Magen David

This week we talked about what it means to be Jewish.  We read a great book called, "What Makes Someone a Jew?", by Lauren Seidman.  We learned that being Jewish isn't about what you look like or where you live. Being Jewish is about the things you do, such as learning from Torah, being kind, and helping others.  We talked about some of the holidays and traditions that Jewish people often celebrate.

Then we made our own Jewish stars out of popsicle sticks.  (I got the idea from Joyful Jewish!) 

The kids had a great time decorating the stars with paint and glitter.  

We talked about how the "Magen David" or Star of David has been an important symbol to Jews for a long time.

Joseph's Coat of Many Colors

I've always struggled with how to break up the Passover story into manageable chunks. Where to start? Baby Moses? Joseph sold into slavery? Joseph's dreams?

This year I decided to start with the story of Joseph and his Coat.  

We started our discussion by "discovering" that the Jews used to live in the land of Canaan but moved to Egypt because of famine (no food).  We learned that when Joseph was young, his father gave him a special coat with many colors.  Joseph's brothers were jealous of the coat and that they sent Joseph away to live in Egypt.  Then we read a story about how Joseph's brothers came to Egypt to get food and met up with Joseph again.  

The kids got to make "paper dolls" of Joseph and decorate his many colored coat. We started with Joe.

Then we gave him a "coat."

Then we added the colors!

I think they turned out great!

It Could Always Be Worse

The story of a man who thinks his house is too loud until his Rabbi instructs him to fill the house with animals is a classic Jewish folktale.  This version told by Margot Zemach in It Could Always Be Worse is wonderful.  

After we read the story, the kids made popsicle stick puppets of all of the animals in the story. 

Something from Nothing

One of my favorite stories is Something from Nothing, by Phoebe Gilman.  This sweet story is about a boy who gets a special blanket as a gift from his grandfather.  Unfortunately, over the years, the blanket gets old and the grandfather cuts it down to a jacket, then a vest, then a tie, then a handkerchief, and finally a button, before it is lost for good.  At the end of the story, the little boy learns that while his grandfather may not be able to make something out of nothing, he can create a wonderful story out of blank paper.

To go along with the story, the kids got to stitch their own kippah/yarmulke (skullcap).   I had seen online the idea of using a pipe cleaner as a "needle" for simple sewing so I gave each kid a pipe cleaner-needle and tread (yarn) and showed them how to go in and out of the holes around the yarmulkes. Ours were made out of plain cardstock so the kids could decorate them with stickers and crayons, but you could certainly use felt.  I knew we wouldn't have time for puffy paint or fabric paint to dry but you might be able to use fabric markers on the felt.

During Center Time the kids practiced retelling the story by sequencing pictures.  I drew each item that Grandfather had made on a large index card (blanket, jacket, vest, tie, handkerchief, and button) and the kids got to color them and then put them in order. 

Noah's Ark Mobiles

I loved this lesson!  Even though most of the kids were already familiar with the story of Noah, they were still entranced during the story.  They loved our craft too: Noah's Ark Mobiles (adapted from Joyful Jewish!)

We started with an ark.

The kids got to add foam animal stickers (two of each kind of course) to their ark, and some even chose to draw Noah.

Then the kids colored in their rainbow.  They had to color both rainbows so that when we folded the paper in half, their rainbow had two sides.

Finally we put all the pieces together with some string to create the mobile!

During "Center Time" the kids read about Noah's Ark (Board Book by Lucy Cousins) and play with a wooden Noah's Ark.