This Rosh Hashanah is the perfect opportunity to welcome and engage young families, create community among them, and begin to build the strong relationships that will keep them coming back.
Looking for some fun and educational ideas to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with your students?
We’ve rounded up lots of resources spanning the arts to inspire you to welcome in 5777.
Drama
From Teaching Jewish Holidays, a compendium of idea and strategies for teaching holiday at every grade level:
Primary grades –
Have students form a circle. One student becomes the world and steps into the center of the circle. Each person then approaches the world and offers it a gift, telling the world that the pretend gift is. Remaining in a circle, each person in turn becomes a shofar and makes a shofar sound announcing the birthday of the world. Everyone joins together in making one loud shofar sound. How did students feel?
Intermediate grades –
Role play a meeting between Ms. Rosh Hashanah and Mr. Everyday. Divide the class into pairs. Each partner is first one person and then the other. They speak to each other, share their feelings and thoughts. Reverse roles and then repeat the process.
Teaching Jewish Holidays is a comprehensive reference for educators, with the background of each holiday, extensive lists of holiday vocabulary with definitions, relevant blessings, and dozens of creative strategies for teaching holidays at every grade level, including family and all-school activities.
Music
Students can recycle materials to make their own shofars and other instruments, following the directions in “Making Trashy Music,” a chapter on music in Open It Up: Integrating the Arts into Jewish Education. The book offers 64 activities spanning four arts disciplines – music, drama, creative writing, and visual arts – directly woven into the Jewish school curriculum.
As they create their masterpieces, students also learn about the Jewish value of bal tashchit, caring for the environment. Download the full lesson plan and directions here.
Cooking
Get Cooking!: A Jewish American Family Cookbook, a fun, kid-friendly cookbook from Rachel (“Recipe Rachel”) Harkham and Doni (“Mama Doni”) Zasloff , celebrates both Jewish heritage and family traditions. Included with the book is a free music CD, including the upbeat “Shofar Blowin’ Band,” which adds some pep to your prep this Rosh Hashanah.
1. Have each child or family create and fill in an “apple sheet” (a cut-out apple shape) with the following:
My (or Our) Rosh Hashanah wish for a sweet New Year:
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
By_____________________________
(Child’s Name)
(or the _____________ Family)
2. Teacher draws a large tree with branches onto brown mural paper.
3. Glue the apples onto branches.
4. Voila! Enjoy the fruits of your labor with a colorful apple tree mural.
100+ Jewish Art Projects for Childrencontains complete and easy-to-follow instructions for projects covering holidays, Jewish symbols/ritual objects, Bible, Israel, and more, along with ideas for using them in the classroom and for family education programs. Other Rosh Hashanah projects include apple and honey plates, apple magnets, new year’s card, and shofars.
