Lynbrook students imagine ‘whirled’ peace

Courtesy Rosemary Leonetti/Syntax

Lynbrook first graders plant their Pinwheels for Peace in front of Marion Street School.

As part of their Pinwheels for Peace celebration, Lynbrook first graders at Marion Street School hold hands around the Peace Pole with teacher Joanne Lionetti.

Courtesy Rosemary Leonetti/Syntax

Fourth graders at Lynbrook’s Marion Street School plant Pinwheels for Peace with Principal Barbara Moore, top left, art teacher Patricia Wierzbicki, second from left, and substitute teacher Courtney Tomaini, right.

Courtesy Rosemary Leonetti/Syntax

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To celebrate the International Day of Peace on September 21, the entire student body of Lynbrook’s Marion Street School took part in an international art and literacy project called “Pinwheels for Peace.” Every student in the school created a colorful pinwheel, decorated with personal wishes for world peace. Each class then gathered together on the front lawn of the school to “plant” the pinwheels. They also joined hands around their school’s Peace Pole in a sign of solidarity. Principal Barbara Moore visited each class to read a book entitled “Finding Peace.” The project was coordinated by art teacher Patricia Wierzbicki.

The International Day of Peace was established by a United Nations resolution in 1981 to coincide with the opening of the General Assembly. The first Peace Day was celebrated in September 1982.

Pinwheels for Peace is an art installation project started in 2005 by two art teachers, Ann Ayers and Ellen McMillan, of Coconut Creek, Florida, as a way for students to express their feelings about peace as “a state of calm and serenity, with no anxiety, the absence of violence, and freedom from conflict or disagreement among people or groups of people.”