Resources for your Thanksgiving and Chanukah celebrations

As you prepare to celebrate with your families, you might be wondering how to integrate or support your child's learning. I hope I can offer some helpful resources;

Children learned how to light the Chanukah menorah and have practiced all three blessings. For those of you who want a refresher course, here are two helpful resources:

How to Light The Menorah (does not review the blessings)

and here's a link to read and listen to The Chanukah Blessings.

While I'm sure you've watched the video of the Gan retelling the story of Chanukah over and over, here's another charming retelling.

Foods cooked in oil are a Chanukah tradition. Here's my favorite latke recipe, and my favorite jelly donut recipe. We'll be cooking both in school next week.

Lastly, your children have a present for you. Be....gentle with them (the gifts, that is. I'm sure you are gentle with your children!)

For Thanksgiving, we have primarily focused our learning on the story of the Mayflower Journey and the theme of gratitude. For those of you interested in integrating these themes into your celebration, the website Freedom's Feast offers some wonderful resources. The Thanksgiving meal can be a wonderful time to share what we are grateful for (something we do each morning at tefillah/prayer time) or tell the story of how, why and when your family came to this country. If you are interested in exploring the story of the first Thanksgiving more deeply, I recommend the Plymouth Plantation website.

Happy Holidays!