Jewish Holidays are happy days!

This week we enjoyed spending time together on Chanuka! Our goal: for the children to know that our Jewish Holidays are "Special" and "happy" days!

Singing chanuka songs, baking and having good quality time together.

 Menorah Math:

Using math skills while talking about how many candles we use each night.

Menorah Art:

Covered butcher paper with many different kind of Menorahs.
The Q'tips and paint were an invitation for the children to add flames or decorate the menorah of their choice.

It was great having discussions with the children about their own menorah at home. Bridging home and school is such a powerful experience for them!

Chani using a lot of concentration on her Menorah.

Happy Levi

Menorah Motor Skills & Raceway!

On our gymnastics ramp we taped on a Menorah image.   By the Shamash (the helper candle) we placed a flame bucket. The children had to try to roll marbles down the ramp and aim towards the shamash. It was a great hand and eye coordination activity and required a lot of patience and  persistence.

Sometimes its more fun getting closer ;)

Or taking a walk down hill on the Menorah..

Chanukah baking: for our parent n me Chanuka celebration!

 

Friends

We want to wish a Happy birthday to Elizabeth on her 3rd birthday!!

Our traditional birthday chair lifting :)

Bravery

The Beis Hamikdash center has created a blissful atmosphere in our classroom. Watching the  'kohanim'  and their jobs come to life: making olive oil , bringing and receiving gifts of fruit, using the special vessels etc

Now that the foundation was laid, of what life was like for the Jews in Jerusalem back then,  it was time learn the story and miracle of Chanukah!!

 

King Antiyochus was not a nice king. We introduced him as someone who was like a bully, unkind and didn't care about others feelings or beliefs.

He made some rules  to make it hard for the Jewish people. 

We brought it down to our children's level of understanding.

 

No Shabbos:

 "no more Shabbos ima's at the party?.."

No loving our Torah:

"we cant hug or hold our Torah's at circle time!"

No kosher.

 

The class picked up on how unfair this sounded.

 

 

To make it real at our Davening circle time, King Antiyochus came out by our Torah song and tried to get them to stop hugging their precious Torah's.

 

Here is when we started with our big idea we wanted them to walk away with:

We need to be BRAVE, Hashem is with us and we need to stick to whats right.

 

   

  

Each time King Antiyochus tried to take one of the children's Torah's, the child responded "I am brave, I love my Torah" we all cheered "yay, a brave Macabee!!"

 

 

 

Child's creativity

In the chanuka story we see the power of children and how they make a big difference.

When they would hide in their caves learning Torah, the Jewish children came up with a creative plan. If a Greek soldier would come knocking they will quickly take out their DREIDEL'S and play a game, dodging the danger.

 

 

Role playing the story with our King puppet making a visit to their cave.

 

 

 

Levi Lubin's turn to pretend to be knocking on the cave to check if rules are being followed.

 

 

 

Evi picking out his favorite dreidel

 

 

 

Our goal this whole week was Bravery!!

Shua decorating his Macabee shield.

 

 

During outside play we over heard a conversation about being brave. Shua, Levi and Aron were discussing if they were brave enough to climb the tires while stacked.

It was amazing to see how the message in the Chanuka story was helping them in their own situations to conquer fear and feel confident.

 

 

"Look i'm brave!"

 

 

At first Levi asked for help to climb the twisted structure. Then he motioned to be left alone. We saw the confidence in his eyes as he made it up to the top by himself!

 

 

How to overcome a big obstacle?

 

One morning by circle time we asked the children to hide in the library without any peeking ;)

 

 

 

When they opened their eyes-- they saw one of the Greeks soldiers laughing at what they just did to our beautiful Beis hamikdash. (Even before they saw there was some courses of 'uh ohs!')

 

 

 

As they turned the corner, the devastation set in.
It took a moment or two for it to seep in.

 

Their Beis hamikdash that they have learned to love and cherish as Hashem's home was a MESS.

What a cruel thing they did.

What should we do?.

 

 

 

Evi screamed out, "Let's clean it!"

 

 

 

Without any hesitation, each child came to the conclusion we got to clean this place up. They felt so much ownership and got to really experience what it might have felt like after the Jews returned to their Beis Hamikdash in shambles.

 

 

 

Carefully lifting the Menorah.

 

 

Using words like "team work" and "Bravery" as we fixed the center.

 

 

 

sweeping all the dirt

 

 

Washing the floor from the kiyur (kohanim's wash basin)

 

 

 

 After we put a lot of effort into cleaning it we said lets light the Menorah.

Some children ran to where the oil was usually kept but it was empty!

 Those Greeks...  ;(

 

Finally Aron found ONE JUG!  It wasn't broken and had the seal. 

WOW ! Again all the children feeling so part of the story like it was happening right then.

 

Chanukah in our dramatic play area.

Lots of Menorahs, candles, books and dreidles to experiment with!

 

 

 

Creating our own Menorahs!

