Chanukah is celebrated by Jewish people around the world. Honor the Festival of Lights by hand-crafting a beautiful banner.

• 1.

  Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, is a Jewish holiday celebrated for 8 days each winter. During this time, children and families look forward to dreidels, latkes, and the daily lighting of the menorah. Find out more about Chanukah celebrations in your community and around the word. Why do menorahs have nine candles?

• 2.

  Here is one way to make a colorful, decorative banner for the holiday season. To create the candles, lay both of your hands on a paper. Spread out your fingers, with your thumbs together. Ask a classmate to trace your hands for you with Crayola® Colored Pencils.

• 3.

  Draw a pretend candle flame on each fingertip, but not the thumbs. Cut out around the candles using Crayola Scissors. Color them with Crayola Washable Markers.

• 4.

  On another paper, draw a large candle for the center of your menorah. Add a colorful flame to the tip. Cut it out. Place it on top of the thumb prints using a Crayola Glue Stick.

• 5.

  On another piece of paper, draw and color the base of the menorah. Use your imagination and Crayola Multicultural Markers to make it resemble wood grain.

• 6.

  Use markers to color a background for your banner. Glue the menorah on the background. Add words such as Happy Chanukah or Festival of Lights. Use Hebrew letters if you can.

• 7.

  Punch holes at the top of the banner for hanging. Thread a ribbon through the holes and knot.

Standards

• LA: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
• LA: Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text.
• LA: Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.
• LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
• LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
• SS: Describe ways in which language, stories, folktales, music, and artistic creations serve as expressions of culture and influence behavior of people living in a particular culture.
• SS: Give examples of and explain group and institutional influences such as religious beliefs, laws, and peer pressure, on people, events, and elements of culture.
• VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.
• VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.
• VA: Select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning.
• VA: Identify specific works of art as belonging to particular cultures, times, and places.

Adaptations

• Possible classroom resources include: Eight Candles to Light: A Chanukah Story by Jonny Zucker; Chanukah Lights by Michael J. Rosen; Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric A. Kimmel; Menorahs, Mezuzas, and Other Jewish Symbols by Miriam Chaikin
• Students research the Festival of Lights, Chanukah, including symbols of the festival such as the menorah. Investigate other winter holidays and symbols of those events. Compare and contrast with Chanukah.
• Collect recipes typically served during the Chanukah season, such as latkes. Research recipes for other winter holidays. Organize these recipes into booklet format and publish for each member of the class.