Our New PEACE PATH!!!

Our SEL Department developed a Peace Path that students can use in the classroom to help resolve conflict with their peers.  You can take a look of how it works as part of our Peace Areas at Lee Elementary here.  While this is a great tool for students to use while they're in the classroom, students are left stranded out on the playground when they have conflict.  After campuses inquired about how to translate these skills to the outdoor playgrounds, our SEL department created stencils to create a sidewalk Peace Path (thank you, thank you, thank you)!

Here is a quick video I took walking through the Peace Path so you can see each of the steps.


It took 3-4 hours over 2 days to create the finished product with two people, myself and Joelle Andrew - an amazing parent volunteer/super hero.  :)  

Our playground Peace Path provides students, teachers and our entire campus a space and a method that is safe, sincere, and easy to follow for conflict resolution.  It is another effort towards student empowerment to self-regulate and solve their problems.  Ours is strategically placed between 2 of our playgrounds and has already been a huge hit with the Roadrunners!

Once completed I took out each class to teach them how to use it.  We began by brainstorming common problems that happen with our friends out on the playground:

I had students pair up and brainstorm a "problem" to resolve with their partner, real or fake.   Then we headed outside to practice!

Our Peace Path has been a huge success!  Not only are teachers on board and helping students through conflict resolution steps at recess, but children are initiating its use during our aftercare program and kids have even been caught & featured on Instagram!
 
Here are some individual shots of each step: