Happy Hanukkah!

Three of our classmates shared their Hanukkah traditions during this past week. We learned that there was a great battle leading up to a miracle of light that brought about the Hanukkah celebration, also known as a 'festival of lights.' The children created a menorah that we lit and were enchanted to have the blessing sung to us by Leila, Anjali and Elise. We made delicious latkes for snack.  People stopped by throughout the day because they smelled the aroma from our cooking project.  Then, Abby created clues that led the children on a search for Hanukkah gelt. They had such fun going from clue to clue and ultimately finding the gelt in our garden bed!  Abby taught us that the Star of David is a symbol on the flag of Israel.  Using pattern blocks, the students discovered (much to their surprise!) many ways to create the Star of David.  It was so rewarding to hear their excitement as a new discovery was made.  We learned how to play the dreidel game and to sing the dreidel song.  We also shared a tradition that we read of in one of our books and that a first grader's family introduced to me last year.  We made tzedakah boxes.  Tzedakah means justice, right actions and charity.  The boxes are used to collect money to be given to someone in need.  We discussed that our boxes could also be used to hold notes about kindnesses done or things that would make someone else feel good.  Our final activity was a rhyming game.  The students had to match the word on a flame to a rhyming word on the candlestick. They noticed that the endings on the pairs of words contained the same letters!!

It was wonderful to hear the connections that were made this week to the celebration of Diwali and the observations about how each celebration is unique.  We would love to have more family members come in and share a special tradition with us.  And, don't forget this Friday afternoon is our gingerbread house making extravaganza - not to be missed if at all possible!!

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