Hanukkah, the Celebration of Light- and a Season of Love and Sharing
Dear Mom and Dad,
The weather was a bit gloomy today- all gray skies and drizzle. We correctly predicted that we won’t be able to go to the park today. Good thing there’s always something fun in store for us at Ohana! Yay!
Some of our friends finished painting their pinecones. They also sprinkled some glitter on it, and stuck some tiny pompoms. Now it’s a pretty, miniature Christmas tree! On the other side, we had our paper clay. We used cookie cutters in Christmas-y shapes: stars, Christmas trees, and a reindeer. Maybe we can paint it and put some glitters on it tomorrow.
The big table had our playdough, and a balancing game set. We had a color dice which we had to roll, then we had to take a counter, and perch it on the balancing “tree”. Whoever has the balancing “tree” topple over during his/ her turn, they lose the game. But, we did such a good job that, even if we put all the counters on the “tree”, it didn’t topple over! So, that mean, having good teamwork makes each and every one winners. Don’t you agree?
We had our puppet show on the carpet, and some of our friends took turns doing a puppet show for us. It was amazing! Our friends from Petals Class who joined us today, as usual, really enjoyed it, and they even tried doing their own puppet show. We all probably have a future in doing TV programs…. Or being a movie star… *Wink*
After cleaning up, we headed downstairs in Petals Class for a special Hanukkah celebration. There are some people who celebrate Christmas, and there are some who don’t, but instead, they celebrate Hanukkah. As we were so curious what it was, Shelley told us that a long, long time ago, there was a big temple in Jerusalem. It had lots of gold and precious things in it, which was badly wanted by the greedy King Antiochus, who lived nearby. He then arrived, riding a big elephant, and he stole all the precious things from the temple. The temple was a big mess after that. Night time approached, and the people who go to the temple were devastated. As they had no electricity yet during that time, they could only use a lamp, and they found a tiny jug, with a little bit of oil left. They used this to light up the lamp. They were worried that with a small amount, the light will burn out easily, but, like magic, it burned on for 8 nights, enabling them to clean and restore the temple night or day. Interesting story, huh?
Shelley also told us that a “menorah” is placed on the window sill during Hanukkah; it consists of 1 helper candle and 8 regular candles. Daddy lights up each of the candle for 8 days. Then latkes, or potato pancakes, are eaten. There are some people who exchange gifts for those 8 days, too. Of course, our ears perked up at the mere mention of “presents”!
Speaking of latkes, we were so happy that Petals Class made some, and they shared it with us! Thank you so much! As Hanukkah is the “Celebration of Light”, then we think it’s also a season for sharing, just like Christmas, right? Happy Hanukkah everyone!
We then returned to our classroom, and we rehearsed more on our special end- of- the- year party presentation. We had a small dance session afterwards, and it was so much fun, because Pooja brought her mini- disco light, and we turned off the lights.
What a great Wednesday, despite the weather. See you all tomorrow!
Love,
All the kids in Flower Class