Passover Seder Place Cards

1. The Passover holiday reminds Jews about the time when their people were slaves in Egypt and how they became free. Each object on the Seder table symbolizes an important idea. For instance, the people had to grab their bread before it could rise and run out of Egypt to find freedom. That is why no leavened (risen) bread is eaten during this holiday. Add a unique touch to a traditional Passover table by making place cards for guests.
2. Measure small place cards for each person at the Seder. Draw a line With Crayola® Erasable Colored Pencils to divide the paper in half. You can erase it later.
3. Sketch a Passover symbol such as a wine goblet, parsley, shank bone, or matzah in the center of each card. Draw half of the symbol above the center line. Using Crayola Twistables, color in your symbols. Erase extra colored pencil lines.
4. With Crayola Scissors, cut around each symbol above the center line. Fold the top half of the card down. Write the name of each guest on the place card near the Passover symbol. You’re ready to set your table!

LA: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

LA: Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood.

LA: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade level 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: Explore factors that contribute to one's personal identity such as interests, capabilities, and perceptions.

SS: Identify and describe ways family, groups, and community influence the individual's daily life and personal choices.

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.

Possible classroom resources include: The Passover Seder by Emily Sper; All About Passover by Kinny Kreiswirth; Passover: Celebrating Now, Remembering Then by Harriet Ziefert; The Passover Lamb by Linda Elovitz Marshall

Encourage students to work in small groups to create a Sedra table centerpiece using a bare tree branch decorated with Passover symbols. Set up the classroom with several small "table" areas and display centerpieces.

Individually, students create a Passover Seder plate displaying all the items used to celebrate the Seder meal. Share this original plate with family members.

Students make an Afikoman holder with decorated cloth.