Hanukkah Day 4 - Latkes

Ingredients:

 • 1 egg
 • 1 t. milk
 • 1 large potato
 • 1/4 c. cheddar cheese
 • 1 T. flour
 • salt and pepper to taste
 • oil

Directions:
 1.  Carefully grate the potato and the cheese.
 2.  Beat the egg, milk and flour together with a whisk.
 3.  Combine all of the ingredients and add salt and pepper if desired.
 4.  Heat a frying pan and add just enough oil so the potatoes don't stick.
 5.  Drop the potato mixture by spoonfuls into the hot pan and fry until lightly browned on each side.
 6.  Serve with applesauce and sour cream.
 7.  It's best when it's hot.

Journal Jumpstart 12/19

Create a story about a new tradition you would like to observe during the holiday season when you have your own family.

Hanakkah Day 3 - The Dreydl

   A dreydl is a special four-sided top.  The Hebrew letters "N", "G", "H" and "S" are written on the sides of the top.  These letters stand for the words "Nes", "Gadol", "Haya" and "Sham", which mean "a great miracle happened."  Long ago, Jewish people were not allowed to come together and pray.  In order to practice their religion, they pretended to play games with this top. 

     We made a dreydl and played the game using beans instead of coins.  To play the game, each player gets 10 beans.  The players take turns spinning the dreydl, before each spin every player puts one bean into the pot.  If the spin comes up with a "G" the player gets all of the beans in the pot, "N" the player gets no beans, "H" the player gets half of the beans in the pot and "S" means the player must put an additional bean into the pot.  A player wins when they have all of the beans in play.

     Our dreydl pattern came from the December Idea Book (from Teacher's Friend). If you would like to make your own dreydl, you can use the pattern available on the Crayola website.

Journal Jumpstart 12/18

As you go to the shelf to get your lunch box one day, you find it is not where you left it. What will you do for lunch today, and how will you begin to track down your lunch box?

Hanukkah Day 2 - The Menorah

   Today, Jewish families celebrate by lighting a special candelabra, called a Menorah.  The holiday begins the first day by lighting the first candle.  A "servant" candle is also lit each night and used to to light the other candles.  Each evening an additional candle is burned until all eight candles are burning together.

We learned about the Menorah and made our own mixed media Menorah art project. I used a pattern from the December Idea Book (by Teacher's Friend) and traced the menorah shape onto heavy card stock. We covered it in foil. The candles are colored and the flames are torn bits of tissue paper.

Journal Jumpstart 12/17

Describe your favorite weather. What do you like to do when the weather is like this? Who else could enjoy sharing a day like this with you?

Hanukkah Begins

As part of our December social studies we enjoy learning about how other countries and cultures celebrate winter holidays.  There are so many to choose from it will take us several years to complete them all!

The Story of Hanukkah

   Hanukkah, or the Festival of Lights, is celebrated by the Jewish people.  The holiday begins with the 25th day of the Hebrew month of Kislev (December 16, 2014) and lasts for eight days.

   King Antiochus, of Palestine, tried to make all of the Jewish people in his country leave their own religion and follow the Greek religion he did.  Under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus, the Jewish people rebelled and after three years of fighting the Greek soldiers were driven away.

   The Macabees wanted to rededicate their temple, but there was only enough sacred oil to light the menorah for one day.  But, through a special miracle, the lamp continued to burn for eight days.  This is why the celebration of Hanukkah is also known as the Celebration of Lights.

   After lighting the Menorah, Jewish families pay games and exchange gifts.  The ancient game of using a four-sided top, known as a dreydl is played and traditional holiday goodies such as "latkes," potato pancakes, are served.  

Journal Jumpstart 12/16

Explain how to make pizza. What would you put on top of an empty pizza crust?

Journal Jumpstart 12/15

Create a story that your desk at school would tell if it could talk.

Journal Jumpstart 12/12

Describe your favorite holiday decoration.

Journal Jumpstart 12/11

Imagine that you had to give up all of your toys but two. Which two would you keep and why?

Journal Jumpstart 12/10

Write a letter to your friend who is disappointed because he or she didn't make the swim team.

Journal Jumpstart 12/09

Describe two things that make you smile.

Journal Jumpstart 12/08

Create the perfect dessert. What ingredients do you need? On what occasion would you serve this dessert?

Journal Jumpstart 12/05

Explain how to wrap a present.

Journal Jumpstart 12/04

Brainstorm things that are bumpy. Now write a short funny poem about one of these things.

Journal Jumpstart 12/03

Describe one of your parents by appearance, dress, profession, or personality. What does that parent do to let you know that he or she loves you?

Journal Jumpstart 12/02

One of your favorite socks has been missing for three weeks! Saturday morning you discover it in the most unlikely place. Where do you find it and how did it get there?

Advent Activity Ideas

     As a child my mother did the Twelve Days of Christmas with me. I was allowed to open a small gift each day beginning December 13. These gifts were usually things like lip gloss, amazing pencils or pens, cute erasers, stickers or the like. Nothing that cost a lot, but small tokens that were fun open. This tradition continued until I was about nine and my parents were full time foster parents. Never knowing how many kids might be in your home (or their ages or genders!) made the tradition much harder for my mom to keep up with and it was forgotten. Fast forward several years and I have my own children. I considered taking up the tradition again, but honestly, I wanted something that put them into the spirit of giving and not receiving during the holiday season.

     Through the years we've tried lots of different Advent celebrations and one of my favorites was the Advent Jar. I took a large glass jar (it was my sun tea jar in the summer months) and added a festive label to it. Inside we placed activity ideas and each day the girls got to draw out one fun thing to do. I liked this option because it was a surprise for all of us, one day we might make cookies and another we would watch a favorite Christmas movie.

Here's a list of some our favorite activities through the years (and some that were date specific thanks to my OCD tendencies):

December 1: Decorate! This is the day we always put up the tree and brought out the Christmas village.
1st Saturday: Parade Day (we would walk a block over to Main Street and watch the parade and then come home to have holiday goodies with homemade hot cocoa).
December 6: Sinterklass Day - we used this as a random act of kindness day (before there was such a thing).
December 13: Saint Lucia Day - this meant holiday baking
Anytime (but has to be set up in advance): be a bell ringer for the Salvation Army
Volunteer in a soup kitchen

Advent Jar Ideas:
- making ornaments (I would put together kits for making ornaments and keep them tucked away in the pantry so that we only had to pull out a shoe box and start crafting).
- watching a favorite Christmas cartoon (we had several that they could pick from)
- visiting the light display (we would drive about 45 minutes to one and about 25 minutes to the other)
- storybook activities (this works a lot like the ornament craft kits; a book is paired with an activity and stored away together)
- making play dough (in holiday colors and scents - green was fir scented, red cinnamon and we made gold and silver with glitter added in)
- making snow globes (recycle those baby food, pickle or mayonnaise jars)
- sprinkle out birdseed and see who comes for dinner (if you make a bird feeder remember not to use peanut butter because the birds can't process it)
- visit the library and choose some new Christmas favorites
- paper snowflakes (added to windows, turned into garland, hanging from the ceiling)
- make doggie treats and toys for the shelter dogs and deliver them
- make holiday cards for the residents of a nursing home (keeping these non-faith based means they are more versatile for everyone).
- wrap presents
- dinner and a movie (dinner themed around the holiday movie)

Journal Jumpstart 12/01

Imagine you had fifteen brothers and sisters. How would your life at home change? Would you have to move? What would dinner, driving to Grandma's, or celebrating holidays be like?