(Thank you to Elizabeth Grandfather "Ezra" for carving the wood and tiles for our Menorah's!)

 

 

 

 

Experimenting with mixing colors of paint.

 

 

Menorah Playdough mats!

 

Dreidel art.

Placed a Cd around a marker and the children were able to spin the marker and create a funky twirl design with the marker.  

 

 

 

Team work:

 

 

Singing a Latka song practicing our numbers.

 

A home within our home.

Building on the children's innate love for their home, and understanding of what a "home" is. The children at Gan spent this week exploring "G-d's home." The Beit Hamikdash (Holy Temple)!

To allow the children to fully appreciate the story and miracle of Chanuka, we began our unit with a full blown focus on life in Israel prior to the Chanuka story. Life was good for the Jewish people.

(This pre-knowledge would give the children a deeper understanding and appreciation for the Chanuka story that they will soon learn!)

Since children learn best through concrete experiences, that engage all their senses- we set up a Beit Hamikdash center:

Menorah- Thank you Elizabeth's Saba (grandfather) for building a replica of the Beis hamkidash's menorah. (For teaching purposes, the original one had 7 branches. For the chanukah holiday we have 8.)





Kiyor- what the Kohanim and Kohen gadol would wash their hands and feet with, before performing their special work in the Beis Hamikdash. (We used a hot water urn, with cold water ;)

Dramatic play- costumes of the Kohen and Kohen gadol to feel like a real Kohen Gadol lighting the menorah.

Olive center- in order to get olive oil they would squeeze olives and work really hard. Using a double zip lock bag we had olives and blocks for the children to see the oil of the olive.

We placed colored pictures all over the center to inspire and illustrate for the children what would go on during those times in Jerusalem when all was peaceful and quiet.

Elizabeth pretending to be the Kohen gadol lighting the Menorah.

Little laminated flames with wicks,
 to practice counting skills and to add to the imagination.

Levi Lubin after putting on his costume looked to see the picture of the Kohen Gadol on the mirror to see if he looked like him.

Levi Lang wearing the choshen - breast plate that had a special stone for each of the 12 tribes.

Sipping on some 'oil' in the Beis hamikdash. ;)

Bikurim Orchard!

To add to the experience of "life in Israel with the Beis Hamikdash," we added another center to our classroom! It was an "orchard" for the children to role play the mitzvah of "Bikurim." 

Bikurim means "first ones"- it was the act of separating the first fruits to give as a gift to the Kohanim (priests) in the Beit Hamikdash. This mitzvah can only be performed in Israel while the Beit Hamikdash was in existence.

During this time period, people would pick the best of their fruits and bring it on their journey to Jerusalem. This act was to show appreciation to G-d for providing His blessing to allow the fruits to grow, and to the Kohanim for their work in the Beit Hamikdash.

 

What a powerful lesson for our students: to think of others and turn their gratitude into an "action."

We mounted Velcro on the trees and fruit to make the "picking" fun for the children.  We also placed all sorts of baskets around the center for the children to use to gather their "Bikurim."

A picture of what it might have looked like with people dancing excited with their fruits and some even balancing baskets on their heads!

The children role played this mitzvah, by bringing the fruits they picked to the golden basket in our "Beit Hamikdash" center, which had a Kohen's picture  posted next to it!

After the Kohen Gadol's hard work, they would get to eat the delicious fruits.

Elizabeth after lighting the Menorah went to pick out her favorite fruits.

Olive oil:

A huge thank you Baron Brothers Nursery for bringing an Olive tree to our school!

It was so special to have a hands-on experience while learning where olives comes from, which are used to make olive oil!

We wanted the children to understand the fact that back then, people couldn't just go to the store to buy olive oil in a bottle! It took HARD work and PATIENCE to create enough oil to light the Menorah.

Looking at a picture how they would get the olives off of a tall tree.

Squeezing olives!
They quickly realized how much patience they needed. After just getting a few drops they realized how precious it is! This was all a great foundation for the children to hear the Chanuka story. (When we get up to the point where there was no oil to light the Menorah, they will truly appreciate how long it takes to make it!)

 
Getting a closer look.

Beis Hamikdash- Hashem's Home.

We learned that not only is Hashem everywhere and in our own home but  He wanted us to have a Beis hamikdash that would be a special home for Him in this world.

During our Shema prayer we do hand motions when talking about how Hashem is in our home. This was a great opportunity to connect to the new knowledge during our daily prayer.

 

Hand motions for "our home" in the "Ve'ahavta" part of Shema.

Each child had a picture of their home. It was so special to hear them all say what is so unique about their home.

Devorah Leah telling us all about her 'stuff' in her home. :)

Creating a home just like theirs through art.

Learning shapes while adding doors and windows.

One morning we placed the photo's of their home on a makeshift road, so they can drive to each others home. We also included a picture of the Beis Hamikdash.

Furniture and play dough was a great way for them to create their dream home.

We want to wish a Mazel Tov to Levi Lubin on his 2nd birthday!!