This year Lincoln-Titus Elementary School embraced a school wide initiative to develop a model Peaceful Playground. The Peaceful Playground Program is a way for schools to organize and manage their playgrounds. It provides materials and resources that allow schools to make better use of a given playground area. It also incorporates a variety of games that enable more students to participate in an organized activity. They have an organizational committee of volunteer parents, working under chairperson Peter Connolly, ready to plan. Within the school, they are already working to develop universal playground rules (e.g. You can’t say, you can’t play.) and teaching strategies for children to use when resolving conflicts.The Character Education Committee at Lincoln Titus expanded their program over the past couple of years. One area in which they feel character awareness is necessary is on the playground. The Peaceful Playground program is a fundamental way to bring character education outside of the school as well as inside. With great enthusiasm, the school community has already embraced the theme of a peaceful playground. At October’s school-wide assembly, themed fairness, the Student Council performed a skit to encourage the school to play fairly using the peaceful playground rules. They reinforced language, such as, “You can’t say, you can’t play” and “walk, talk, rock.” The Council also showed the school how to solve problems using the game, Rock, Paper, Scissors. Next year the Student Council’s mission is to promote the new playground and they are excited to meet this challenge.