Hanukkah Lesson Plan Ideas for Teachers

December is almost here and as most teachers realize, it's time to teach about the holidays. While there are a number of guides on teaching about Christmas, there are very few guides on teaching about the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. As you prepare your classes, here are some useful tips for teaching all students about this midwinter holiday.

TEACHER PREP

In order to develop a lesson plan for your students, a teacher must first know something about the subject. You can consult books or available internet teaching resources. In addition, if you are able to find a local synagogue, speak with a Rabbi or his staff about other resources and activities. From this information, a teacher can fashion anything from coloring pages to activity sheets.

ARTS AND CRAFTS

A study of Hanukkah can be rich and diverse. Model the lessons similar to other discussions about religions and practices from around the world.

In Art, kids can make holiday related painting, craft stick, and clay crafts such as making menorahs, dreidels, and Stars of David. While students working on these crafts, you can explain and teach them about the Hanukkah miracle and the importance of each of the symbols.

In addition to the artsy crafts, you can have the class make a their own menorah to mark the eight days of Hanukkah. As part of the kitchen crafts, you can share recipes that are favorite foods served during Hanukkah, like loukoumades (similar to donut holes) and latkes (potato and cheese pancakes.)

Plan your class holiday party to acknowledge, Hanukkah. Play Hanukkah songs and serve Hanukkah food favorites. Local book and music stores should have a nice selection of music. Decorate your classroom with menorah, dreidel drawings and Stars of David as well as the other holiday art.

LITERATURE

Consistent with two of the three "Rs", your students can read and write about Hanukkah. Take your class on their regular library trip and have the librarian share with them books about Hanukkah. Have students read and prepare reports about their Hanukkah selections.

If your students are too young for reports, check out a book and share it with your class during reading or circle time. There are a number of well written titles that teach the story of Hanukkah with respect and humor.

For more advanced students, you can teach the Jewish alphabet and some of the special words and meanings of letters using dreidels and other items.

HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY

Hanukkah is the commemoration of a miracle that occurred after a historical battle between the Syrian Greeks and the Jews. You can teach your class about the ancient history of the Middle East and the Judah Maccabees.

Combining the history lesson with one of geography, your students can make maps of the region and learn about the countries of Judea, Assyria, and Babylon.

Because Hanukkah, Kwanza and Christmas generally occur in December, you can take the opportunity to teach about other religions around the world and how diverse people celebrate their December holidays.

MATH AND SCIENCE

Dreidel Games are great for teaching math. A dreidal is a top with four sides. Each side has a special Hebrew letter. Jewish children play dreidel games during Hanukkah, but for you math lesson use the dreidel game to teach about odds and averages.

Also, Hanukkah occurs at the time of the New Moon, and occurs each 25^th day of Kislev, per the Jewish calendar. However, on the Roman calendar, the date for Hanukkah changes each year. Have your students learn about the calendars used around the world. Take this time to teach about the differences in these calendars and teach the names of various months.

Hanukkah is a special time with special meaning for Jewish families. As our world becomes more diverse, students should get the opportunity to learn about the many different people and cultures of the world. By teaching your students about Hanukkah, they will learn that there so much more to celebrate in December than Christmas.

For more information and resources to guide teachers in making their lesson plans, check out the following websites:

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/collection.jsp?id=128

http://data.jewishgen.org/wcon nect/wc.dll?jg~jgsys~josfest

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/hanukkah.htm

http://www.wikihow.com/Teach-About-Chanukkah-in-the-Classroom