Finding peace

Deirdre Newman

What does peace mean to you? To the students in Jennifer Benhardus’

fourth-grade class at Kaiser Elementary School, peace took on varied

shapes and forms on Friday:

Peace looks like . . . a beautiful rain forest.

Peace feels like . . . a fountain of love.

Peace tastes like . . . freshly baked cookies.

Peace sounds like . . . waves breaking against the shore.

Her students explored the multifaceted topic of peace using their

senses and created storybooks with illustrations.

Benhardus designed the lesson to foster peace in her classroom and to

give her students an opportunity to address any lingering fears from

Tuesday’s terrorist attacks.

“I presented the lesson first as it relates to the classroom as a

continuity of keeping the peace,” Benhardus said. “I also tied it in with

‘How could the terrorists have helped to keep peace instead of to hurt?”’

Benhardus is a first-year teacher who was hired at Kaiser a few days

after school started. Establishing a sense of community in her classroom

became a top priority.

The students “need to realize we’re a family here for nine months and

we have to respect each other,” she said.

The class discussed the terrorist attacks on Tuesday and the students

composed journal entries later in the week so they could write and

illustrate their feelings. Friday’s lesson was a chance to focus

exclusively on the idea of peace.

Benhardus started the lesson by talking about peace and then

encouraged the students to walk around the classroom and put their

spontaneous thoughts on posters that represented the different senses.

Classical music played in the background to provide a peaceful ambience

for contemplation.

Then students worked on their own peace storybooks -- writing and

illustrating their peace statements.

Kimberly Vieyra, 9, drew the sand, shore and seashells to reflect that

“peace looks like a peaceful day in the beach.”

Kimberly said one of the things she enjoyed about the lesson was using

art to illustrate her feelings.

“I like art, and I like writing about peace and drawing pictures,”

Kimberly said.

Peace looks like sailing to Russell Bute, 9, who thinks peace is an

important concept to focus on.

“Because without peace, there would be lots of murder and crime,”

Russell said.

Benhardus’ lesson was just one of many going on at the school on the

National Day of Prayer and Remembrance in response to the terrorist

attacks. Kaiser Principal Daryle Palmer said focusing on peace may

relieve fears about the violent attacks.

“There’s no way to put closure on it, but if you could wrap it up for

a little while, that would help,” Palmer said.

Benhardus said she was impressed with the careful attention her

students devoted to the project.

“It’s hard to touch every kid, and I think this lesson might have done

that,” she said.

* IN THE CLASSROOM is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot education

writer Deirdre Newman visits a campus within the Newport-Mesa Unified

School District and writes about her experience.