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!)
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