Peace Village Day Camp Programs
Although curricula for both grades 1-5 and 6-10 age groups are identical, they are carefully designed to be age-appropriate.
- Overarching Curriculum Goals
- Our Leaders Goals
- Daily Themes
- Media Awareness
- Social Justice
- Nonviolent Conflict Resolution
- Cooperative Games
- Responsible Relationships (grades 6-10 only)
- 2009 Enrichment Activities
Overarching Curriculum Goals
- Learn about peace and peacemaking
- Practice the interpersonal skills that lead to nonviolence
- Learn how to embrace diversity
- Learn respect for self and others (including respect for the body)
Our Leaders Goals
All of our camp leaders desire to provide a nurturing, non-competitive, non-threatening and inclusive camp environment. We want our campers to learn the messages and practices of nonviolence and peacemaking from various world traditions in a fun and cooperative atmosphere.
Daily Themes
- Monday -- Peace begins with ME
- Tuesday -- Honoring diversity nurtures peace
- Wednesday -- Greed undermines peace
- Thursday -- Gratitude promotes peace
- Friday -- Forgiving, letting go, makes peace possible
Media Awareness
Camper objectives:
- Recognize how the media conveys messages
- Critically analyze the nature of messages
- Create their own media messages that promote a peaceful, nonviolent culture
Social Justice
Camper objectives:
- Analyze the connections between peace and justice
- Learn about a number of historical nonviolent struggles for justice and equality
- Develop students own views of justice
- Learn th power of individual and group actions
Nonviolent Conflict Resolution
Camper objectives:
- Practice positive affirmations of self and others
- Learn communication language that encourages non violent outcomes
- Engage in cooperative problem solving
- Discuss difference between violence and non-violence
Cooperative Games
Camper objectives:
- Engage campers in fun activities that focus on teamwork and team-building
- Encourage campers to honor everyone's differences in accomplishing tasks and to utilize people's strengths
- Allow for creative problem solving in accomplishing challenges
- Process campers' experiences and lessons gleaned after each activity
Responsible Relationships (grades 6-10 only)
The curriculum comes from the Advocates for Youth family life education program, Life Planning Education: A Youth Development Program.
Camper objectives are derived from three units: 1) What Does Community Mean to Me? 2) Can I Keep Violence Out of My Life? 3) How Can I Take Care of My Health?
Camper objectives:
- Explore positive and negative elements of one's community and their relationships to violence within the community
- Understand the rights of he individual and the responsibilities of responsible citizens within the community
- Explore options and skills that help avoid violent or abusive responses within the community
- Understand the relationships between anger and aggression and explore the skills needed to respond to these emotions
- Explore the meanings of "healthy" physical and emotional behavior (including the risks to personal health from depression and the use of tobacco, drugs, and alcohol)
- Understand the role of stress and stress management in regards to health Begin exploring healthy dating practices, indentifying and avoiding risky sexual behaviors and date rape prevention
2009 Enrichment Activities
Please note that this list is incomplete and we are still working on adding more fun activities for the campers.
- Potter's Guild - will help the students make bowls for the "Empty Bowl" fundraiser and they will fire them and deliver them for the event later in the fall. They may also help with making candle holders for the peace candles that are used in our closing event.
- Meditation
- Japanese tea ceremony
- Making Origami Peace Cranes
- Drumming
- A community service field day
- Making masks
- Making mandala tiles (older students), including a very special 4 X 4 foot sand mandala for our closing ceremony
- Dances of International Peace
- Lessons in healthy eating, including special healthy snacks
- Lots of singing, dancing and music
- Massage therapy
In the works:
- Lessons in recycling
- Storytelling
- Coffee Shop (for older campers) that incorporates healthy eating, peace poetry, and other opportunities for fun and learning.