Learning the Story of the Megilla-- now that the stage was set! Lessons on what is truly important in life, and where our help comes from!

After living peacefully in our "Mordechai & Esther's Jewish Home" the stage was set to begin the Purim Story! (Megillah)

We created an additional center in our classroom:  King Achashverosh's palace.

In contrast to the Jewish home, this was more focused on dresses, glamour, jewels and mirrors.
There was definitely a contrasting atmosphere between the 2 centers. Which is what the Jewish people  would have experienced upon attending the Kings feast in his palace!  We wanted the children to feel the difference between the flashy showy palace and the Mitzvah filled home of Mordechai and Esther.

Eva experimenting with make up ;)

King Achshverosh picked Esther to be his new queen!

We discussed how uncomfortable this was for her, as she wanted to be in her own home doing mitzvah's!!  However, she knew this was Hashem's plan and EVEN in the palace Hashem will be watching over her!

This was a powerful practical lesson for our class and explored it for a couple days. Even when we feel sad or scared just like Esther must have felt when she first became Queen, Hashem is helping us and is with us -every step of the way!

Role playing the king and the queen

The king puppet helped us understand what King Achashverosh was like, he had a big feast in order to show off all his wealth. Now our class really understood after living in our "Jewish home" center, the difference of how Mordechai treated them and how the King was treating them at the feast.

It was so amazing to observe that even with all the glamour and bling that the palace brought out the children still felt at 'home' and comfortable in our Jewish home center.

We even did circle time in Mordechai and Esthers home. A great learning opportunity to make space for all, in a small area!

One morning Evi came in with a bag of ice and a lemon.
He said it was for his friends!
It is so rewarding for the child when taking their lead and interest.

We came up with an idea how to share - make lemonade!

Friends stopping by to see the action..

Evi was so sweet and offered all his friends lemonade before he tasted some himself!

We lightly touched on Haman and used it as a way to bring out a positive lesson.

In the story....Haman wanted everyone to bow down to him!

For the children to understand what "bowing down" meant, we talked about what Jewish people do when they daven. The only bowing down is to Hashem during prayer.

 

After learning about Haman and how he was quite mean, we asked what should they do??
Should we Cry?  listen to Haman?...

Mordechai took the children and learned torah, knowing that their faith in Hashem  is what would save them.

Friends

Traffic and working on patience;)