Happy Hanukkah!
In the Gan we have been very busy learning all about Hanukkah, how and why we celebrate.
We used a KWHLAQ chart for the yeladim to guide the learning.
(What do I know? What do I want to know? How can I find out? What have I learned? What action will I take? What further questions do I have?)
There were a lot of questions!
Why was King Anitiochus evil?
Why do we spin dreidels?
Why do we eat food with oil?
Why do we eat chocolate coins?
Why do we need a Chanukiah?
Why do we light the candles?
Why is there a helper candle?
Why DO we celebrate Hanukkah?
Then I asked the yeladim HOW can we find these answers?
Popular suggestions were to ask people (Ima and Aba, Morah Shira, a friend, G-d, the Shinshinim, a Rabbi, people in Israel), ask Siri, look on a computer/Ipad, look in the Torah, and look in a book.
Next came the action. We began with Why do we spin dreidels? As this covers the first part of the story of Hanukkah.
I told the yeladim all about King Antiochus who wanted the people to be like him and follow his religion. We already know that Jews don’t pray to idols and only believe in one G-d. So they gathered in secret to continue to learn Torah and when Antiochus’s soldiers came by, they hid the Torah and pretended to be playing with dreidels.
We applied this learning by acting out the story and making our own dreidels.
Here they are in action:
K1
K2
