Hanukkah

We spent our week learning about some of the traditions of Hanukkah. We learned about how the oil lamp’s oil lasted for eight days, even though it was only had enough oil for one day, hence the importance of the number eight. There are eight days of Hanukkah, a candle is lit for each day on the Menorah, and small gifts are given each of the eight days. We learned Santa does not come for Jewish boys and girls because they do not celebrate Christmas and that’s okay; others may believe in different things than we do. The kids felt good about this because they figured that as long as the Jewish boys and girls still received gifts from their parents then that was good. It was very sweet listening to them talk about how they didn’t want Jewish boys and girls to be left out of the gift giving.
 
We learned that Jewish kids play the Dreidel game to win chocolates. The kids really enjoyed this! They learned how to play the Dreidel game using paper coins and then after they learned the game, they are playing with real chocolate coins. The kids also decorated paper Dreidels with little snowflakes, BINGO dabbers and glitter glue. This is great for working out those finger, hand and arm muscles!
 
The kids made tape resist Star of David paintings after learning that Hanukkah colours are blue and white/silver and used scrap paper rectangles to make menorahs. They also practiced their AB colour patterns using pretend Menorah candles.
 
Our letters this week were N and V.
 
Unfortunately, on the last day of our visits the Story Book Truck was unable to come. When talking about this disappointment we decided that the positive take from this is that we get to keep the library books for a little while longer!