Extractions: Ideas for Eight Nights of Hanukkah Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, celebrates an important event in Jewish history when a single night's worth of lamp oil, needed to rededicate the Temple, miraculously lasted for eight nights. To honor this, the modern holiday lasts for eight nights, and many families now find it fun and satisfying to find a unique focus for each of the days or evenings of Hanukkah, giving each day its own special meaning or significance. Native Californian Sara Zolott has worked in Jewish education for her entire adult life, and is currently the Assistant Educator/Assistant Family Program Coordinator at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Here she offers some ideas to enrich the eight-night holiday experience of Hanukkah, one of her favorite holidays: Designate nights for relatives.
Your Guide To The Holidays (Click here to learn more about teaching your child how to be responsible. If your family celebrates hanukkah, encourage your child to give some or all http://parentcenter.babycenter.com/refcap/bigkid/gtraditions/68129.html
Extractions: Your 7-year-old will be fully caught up in the excitement of the season. He's at the perfect age to enjoy and take part in everything about them, from religious ceremonies to cooking to making and picking out presents for the whole family. His generosity will shine as he thinks about what will please those he loves. At this age, too, children are building an awareness of the larger world around them, and the hardships that other children and families face. If your holiday traditions involve giving to those less fortunate, you can ask your child to accompany you on a shopping trip for the local food bank, or to wrap presents for a needy family, or to help decide where to contribute some portion of this year's Hanukkah gelt. (For more on how to encourage your child's generosity, click here Since he's also becoming more responsible, your child can now take part in the old tradition of making (and trying to keep!) New Year's resolutions. Because grade-schoolers are developing a sense of how chores can benefit the family and even an entire community, his initial attempts at goal-setting can start with these practical tasks. Help him pick something manageable, such as making a promise not to throw his food wrappers on the ground, or keeping his room neat and clean. (
Mooney04 For her first year of teaching she taught in Rome, NY, on a military base and The parents of her students surprised her with a hanukkah celebration to http://www.albany.edu/journalism/mooney04.html
Extractions: A Teacher Who Spreads Warmth, Energy, Learning by Jennifer Mooney "M iss Rumphius" is the childrens book story of a young girl Alice who grows up with the goal of traveling to far away places and living by the sea. She travels to tropical islands and other far off places but realizes that she cannot be happy until she makes the world more beautiful. At the end of the book she remarks how much she loves the lupine flower and decides to scatter the seeds along the countryside so that everyone can enjoy the beauty of this flower. Susan Chura is Miss Rumphius to me. I have observed her second grade class of 23 twice, and each time I entered the classroom I felt the tremendous warmth that radiated from the heart of Mrs. Chura (which is what the students call her). She also exudes energy. The students move around throughout the day and don't sit in stiff rows. A more relaxed, home-like environment in the classroom comes through the placement of a plush armchair in which Mrs. Chura can sit and read to the class members while they sit on the floor in front of her. Their desks are tables that form a u-shape and allow for a more friendly and unified classroom environment. Mrs. Churas energy and dedication to the field appeared early in her career. For her first year of teaching she taught in Rome, N.Y., on a military base and made $8,000 to support both herself and her husband. "One of the saddest days of my life occurred when seventy teachers received pink slips due to a consolidation," she recalls. "These families had just bought houses and started families, and were now in tears."
Velveteen Rabbi: Chanukah Approaches We can negotiate a peace, those who teach others that we are to be attacked willlearn the meaning of Chanukah. How do we heal the world? http://velveteenrabbi.blogs.com/blog/2004/12/chanukah_approa.html
Extractions: Join ... Main So here's the thing: I'm still working on forging a mature, adult relationship with this holiday. In the family I come from, Chanukah is largely for kids. Adults don't make a big deal out of it (because it's a minor festival), but children do (because it involves presents). My memories of childhood Chanukahs center around candle-lighting, potato latkes , and blue-and-silver-wrapped gifts spilling out of the huge plexiglass dreidel on the dining room sideboard. I have no idea where that dreidel came from; Mom probably had it made. One year she let me paint Hebrew letters on the sides.
Extractions: LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Teaching a child that the holidays aren't only about receiving is not always easy in our materialistic culture. Passing on values of giving back to make the world a better place can be a challenge, especially with the pressure of holiday expectations. But it can be done. However, "Kids get pleasure from seeing someone else happy," says Charles A. Smith, Ph.D., a professor of child development at the School of Family Studies and Human Services at Kansas State University. The act of giving unleashes the idea that a child can touch someone's life, Smith says. Heifer International believes that experience empowers children to know they can make a difference in the world. Heifer International is a great idea for parents seeking an experience in which their child can find pleasure in bringing happiness to someone else. While kids might have difficulty in understanding what it means to write a check to charity, they can easily grasp the power of giving an animal - a goat, flock of chickens, cow, llama or honey bees - to name a few that Heifer International provides for giving to poor families in 48 countries around the world.
