From January 20 to 23, 2009, Putnam Valley Elementary School celebrated world peace through its second Peace Gallery exhibition.

A project of the Character Education Committee, the Peace Gallery is a school wide program that encourages individual classes to assemble a poster that: illustrates examples of how children can show peace in school or at home; lists peaceful messages or quotations; lists examples of peaceful actions; or lists student ideas of "what peace means to you."

Teachers were given a list of books to revisit with their classes, including Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Once the posters were completed and hung along the walls of the PVES Old Gym, each class toured the gallery in order to see their own poster as well as those of their fellow classes.

With the help of volunteers from the Putnam Valley PTA, the posters will once again be hung in various locations around Putnam Valley, including Town offices, the local bank, and the PV Senior Center.

The Character Education/Diversity Committee of Putnam Valley Elementary School is a team made up of teachers, staff, and administrators who share the goal of uniting the school community through the PVES Great Expectations: Be Kind, Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible. The Committee meets bi-monthly and over the summer to plan assemblies and lesson plans, discuss books that support the Great Expectations, and devise ways to make the Putnam Valley school community more united, safe, kind, respectful, and responsible. The Committee's mission is to provide students with a more culturally diverse curriculum and goals for improving the school environment and the community at large.