27: Peace and Diversity

"So powerful is the light of unity that it illuminates the whole world."

Friede,

Paz,

Paix,

平和 (heiwa),

和平 Hépíng,

Kapayapaan,

Peace.

There are currently 8 billion people on earth. Each one is different from the other, and no two are exactly alike. Our diversity doesn't just make the world colorful, it helps us to survive and thrive. Ecosystems are the perfect example of how diversity is needed for a community to flourish, as it cannot live with just one species. It needs a variety of plants and animals to survive. This is the same for people. Our differences help us contribute our gifts, beliefs, skills, and ideas to make our communities better, and collectively stronger.

In the IB, our goal is to foster international-minded students who are advocates of a peaceful world through acceptance and respect of our differences as a people, and who value our common humanity. Peace is such a complex concept to grasp, but for kindergarteners, sometimes it's as simple as sharing one's toy or welcoming a new friend.

This week, we celebrate peace and diversity in DSKI through our Culture Week.

The whole week, we had a chance to showcase our diversity through our clothing.

On Tuesday, we came in our silly hats and socks.

On Wednesday, we went to school as pieces of art or artists.

On Thursday, we dressed up as a notable person or a hero.

And on Friday, we wore our traditional clothing from our countries.

Peace and diversity can also be learned from literature. The beauty of books is that you don't have to go anywhere to travel to different parts of the world and learn universal lessons from different places.

We can also learn peace and diversity through our first hand experiences.

We went through different activity stations to learn about cultures from all over the world through art and games that were led by the parents.

This week, people are also celebrating Holy Week and Easter in different parts of the world. We had a special visit from the Easter bunny who brought some treats for the children to enjoy. We also played some games to get the children into the spirit of Easter.

I used this chance to also teach the children about a game from my country called Sawsaw Suka and a song called Tong-tong-tong-tong Pakitong-kitong that I used to enjoy as a child. Ms. Harumi also taught the children a Mexican dance, which the children loved.