Of Jungles and Hanukkiahs
Photo from: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/8-hanukkah-facts-light-holiday-163747068.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACRtuzL4Dv4grg4-KwggAMssRgmVjjMvjVwVmgsL7TZLcS3RFmuf1A8eVe62ZqrOwC7MjxgyFpnUkCOaF0dIwptDvsHu6Rhz3V6qZi-LW6wd-W4XPSc4K59Vuya7p3fvSysmzEocsLGTiC-yUrXUndlR0Rsc6dXYUF6nPfr2YOAZ
Next week will be our Winter Party! That’s right– the day is flying by reeeeaaally fast!
Our teachers talked about how we’re going to celebrate other holidays around the world, as not everyone celebrates Christmas. We have some Jewish friends who celebrate Hanukkah, and we have Muslim friends who celebrate Eid al– Fitr. Eid al– Fitr was celebrated this May, and Hanukkah will begin this December the 10th to the 18th. These holidays are similar to Christmas— it’s a big celebration and there are lots of food, and presents, hugs, and laughter are exchanged!
Next, Pauline showed us a picture of a Hanukkiah, which has 9 candles.
“You know, I also have candles on my birthday cake,” E remarked.
As Hanukkah is celebrated for 8 days, a candle is lit up for each day. The tallest candle is called a shamash– it is used to light up all the 8 candles. We counted the candles all in all on the Hanukkiah– it had 9 candles.
Our teachers taught us a song about the Hanukkiah that we can sing during our Winter Party performance. It goes like this:
How many candles? How many candles? How many candles burning bright?
On a Hanukkiah, on a Hanukkiah
On this Hanukkah night
1! 1! 1! 1! 1!
1 candle burning, 1 candle burning, 1 candle burning bright!
On a Hanukkiah, on a Hanukkiah, on this Hanukkah night.
And then we keep on counting and singing all the way to 8. It’s quite a familiar song in Ohana, as it’s quite catchy and easy to remember because of the counting! We can’t wait to let everyone hear it.
Before going to the park, Pauline said she wanted to show us some photos. She asked what we saw in the picture.
“Hmm.. There’s a party!” S said,
“Yeah! It looks like a party!” H said. Pauline showed us another picture.
“Everyone is eating food,” H said.
“They’re eating food,” Ai said.
“He’s looking… that way,” H said, pointing to one of the children in the picture.
“They’re eating….. Pie,” A guessed.
“Or maybe popcorn?” H asked.
Pauline said she will put up the pictures tomorrow so we can have a closer look at it, and we can talk more about our thoughts on it.
Before we had circle time, Kai read us a book called “Rumble in the Jungle” by Giles Andreae and David Wojtowycz. It talked about the different animals in the jungle and described what they do. It says that even as the evening falls, the jungle doesn’t sleep, and all sorts of sounds can be heard– we wonder how it feels to go camping in the jungle at night? Will it be fun? Scary? Will there be bugs?
“Spiders– spiders can’t jump,” S said.
“Really?” we asked.
“Yes. They can’t jump,” S told us. Interesting thought– what do you think? Can they or can’t they?
Free play time was quite busy as usual– some of our friends who came back just this week worked on their dream catcher winter ornament with Sayaka (If only you could see how they are hung together in our classroom– they look amazing!), and some of us worked on our thankful leaf with Kai. The back of the room was preoccupied with building towers and spaceships with Stickle Bricks.
We were supposed to have gym class today, as it is a Monday, but we won’t be able to see Tsurumi sensei until next year. We really miss our gym class! But it’s great that we always have our park times, and we’re able to run around the green area. We had fun chasing after our friends and teachers under the beautiful sunshine.
That’s all for Monday– how about you? How was your day?
Love,
All the happy bunnies in Petals Class