Teachers can teach the theme of Hanukkah using a variety of activities such as trivia and read-alouds to reinforce the miracle of this holiday.
Hanukkah celebrates the victory of the Maccabees, a small band of Jewish patriots, over the mighty armies of Syrian King Antiochus. The Maccabees found one jar of pure oil, but miraculously, the oil burned for eight days.
Hanukkah Trivia Game
1. What other name is traditionally known by? (Answer: the festival of lights)
2. What is the miracle of the eight nights and days of Hanukkah? (The oil in the temple burned for eight days)
3. The story of Hanukkah is a time to celebrate what? (Religious freedom - the story of Hanukkah tells of the Jews who were persecuted for many years by the Greco-Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes. Antiochus forced them to worship Greek gods instead of practicing their own Judaism.)
4. What was the name of the small band of Jewish patriots who victoriously won over the mighty armies of the Syrian King? (The Maccabees)
5. What did the Maccabees find when they restored the Holy Temple in Jerusalem? (one jar of pure oil, enough to keep the menorah burning for just one day)
6. Name at least one thing Jews do on each night of the holiday? (Jews light one more candle, exchange gifts, play dreidel, and eat fried latkes and donuts to remember this victory for religious freedom and the miracle of the oil. Children also play dreidel, a spinning top with four Hebrew letters - nun, gimmel, hey, shin)
7. What do the four hebrew letters on the dreidel stand for? ("Nes Gadol Hayah Sham - A Great Miracle Happened There.")
8. What is the Hebrew word for dreidel? ("sevivon.")
Using Chanukah Read-Alouds
- It's a Miracle! A Hanukkah Storybook. (Stephanie Spinner, Simon and Schuster, 2003)
- The Runaway Latkes (Leslie Kimmelman, Albert Whitman and Company, 2000)
- Papa's Latkes (Jane Breskin Zalben, Henry Holt and Company, 1994)
Here is a list of read-aloud activities that can be adapted to these particular books on Chanukah. These are particularly intended for early childhood and elementary school teachers/specialists.
Teach How to Make Potato Latkes
Teach students the basics of how to make a potato latke. If you don't have the cooking facilities, you could cut up these Potato Latke recipes into sentence strips and have the students put the sentences according to the order of the recipe. Note: this should be done after the vocabulary is already pre-taught.
For Jews celebrating all over the world, Chanukah is known as a relatively minor holiday. But for children learning about this holiday, the fun is always a magical part of the lessons. So have fun!
Dorit Sasson - Hello! I'm an ESL instructor, teacher diversity coach and writer for the educational markets who writes on English language learners ...
