November 2013: Chanukah fun, part 1

Alma was very excited about the holiday this year as she did a presentation about it at day care (here she is practicing the material, above). She also made cards for her friends in Israel and Australia (bottom left) and watched TV programs in Hebrew with holiday songs (bottom right).

It became rather important to address the holiday as Alma was very interested in Christmas, which was everywhere around us. When she asked very innocently when are we getting a tree for the house it was a clear sign it was time to start decorating the house for Chanukah! We did a lot of craft activities together: We traced her hands to make a Chanukiah, used stencils with holiday symbols and she traced the letters and words related to the holiday. She was very excited to discover she actually can read the letters on the spinning top by herself!

A good time of the year to introduce the symbol of the Star of David, and practice counting up to nine (with the candles)

Hahgoot had plenty of Chanukah related activities, thanks to the great BJE program. Here she is solving the math problems with candles and made her own Chanykiyah design.

She also went beyond expectations and made up her own special Chanukah book! She read it in class after doing a presentation about the holiday, and the kids loved it!