World Peace and Other Fourth Grade Achievements

Last weekend was the Virginia Film Festival. We missed out on the Parking Lot movie which is about the lives of the people who work at the parking lot on The Corner (a row of shops and restaurants on the other side of the street from UVa). I actually heard that it was supposed to be really good. It sold out. Another film I wanted to see was Disney's Beauty and the Beast because the voice of Belle was going to be there! Alas, I was working. 

We did make it to one movie. It was World Peace and Other Fourth Grade Achievements. It's a documentary that was filmed at a local elementary school. It is about the World Peace Game which was created by a teacher, John Hunter, who was originally from Richmond. The game is played once a week for eight weeks and the fourth graders must solve the world's problems in order to win the game. The game has been played for 20-something years and has only been lost once. The film follows one group of fourth graders as they play the game. It's really cool and John Hunter is one of those teachers you never forget. He encourages the students to think for themselves. I actually subbed one day in his wife's first grade classroom as her instructional assistant. She is also a phenomenal educator. As someone who works in education it's inspiring to see something so enriching and positive happening in a public school. Since it was shown at the film festival there was a question and answer session with the director Chris Farina and John Hunter.

Unfortunately it's only possible to see the film at screenings so you'll have to check the website to see if there's one near you.