It is that time of the year...

for an awesome night of cultures and community! As many of you already know, I am an ESL teacher here in Columbus, OH. Every year, the ESL community at my school work together to put an amazing Cultural Festival! Beechwood Elementary has many international families! Our students come from all over the world, so on this special night, we have performances, international arts & crafts and food! The ESL community I work with is just AMAZING! My columbus bloggers friends... if you would like to attend an night of cultures, you are officially invited to attend the festival that my students and I will put together on December 17 from 5:00 to 7:00pm. This is our 4th Cultural Festival and we are just beaming with pride!

Part of the excitement of this night is the opportunity for families to come together as ONE and celebrate our cultures, traditions, beliefs, regardless of where we are from. This year, the theme is Seasons Of Love, and the 4th grade Choir will be performing that night. Our families will participate and contribute in the making of a Peace Mural that we will be creating that night, during this event. 

I would love to share with you some of the  books and resources we will be using that night in order to discuss the concept of PEACE.

First of all, most ideas for our mural comes from one of  Todd Parr's book, The Peace Book! One of the main reasons I enjoy this book so much is because of the message that it sends. Written in simple sentences but in a language and in a way that reaches children of all ages. 

One of the things we will be creating at the night of our Cultural Festival is a Peace Mural with ALL the families that attend this event. Each family will be drawing and writing what Peace means to them!  

I have already started working on some ideas for my own contribution to the mural...

Peace is knowing that there is a hug waiting for you at school or at home. 

Peace is believing that it might not work the first time, but that it is worth trying.

Peace is wishing that every child gets to love reading as much as I do.

Peace is hoping that no matter how many years can go by, you can still catch up with old friends.

Peace is waiting patiently.

What about you? What does Peace means to you?