Seekers Class Update December 16&17
In Seekers Monday, December 16 and Tuesday, December 17, students gathered together in our first assembly of the year to learn about and celebrate Hanukkah as a school community in the last half hour of school. The children played with dreidels, sang the blessings and songs they had learned the previous week, and enjoyed gelt and sufganiyot.
Kita Alef with Stephanie
In Hebrew, we learned more creative Aleph Bet stories, with input from the students. We then practiced drawing, naming, and dancing the letters. In Judaics, we learned about the story of Hanukkah, and read a couple Hanukkah books together. We discussed the themes of light and darkness, and reflected on ways we find light in dark times.
In Hebrew this week, we practiced letters Alef through Chet. The children were re shining to remember the letters :) We then learned the story of Hanukkah! We focused on how the children cleverly played dreidel when the Greeks came to check if they were studying Torah. We learned about the miraculous victories of the Maccabees (small jewish army) and the miracle of the menorah. The kids were amazed to learn the oil lasted for 8 whole days! We then joined the rest of the school for the Hanukkah party.
Kita Gimmel with Yardena
In Hebrew, we started learning Hebrew pronouns (ani, ata, at, hu, hi, hem, hen) through movement games. We focused on the words Shabbaton, Shabbat, and sheva (seven) in preparation for our Judaics part of class. We then focused on the prayers for Hanukkah and the children made up moves for a Hanukkah song for people who can't hear. We also learned the story of Hanukkah, delving into the the topic of light and darkness. We talked about times in our lives that were dark and what we did to find the light. The kids mentioned playing sports, dancing, eating ice cream, and spending time with family as ways to find the light in dark times. Kita Daled with Heather
Continuing the work that we did in Hebrew class, the students watched a short clip about the Hanukkah story and discussed what the miracle of Hanukkah may have been. We talked about bringing light into the darkness and ways that we could "publicize the miracle of Hanukkah" through our behavior. We culminated this discussion by building our own class menorah, with each "flame" a different way that they felt they could cultivate light in the world around us. The students all shared beautifully insightful ways that they could serve as a light to the people and places around them this Hanukkah season.
Kita Hey & Kita Vav with Yonatan
In Hebrew class, we learned Hanukkah blessings and their meaning. We thought about what each one of us would like to kindle and light for our own lives and the world. We learned about the meaning of the dreidel, and how other faith traditions also celebrate the light during these darkest times. We then joined the assembly to eat, sing, and bless the candles.
Kita Zayin with Heather
This week we explored the meaning of Chanukah in relation to its historical and religious narratives. The students watched a clip and took guesses about which parts of the story had been verified historically and which parts were part of our religious retelling. The students explored the relationship between history and memory, using the idea of the miracle of chanukah to explore how the two concepts can overlap. The students put themselves in the shoes of the Jews from the chanukah story and tried to imagine how they would respond to the culturally and religiously limiting rules that the greeks tried to put in place, and then used this as a springboard for thinking about how we could renew or publicize the miracle of chanukah through our behavior today. 
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