Here are a variety of materials you can use to teach your students to view their world through a Jewish lens by finding (and highlighting) the Jewish values in secular holidays. Please add your own ideas to the conversation via the comments section below.
Thanksgiving materials:
1. Thanksgiving art activity http://babaganewz.com/activities/thanksgiving-art-message
2. Birkat Hamazon and giving thanks lesson plan http://babaganewz.com/teachers/hakarat-hatov-and-thanksgiving-lesson
3. How do you show appreciation? personality quiz and lesson plan http://babaganewz.com/quizzes/how-do-you-show-appreciation
4. This article takes a humorous look at bar/bat mitzvah speech thank-yous. The accompanying lesson plan (in the blue box to the right of the article) looks at hakarat hatov in our daily lives http://babaganewz.com/articles/get-an-attitude-of-gratitude
5. This article is an interview with author Lemony Snicket. In this lesson, students will participate in a drama exercise to help them identify what they are thankful for in their daily lives. http://babaganewz.com/articles/lemony-snicket-the-man-behind-the-misfortune
6. This article is about a young women who wrote a book about saying thank you. The lesson has students keep a thank-you log. http://babaganewz.com/articles/ali-spizman-the-thank-you-kid
7. After studying the Mayflower in the context of Thanksgiving, students can learn about another ship that set sail http://babaganewz.com/articles/aboard-the-exodus-setting-sail-for-freedoms-shore
After Thanksgiving:
1. Buy Nothing Day http://babaganewz.com/articles/shop-until-you-dropnot
2. Lesson plan about consumerism, being happy with what we have, and not wasting/destroying http://babaganewz.com/teachers/consumerism
Responses to Christmas:
1. Article about young women who was tired of hearing Christmas music on the radio so she produced her own Hanukkah CD http://babaganewz.com/articles/shirley-braha-music-to-her-ears
2. Arrange a December 25 movie showing, followed by a movie discussion. We offer movie study guides for Toy Story 3 (http://babaganewz.com/teachers/toy-story-3-study-guide) and Despicable Me (http://babaganewz.com/teachers/despicable-me-study-guide), and discussion questions for The Wizard of Oz, The Truman Show, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (http://babaganewz.com/teachers/plan-a-summer-film-festival).
New Years:
1. Compare and contrast the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) with the secular New Year
2. Study the Gregorian vs. Jewish calendar
3. Redecorate your room over winter break to reflect your Jewish values http://babaganewz.com/articles/8-ways-to-rededicate-your-room and http://babaganewz.com/articles/the-great-bedroom-transformation
Vacation activities:
1. Board games http://babaganewz.com/tags/board-games
2. Bedroom redecorating http://babaganewz.com/articles/8-ways-to-rededicate-your-room
3. How do you chill out? Personality quiz http://babaganewz.com/quizzes/how-do-you-chill-out
4. Movie night (see above for links)
5. Book discussion (book study guides available at http://babaganewz.com/teachers/study-guides)
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day:
1. Study Dr. King’s statements and texts from Tanakhhttp://babaganewz.com/teachers/martin-luther-king-jr-day-lesson
2. MLK and Rabbi Heschel http://babaganewz.com/articles/our-legs-uttered-songs
Presidents Day
Students examine Biblical quotes and references in speeches made by U.S. presidents http://babaganewz.com/teachers/us-presidents-quote-the-bible
