by Alanna Rose

Created on: November 24, 2010

It is important for Elementary school teachers to educate the students about the several different holidays that are celebrated in the month of December.  One of these holidays is Hanukkah, otherwise known as the festival of lights.  This holiday will last for eight days and will involve lighting a menorah each of those days.  Children who celebrate Hanukkah also play special games like dreidel and also eat special foods like jelly donuts or potato latkes.  All of these traditions can be incorporated into lesson plans for the elementary school classroom.

Story Time

A teacher may educate her students about Hanukkah by reading any of the wonderful Hanukkah books published for children.  One great book to read to a class is “The Only One Club” by Jane Naliboff.  It tells a little about the holiday and also about how students in the class interact when there is only one child in the class that is Jewish.  Another great book to read is “Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins” by Eric A. Kimmel.  This story is beautifully illustrated and tells the story of the holiday in a delightful way.

Menorah Craft

Another great way to introduce the holiday is to do a related craft.  The menorah is basically a candelabra that can hold nine candles.  There is one candle for each day of the holiday plus a Shamash, which is a helper candle that is used to light all of the other candles.  A menorah can be created by the children using several different methods.  The menorah can be any color, shape, or size, but it must have space for nine candles with one (the Shamash) being taller than all of the rest.  One way to do this type of craft is to make a menorah out of self-hardening clay which can then be painted after completion or it can even be made with a craft material like Model Magic.

Play Dreidel

Dreidel is a fun game for kids to play and it can also be worked into a math lesson.  There are four sides to a dreidel: Nun, Gimel, Hey, and Shin.  If you don't know which letter is which one, then you may look it up online or anyone who celebrates Hanukkah should also be able to help.  Everyone playing the game should start out with the same number of small objects like teddy grahams, raisins, beads, or any other small item. 

To begin the game, the kids will sit in a circle on the floor and everyone will put in one of their items into the middle of the circle.  The first person will spin the dreidel.  If he or she gets a nun, then nothing happens and the next person takes his or her turn.  A child will win the round if he or she gets a Gimel because that person will take everything in the pot.  After someone wins a round, everyone will put in one item again before play starts with the next student after the one that won.  Students will still be happy if they land on Hey as they will win half of the pot.  This is great practice for math as they will have to add up everything in the pot and then divide it in half.  Students should round up if it is an odd number.  Lastly, the dreidel may land on Shin which means that the student will need to put one piece into the pot.

Students will have fun while playing a traditional Hanukkah game that helps them to practice some math skills and the kids usually love story time and crafts.  These are just a few suggestions for activities that a teacher can do with her students to educate them about the holiday of Hanukkah.

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