Hands on Chanukah with Kita Zohar

The students in Kita Zohar are always excited to learn about Chanukah, and have been preparing for the holiday through crafts, songs, books, and exploring materials. One of the favorite activities is learning about the "sevivon" or "dreidel". The toddlers love playing with dreidels and trying to spin them. Last week, the children even got to paint using the dreidels to make their own sevivon craft!

Toddlers Painting with Sevivon

Another popular activity is matching velcro candles with the class's paper "chanukiah", as well as placing wax candles into a real life "chanukiah". These activities help the students learn about the symbols and rituals of the holiday. 

Kita Zohar children love music and Chanukah songs are no exception. "Sevivon sov, sov, sov" is of course a favorite, but the children also enjoy listening to "Ba'anu Choshech", "Yimeh Hachanukah", and more! Playing Chanukah music at home is a great way reinforce what your child is learning at school and get them excited for the holiday.

Hands on Chanukah with Kita Shalhevet and Kita Rimon

Upper Elementary Students Making Soap

On Wednesday Kita Shalhevet and Kita Rimon made soap as part of our Chanukah preparations.  With the help of Benji, Guig, and Laura, we made soap for everyone in the class.  Benji and Guig make soap often and sell it through their business, "Barking Dog Soap", so they were our experts and were happy to help show our class how it's done.

First we cut, measured, and melted the ingredients including the colouring and scent that we chose.  Then we cooled the blue soap that we had made and rolled it in into a log.  Then we poured the liquid white soap over it, and took the whole thing outside to cool.  When it was finished we had the blue and white pattern that we wanted.  Finally, we cut the soap into bars, wrapped it up, and made sure everyone had a bar to take home. 

The students really enjoyed working all together, especially with Benji and Guig.

On Being an MJDS Parent: What's Even Better than Gelt?

The word "gelt" is actually the Yiddish word for money. It's unclear when the tradition of giving children money on Hanukkah began and there are several competing theories. The most likely source for the tradition comes from the Hebrew word for Hanukkah. Hanukkah is linguistically connected to the Hebrew word for education, hinnukh, which led many Jews to associate the holiday with Jewish learning. In late medieval Europe it became a tradition for families to give their children gelt (money) to give to the local Jewish teacher on Hanukkah as a gift to show appreciation for education. Eventually it became customary to give coins to the children as well to encourage their Jewish studies. Read more here.

Here is a video from Maren Schmidt with some ideas for meaningful gifts for the children of today!

See It In Your Child: Priceless Presents

Kita Magen David's Winter Market

Winter Market Planning Commitee

The idea of the Winter Market began with three students and has grown into an entire class project. Parents have already reported that "the Winter Market has taken over their home life" as the children are so excited and involved that they are bringing their work home with them.

Here is a message from the Winter Market Planning Commitee:

Magen David students are hosting the "Magen David Winter Market" on Friday, December 19, 2014 from 2:30 -3:30 pm in the gym. We are going to be selling used toys, crafts and hot chocolate.  All items will be $1, $2 and $5.  Half of the proceeds will go to tzedaka.  

Please come to check out our Winter Market!

Maccabiah Games

In the spirit of Chanukah and the year of Sports and Health the students in Kita Magen David and Shalhevet had a lot of fun in MJDS's very own games of Maccabiah! The games of Maccabiah take place every four years in Israel as Jewish athletes from all over the world come together to compete in various sports.

At MJDS the children competed in individual events and tried their luck in group games:  Maccabim vs. The Greeks. The students learned about the connection between Chanukah and Yehuda H'Maccabee, as well as the torch run that starts in the city of Modien, where Mattatiahu H'Cheshonie was born, and finishes in Tel Aviv at the Kefar H'Maccabia (sports centre).

MJDS Upcoming Events

December 22 - January 2 - Winter Break