Apples and Honey to Blintzes: Library or Classroom Lessons For Preschool By Susan Dubin, Off-the-Shelf Library Services And Susan Rosner, Valley Beth Shalom Sheila Sporn Library Preschool Librarian June, 2013 sdubin@offtheshelflibraryservices.net srosner@vbsds.org
Introduction If you look in bookstores for Jewish stories, you may be under the impression that the only Jewish holiday is Hanukkah. The truth is that there is a wealth of Jewish books about holidays throughout the year. The most important holiday in the Jewish year is one that comes every week – Shabbat. Other holidays we will talk about are Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simhat Torah, Hanukkah, Tu B' Shevat, Purim, Passover, Yom HaAtzmaut, Lag B'Omer and Shavuot. Some of these holidays have several books and others none. Where there are no books available, we will suggest books with complementary themes or short stories. Jewish books go out of print very quickly. Although most of these books will probably be available in a good library, some may be out of print. If you are lucky enough to have some of these gems, guard them well. Your children will thank you!
My Family Holiday Memories Draw a picture about your favorite holiday family tradition. Tell how your family celebrates. Describe something you do. Homework: Ask an older family member about their holiday traditions when they were young.
Some library or classroom activities for Shabbat Make shabbat “candles out of toilet paper rolls: 1. Cover the rolls with tissue paper. 2. Glue roll on to small square construction paper. 3. Stuff red tissue paper in the top for the “flame”. Make Challah out of play dough: 1. Mix one part flour, ½ part salt, water , a little oil to make the pay dough. 2. Shape the play dough into challahs. 3. Try braiding three long rolls. Make a challah cover: 1. Have children bring a square of clean white cloth. 2. Use fabric pens to decorate.
High Holiday Word Wall Yom Kippur Rosh Hashanah Tashlikh Match the stories with the words above.
Some Sukkot Library or Classroom Lessons 1. Children share title of a Jewish book they read and teacher writes it on paper strip to make chain of books for a Sukkah. 2. Puppet story of K’tonton and the Lulav. Color K’ton ton thumb puppets. 3. The Big Sukkah. Children draw as many people as they can fit into their picture of the big sukkah. 4. The House on the Roof. Children draw sukkah on top of a house picture. 5. Mysterious Guests. Children make a list of guests to invite to their Sukkah.
The Big Sukkah Color the big sukkah. Fill it with drawings of as many people as you can fit in.
The House on the Roof Draw a sukkah on the roof of this house:
Day One Day Two Day Three Day Six Day Four Day Five Shabbat Draw pictures of Creation. Tape them together to make a scroll.
Chanukah Guest Puppet Faces
Make a Dreidel Use a paper punch to put round holes in the top and bottom area of the Dreidel. Fold the flaps (this is the gray areas), then glue them to form a box shape. Allow the glue to dry. Once dried, place a (short) pencil through the round holes. Now... take it for a spin! Have fun!
Tu B’Shevat Treasure Hunt How many books can the class find about trees or plants? Make a class tree and hang pictures of the book jackets on it.
Tu B’Shevat Leaves Fill out a leaf for each book a child reads. You may make the leaf in honor or memory of someone. Color them and put the leaves on a class tree. Leaf Pattern TITLE :_____________________________________________________________ In HONOR or MEMORY of: __________________________________________________________________
Purim Poem As a class, write a cinquain, a 5 line poem, about Purim: ___________________ one word ___________________ ___________________ two words ______________ ______________ ______________ three words ___________________ ___________________ two words ___________________ one word Purim Word Bank Purim Esther Mordechai Haman Ahashuerus Lots hamentashen shalach manot grogger mask Costume Vashti hang Adar horse king queen beauty contest advisor Persia Shushan megillah noisemaker
Purim Masks
Matzah Man Color the Matzah Man like matzah. Glue him to a popsicle stick to make a puppet. Retell the story with your puppet.
How Are These Books Different From All Other Books? Which book is about the people or subjects on this page? Miriam Aaron Exodus Moses Seder Pharaoh
The Cave in the Library: A Lag B'Omer Story Today is Library Day. When Ella walks through the library doors, she sees a big cave made out of paper where the reading rug usually is. She knows it is just pretend, but the big paper spiders and cotton cobwebs scare her a little. Inside the cave is a make-believe bonfire. Her class sits around the bonfire and waits to hear what this is all about. "Today is Lag B'Omer," Mrs. Sefer, the librarian, says. "Lag is not a real word. It is the Hebrew letter lamed and the letter gimmel. In Hebrew, letters are also numbers. Lag is the number thirty-three. Today is the thirty-third day between Passover and Shavuot. We call the counting of the days between the two holidays the "counting of the omer." "But why do we have a cave, Mrs. Sefer?" Ella asks. "Long ago when the Romans ruled the Land of Israel, Jewish students were not allowed to study Torah. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai hid from the Romans in a cave where he lived with his son for thirteen years. Students would come to study with him there. To fool the Roman soldiers, the students would pretend that they were going hunting or on a picnic." "In those days, stories were written on scrolls, like the Torah scroll, not books like we have today. It was easy for the students to roll up their scrolls and hide them in the pouch where they kept their arrows." "Before Rabbi Bar Yohai died, he told his students not to be sad but to have a feast day and celebrate the spirit of Israel on the anniversary of his death. He died on Lag B'omer." "In Israel on Lag B'omer, many people visit the cave on Mount Meron where Rabbi Bar Yohai lived. They have picnics and bonfires to celebrate, just as he requested." After the story, Mrs. Sefer gives each of the children a paper bow and arrow. When she checks out the books, she warns them to watch for Roman soldiers. If they see any, they are supposed to hide their books and say, "We are not learning Torah. We are just going hunting." Ella carefully checks the hallway for soldiers before leaving the library. No Romans in sight! She hopes there will be a cave in the library again next year on Lag B'Omer.
Lag B’O mer Stories Second grade wrote stories for Lag B’Omer. Here are two of them: The Lag B’Omer Fairies by Allie Once there were three students. There were 5 bad people. They told the three students “You cannot study!” The students were sad. But they knew if they found a secret spot they could study. The next day they looked and looked and looked for days and days. They got so tired. Finally they saw a Rabbi. They asked if he knew where a secret spot was. He said,”No. But I will look with you.” The three students agreed. They looked and looked and looked and looked. Finally, they got tired and hungry. They asked the Rabbi if he had any food. The Rabbi said, “I have stale bread and yuckky soup.” They ate and ate and ate. Then they were so full. The Rabbi had more stale bread and yuckky soup. Finally the Rabbi wasn’t hungry. So they looked and looked and looked and looked until they finally found a hiding place. They studied and studied and studied for as long as they could. And the 5 bad people never found them. The Lag B’Omer Story by Sasha There is a holiday called Lag B’Omer. Jewish people lived in a little town. Once a wicked king came to their town. He said, “You may not study the Torah or keep kosher.” So there were three little boys who loved to study Torah. So the first little boy came to a cave, but a black cat bit him and it was an evil black cat. He became evil, and he took his bow and arrow and shot it. He hit a rabbi. This rabbi said, “If you study Torah for seven days, you will get powers to read the future and make fantasies come true.” Now tell your own story about Lag B’Omer.
Yom HaAtzmaut Acivities Make a flag collage with torn pieces of blue and white paper Paste pictures of Israeli scenes from travel catalogs or magazines in outline map of Israel Share students’ memories of trips to Israel if any Teacher reads story while children act it out
Book of Ruth Retell the story of Ruth as a class story.
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