Rountree Elementary School fifth-graders have studied the book Sadako and the Thousand Cranes. The annual tradition at the elementary school shares the story of the life of Sadako Sasaki, who was a victim of the bombing of Hiroshima. After Sadako was diagnosed with leukemia, the author spent her time making paper cranes to represent peace in the world.
Every year in Japan, Peace Day is celebrated on Aug. 5 in Hiroshima Memorial Park. On this day, hundreds of children flock to a statue erected in Sadako’s honor and place garlands of paper cranes. There, the crane remains a symbol of peace.
Rountree fifth-graders continued this tradition by creating and displaying close to 1,000 paper cranes at the annual Japanese Fall Festival at Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Gardens inside of Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park in September.