Our Peace Place

From time to time throughout the year, students will experience conflicts with each other.  Christian "Getting-Along Skills" are important to have for these situations.  Our classroom Peace Place helps us to develop such skills.  Here's how it works:

When two students have a problem, they go to the Peace Place -- a small area in the back of our classroom or out on the playground if that's where the conflict arises.  They follow these steps:

1.  Cool down.  If one or both of the students are still upset, they must wait to begin the process.
2.  Talk and listen to each other. We have a little metal cross that the students hold.  Only the one holding the cross is able to talk.  The other child must listen.  The cross is passed back and forth to help the children remember to take turns talking and listening. As the child talks, feelings and needs are expressed.  For example, "I felt angry when you took the ball away from me.  Please give it back."
3.  Talk about a way to solve the problem. Both children must agree upon the solution.
4.  Say you're sorry and receive forgiveness.  Be specific.  Rather than saying, "I'm sorry.  Will you forgive me?" say, "I'm sorry I grabbed the ball away from you.  Will you forgive me?"  The other child replies, "I forgive you" rather than "That's okay."  This giving and receiving of the forgiveness of Jesus is so important.

We're still learning this process, but as the year goes by and the children have more opportunities to use it to solve their conflicts, they will develop these "Getting-Along Skills".  You may want to consider setting up your own peace place at home!  :)