Jewish Holidays are a golden opportunity for us to instill life lessons in our students... and at the same time help the students realize that our Jewish history is not a bunch of stories that remain in the books (on the shelf!) they are stories that come to life- with relevant, living lessons!
We pride ourselves in taking a step back, visualizing the story through the eyes of a two, three or four year old...and only then- choosing how to tell the story, so that the lesson we want them to gain- is bright and clear!
We wanted the Jewish Heroes ESTHER & MORDECHAI to receive as much of the lime-light as possible (so the children would emulate and strive to be like them!) All the good deeds they did and what their Jewish home might have looked like. We wanted the children to be empowered that they too do so many mitzvah's just like these two Jewish heroes and want to do more!!
Before introducing the palace with kings and queens... we wanted to ensure our students recognized WHO Mordechai and Esther were. (Characters that they could relate to!)
We spent this week focusing on:
ESTHER AND MORDECHAI'S JEWISH HOME. It was amazing to watch what unfolded this past week as we lay the foundations for the Purim story.
Our dramatic play center turned into "Mordechai & Esther's Jewish home." We filled their home with items that might have been found if we went back in time and were invited by Mordechai and Esther themselves.Lots of Judaica, Shabbat supplies: candles, challah, flowers...
Placed pictures on one of the walls depicting the children doing mitzvah's! Through out the day we saw different children checking out their mitzvah pictures and talking about what they did.
A large mezuzah was placed on their 'door' Levi Lubin knew just what to do when he saw it ;)
He gave it a BIG kiss.
Challah center
Esther lived so long ago but i'm sure had the same delicious smell coming from her home before Shabbos!Levi A. and his sister Lia making challah.
Pictures of delicious challah and how to braid it helped the children create their own challahs.
Elizabeth found many siddurim- prayer books and helped organize them!
Time to go in the oven! Through-out the play, we constantly made the connection to Mordechai and Esther to help the children connect with the characters, and understand how they must have lived.
"Mmmm, what yummy challah's! Just like Esther would make" etc..
By the end of the week, we heard it in the children's conversations among each other--- the talk of feeling so special like them!
Stuffed stockings was another way to practice the technique of braiding challah.
Levi .L. "its so soft!"
Esther and Mordechai also gave Tzedaka! We placed a lot of coins and Tzedakah boxes around their home for the children to be able to give whenever they wanted.
Max giving Tzedakah before cooking a meal.
Evi was role playing Shabbos and singing the Kiddush!
Devorah Leah took out her challah from the oven for the occasion. :)
Beautiful to hear and see the children singing the Alef beis from the Siddur.
Mordechai and Esther come to life
At snack time we sing their Mitzvah notes. This week, Mordechai and Esther got to sing them and the children felt so proud when they heard their name and how much Hashem is so proud of them!We also took this opportunity to sort out any issues that might have occurred during the day! Our Mordechai and Esther puppets helped role play how to work it out. (we asked the children, "What would Mordechai and Esther do in this situation?"
They joined us for circle time!
Muka helped Mordechai give tzedakah too!
Girls teaching Esther the 'girls in the army song' (talking about the special mitzvah's girls have)
Not only was this a foundation for telling the Purim story, we REALLY saw a change in the children role modeling good behavior from these two Jewish Heroes.
Levi and Aron sharing a siddur together .
It was quite catchy !
Drawing Mitzvah's that they do!
Aron "I shared my tzizis with a friend who forgot theirs"
Tzedakah sensory bin
Quarters, nickels, dimes and penny's hid in the rice table with funnels and tubes.
Eva knowing just what to do when she found a penny!- Placed it in the tzedakah box :)
Levi .A. putting them in and proudly wearing his new kippah!
Paint and cars fun!
Mixing the colors to see what color it will make while making different tracks.
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