukta Roy (Teacher, Rawlinson Community Ecole, TDSB)
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Andre Gravelijn (Instructional Leader, Drama Dance, TDSB)
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Jon Hagan (Teacher, Inglewood Heights
Jr. P.S. TDSB)
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Suzanne McClennan (Teacher, McKee P.S. TDSB)
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Kathy Lazarovits (ESL Instructional Leader, TDSB)
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Paula Markus (ESL, Program Coordinator, TDSB)
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Mitra Sen (Teacher, Inglewood Heights
Jr. P.S. TDSB)
FOR
MORE INFO CONTACT:
Email: info@peacetreeday.com
Tel. (416) 441-0253
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