2020-12-18 17:25

Students in Year 1 were treated to a special surprise Hanukkah activity from Cathy, Liah (Y5) and Roy’s (Reception) Mum, who helped to explain to students why we celebrate Hanukkah. 

Hanukkah is an 8-day celebration by the people from Israel, occurring in the month of December. To begin students listened to a brief story explaining the historical reasoning behind this celebration. Through the story, students developed the understanding that the celebration arose to honour the brave choices that the Hebrew people made to defend justice as well as their beliefs, ideas and preferences. 

Through discussion, students pondered on their own bravery in learning to respect themselves and standing up for their own choices this semester.  We also discovered the context of the menorah - the candlestick and rationale celebrating Hanukkah for 8 days.

With the historical background completed, we turned our sights to more current traditions. Foods eaten during this time are fried in remembrance of the importance of oil to the Hebrews. 

A toy called, dreidel - a top-like toy with 4 Hebrew characters, is played by adults and children alike. These 4 words are 'shin - שׁ', 'hey - ה', 'gimel - ג' and 'nun - נ'. The top is spun and depending on which character faces up, there are different rules and rewards. 

Students applied their learning by practicing writing these 4 characters.

Nun - If Nun is facing up, the player does nothing. 

Gimel - If Gimel is facing up, the player gets everything in the pot. 

Hey - If Hey is facing up, the player gets half of the pot. 

Shin - If Shin is facing up, the player needs to put things in the pot. 

After having the hands-on experience of playing the dreidel, it was time to make our own edible dreidel. Using marshmallows, chocolate, pretzel sticks, food pens and glue, students made their dreidel and got to eat it too.