Peace First Los Angeles

Description

Students participate in Peace First's innovative curriculum every week *during the school day) for an hour, from September through May. Delivered weekly by trained full-time AmeriCorps members and young adult volunteers in partnership with classroom teachers, Peace First's 30-week curriculum focuses on establishing norms of peaceful behavior for students at each developmental level from Pre-Kindergarten through eighth grade. The program begins by teaching basic conflict resolution strategies and then allowing students to effectively practice these techniques through hands-on activities. The experiential lessons teach peacemaking knowledge, skills and relationships, are developmentally-appropriate, are connected to the academic standards of the school, and are taught by AmeriCorps members, who are well-trained and serve as positive role models for students. Every spring, students put their peacemaking skills into action and transform their communities with a civic engagement component known as the Community Service Learning (CSL) projects.