Post the paper on the wall to serve as a resource for students. Explain that someone, possibly another student, sent Hope Bear to Oklahoma City after the Murrah Federal Building bombing in April of 1995. Explain that the bear is going to spend one month with the class to find out about conflict in their community and what measures are taken to resolve the conflict. Tell the students they are going to write journal entries to Hope Bear each day explaining conflicts in their daily lives, the resolutions to these conflicts, and the way the students feel before, during, and after the conflict. Explain that the journals will go home with Hope Bear to the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
Younger students can draw pictures as journal entries.
Each day students will share the entries in their journals with the other members of their group. You might invite parents, community members, and others to the class to hear some of the journal readings if the students are comfortable with that activity. After a month of writing and sharing, the journals and Hope Bear should be mailed to the Oklahoma City National Memorial Foundation at P.O. Box 323, Oklahoma City, OK 73101 . Each bear and journal will be preserved and placed in the National Memorial Archives for possible future exhibitions in the Oklahoma City National Memorial Center. As closure, ask students what they learned from the experience with Hope Bear.