Dearborn Heights, Michigan – More than 300 students, parents and staff at Dearborn Heights Montessori Center (DHMC) participated in the school’s fourth annual Peace Day celebration in recognition of the United Nations’ International Day of Peace, held each year on September 21.
Kindergarten students, Lillian Harvell, at left, and Marta Meehan gather with classmates in the school gym for the assembly about peace.
Parents were invited to share in the celebration as students from preschool through middle school classes paraded from their classrooms to the school gym, carrying specially made peace symbols.
Music teacher Pat Tait set the tone for the special assembly with “Light a Candle for Peace,” a song written in honor of International Peace Day by Shelley Murley, a Montessori educator in Canada. Kay Neff, head of school, welcomed everyone and introduced the 2012 International Peace poster theme of “Sustainable Peace for a Sustainable Future.”
Fifth grade students, from left, Jenna Dabaja, Grace Audi and Mila Nowlan, carry symbols of peace around the school during the International Peace Day celebration at Dearborn Heights Montessori Center.
The students then watched the United Nations International Day of Peace video, sang a version of “We are the world” and danced to a “dance” video that was filmed in countries around the world. To close the celebration, everyone formed a large circle outside on the school grounds, around a centrally placed Peace pole to sing “Light a Candle for Peace.”
Peace is an integral part of the Montessori philosophy and DHMC’s year-round curriculum which includes a variety of classroom and community activities.
Dearborn Heights Montessori Center (DHMC) is a non-profit educational community founded in 1972. Celebrating its 40th anniversary year, DHMC is the largest and longest-established Montessori school in western Wayne County. Programs include toddler, preschool, kindergarten, elementary, and middle school as well as summer programs and academic tutoring. Day care and latchkey are also available for enrolled children. DHMC has received accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and is affiliated with the American Montessori Society, Michigan Montessori Society, and the Association of Independent Michigan Schools (AIMS). DHMC toddler, preschool, day care, and latchkey programs, along with its satellites Livonia Montessori School and Plymouth-Canton Montessori School, are licensed by the Michigan Department of Human Services. More information is available at www.dhmontessori.org and by calling 313-359-3000.