PIECES of PEACE for Ukraine

"Pieces of Peace" was created by Ms. Wilson’s Kindergarten class at Arbor Heights Elementary. I helped these students create an amazing art piece for their school auction.

Ms. Wilson is Penny’s (my youngest daughter's) teacher, and Lucky Penny struck GOLD this year; a heart of gold. Ms. Wilson has been teaching for 50 YEARS!!! And this is her last year 😢

Needless to say, I wanted to do something special 💫 I showed Ms. Wilson a few ideas and we decided to do butterflies hatching from a book. Every spring Ms. Wilson hatches butterflies in her classroom, so she thought it would lead into her spring lesson

I rummaged through my garage looking for a book with a red spine. In my mind, I envisioned it being a red book....so I was looking for a red cover. I found a red book about WAR—hmmm. I pondered for a moment....I thought about the symbolism of butterflies as rebirth and I thought, “what if we deconstructed a book about war and turned it into a beautiful art piece about PEACE??"

I wasn’t sure if this was too heavy of a topic for the Kinders, but Ms. Wilson was in full support

Each student colored their very best butterfly to symbolize what peace means in their hearts. I collaged (with Penny’s help) the butterflies onto a background that symbolizes the yellow and blue flag of Ukraine

The class talked about what PEACE means to them and how sad they were that kids in Ukraine have to live with war. It brought a tear to Ms. Wilson, myself and Ms. Kelly's eyes.😢❤️😢

Later, as I deconstructed the book, I began skimming through the text. “The Prince of Marshes; and Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq” by Rory Stewart, was a riveting tale. I didn't get through the whole book, but I realized that no one goes to war wanting to stay in war. The ultimate goal is PEACE. The book had so many nods towards PEACE and how to achieve PEACE. So, I hand-selected pages that mentioned the horrors and deconstructed them into pieces of PEACE 🌎

I am beyond proud of the kids in MS. WILSON's Kindergarten class for embracing a dynamic and powerful art project: “PIECES OF PEACE” ❤️

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