DAPHNE — W.J. Carroll Intermediate students celebrated the International Day of Peace by planting pinwheels.

The United Nations passed a resolution in 1981 establishing the International Day of Peace. In 2001, the U.N. amended the resolution, adopting Sept. 21 as the official day.

Blair Heald, a gifted-education teacher for WJC fourth- and fifth-graders, found an article about the pinwheels in an art magazine, she said.

“It’s to spread ideas across the school, the city, the state and the nations,” Heald said of the project.

Pinwheels for Peace began in 2005 by two art teachers in Florida who wanted students to express their feelings about what is going on in the world and in their daily lives.

“It gives students a venue to be heard,” Heald said.

About 40 of Heald’s students spent the past two weeks making their pinwheels and getting them ready to “plant” in front of the school, she said.

Heald thought this would be a good idea for students to express themselves.

As the project continued, she had other teachers and classes also interested in making pinwheels, Heald said.

The students’ pinwheels have two sides: a visual side and a verbal side, Heald said.

Students could use poetry, essays or just words to express their thoughts, Heald said.

“I want students to know that they do have an opinion and it matters,” Heald said.

Fifth-graders Emma Kirby, 10, Eli Moran, 11, Trystan Skelton, 10, and Brandon Davis, 10, wrote about fighting and violence.

“We wrote about stuff we didn’t need to have, like the war and violence,” Skelton said.

“How to get peace of mind,” Kirby said of the verbal side of her pinwheel.

Students could write about anything, including issues they have discussed in class, like unity, community, harmony and tolerance, Heald said.

“I wrote about love, forgiveness, peace and happiness,” 11-year-old Kearstin Wright said.

“Everybody needs peace in the world, like the people fighting in Iraq,” Wright said.

“Everybody needs to get along,” 11-year-old Martia Dixon said.

For the most part, students chose to display the visual side of the pinwheels, showing their artwork, Heald said.

“At first, I wanted to know how were people going to read it, but then if just one person stops at the office or calls about it, that’s one person we affected,” Heald said.

“Even if they are in fifth grade, they can make a difference,” Heald said.