Chanukah is in the Air

Chanukah is in the Air 

Today there were many opportunities for the children to connect to the holiday of Chanukah

We signed in using real candles instead of animal pictures. Several children worked together to help Elet build the Temple. We were very happy to see the children sharing materials and ideas. Elet was very proud of himself when it was complete. 

Hilary and Elet used magna-tiles to complete their work. 

 

 Sara enjoyed wearing a crown made by Morah Sarah 

We lit one candle in the menorah and the wick of one cup oil to see which would last longer - the candle or the oil...the children made predictions. "The candle will last because it is bigger."  .... we observed that the oil outlasted the candle!

We counted candles, children, oil cups, and everything we could find.  We sang "How Many Candles?" which emphasizes the growing number of candles with 

one more added each night. 

We also sang old favorites, Chanukah, Oh Chanukah, Come Light the Menorah  and

  I Have a Little Dreidel 

We re-enacted the story of the miracle of the oil by pretending that our classroom was the Temple after it had been defiled and then saved.  We had to clean it by sweeping and washing. Then we were ready to find some oil. We searched until we finally found enough to last one day. It was amazing that the oil lasted eight days until new olive oil could be made and delivered!

We invited the 2's class to be our guests as we lit both the oil menorah and the candle menorah, pretending that it was the last night of Chanukah. We sang songs and

made applesauce to eat with our freshly made latkes (pretend cooking). We practiced saying (singing) the Chanukah bracha. It was fun to share this time with friends!

We will make our own menorahs and we also plan to make latkes and applesauce.... Stay tuned!