Nursery
Chanukkah Unit
We had so much fun in this Unit learning all about Chanukkah and decorating our classroom with Menorahs and Dreidels. We had olives for snack as we learned about the miracle of the oil. We also had a lot of fun in the playground playing with the snow. We also made Hanukkah cookies which the children took home. Last but not least we had a blast at our Hanukkah performance singing all the Chanukkah songs and eating Sufganiot- Donuts! Hope you enjoy the photos of this Unit.
- The Chanukkah story (1.9 Interacting with Adults: the children were engaging with the Morah in activities in positive ways)
A
long, long time ago in the land of Israel, the most special place for the
Jewish people was the Beit HaMikdash in Jerusalem (Yerushalaim). The Beit
HaMikdash contained many beautiful objects, including a tall, golden menorah.
Unlike menorahs of today, this one had seven (rather than nine) branches.
Instead of being lit by candles this menorah burned oil. Every evening, oil
would be poured into the cups that sat on top of the menorah. The Beit
HaMikdash would be filled with shimmering light.
At
this time there was a king named Antiochus who ruled over the land of Israel.
He did not like the Jewish people because they were different from him. I don’t
celebrate Shabbat or read from the Torah, so why should they?” declared
Antiochus. Antiochus made many new, cruel rules. “No more celebrating Shabbat!
No more going to the Beit HaMikdash, and no more Torah!” shouted Antiochus. He
told his guards to go into the Temple and make a mess. They brought mud,
stones, and garbage into the Beit HaMikdash. They broke furniture and knocked
things down; they smashed the jars of oil that were used to light the menorah.
Antiochus
and his soldiers made the Jews feel sad and angry. A Jewish man named Judah
Maccabee said, “We must stop Antiochus! We must think of ways to make him leave
the land of Israel.” At first, Judah’s followers, called the Maccabees, were
afraid. “Judah,” they said, “Antiochus has so many soldiers. We are just
small army who can’t fight these soldiers.” “How will we win?” He uses huge
elephants to fight his battles! How can we Jews, who don’t have anything to
fight with and are so small, fight against him?” Judah said, “If we think very
hard and plan very carefully, we will be able to defeat him.” Hashem made a
huge miracle and the Maccabees chased Antiochus and his men out of Israel.
As
soon as Antiochus and his soldiers were gone, the Jewish people ran to
Jerusalem to clean their Beit HaMikdash. What a mess! The beautiful menorah was
gone, and the floor was covered with trash, broken furniture, and pieces from
the shattered jars of oil. The Maccabees built a new menorah. At first, they
worried that they would not be able to light their new menorah, but they searched
and searched, until at last they found one tiny jar of oil – enough to light
the menorah for just one evening. The Maccabees knew that it would be at least
eight days before they could get more oil, but they lit the menorah anyway. To
their surprise, this little jar of oil burned for eight days and eight nights. What a Miracle!! First,
their small army had chased away Antiochus’ large army, and now the tiny jar of
oil had lasted for eight whole days!
The Jewish people prayed and thanked Hashem
for these miracles. Every year during Hanukkah, the Jewish people light
menorahs (eight candles) for eight days to remember the miracles that happened
there.
- Decorating our classroom (4.12 Counting: the children were counting in meaningful ways in play and daily playing, 5.2 Fine Motor Skills: Pincer Grasp- adapting holding from palmar or pincer grasp)
- Tasting the olives (5.3 Fine Motor Skills: Eating)
- Playing with the snow and catching snowflakes on our tongues! (5.2 Gross Motor Skills: Movement and Expression- increasing control over own movements skills)
- Free play (4.20 Completing Simple Number Operations:establishing one-to-one correspondence, 1.3 Parallel Play: playing in proximity of peers with similar play things without an exchange of ideas or things, 4.7 Symbolic Thought, Representation and Root Skills of Literacy-Pretend Play)
- Hanukkah cookies (4.19 Measuring Length, Weight and Capacity, Temperature, Time and Money: beginning to use the vocabulary of standard units of measure
- Chanukkah performance
