Planning a Program for Yom Hashoah? Free Educator Materials

Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, is April 19. Many schools and community organizations create programs to observe the gravity of the loss of lives during the Holocaust and to educate and create awareness among future generations.

Creating compelling programming for schools can pose a challenge, especially for children in younger grades who have not yet learned about the magnitude of the Holocaust. Children's picture books can be important tools for teaching about the Holocaust. A book like Benno and the Night of Broken Glass tells about Kristallnacht, but follows a day in the life of a cat in Berlin to show the destruction and disappearance of people from the community. A picture book like this can provide a basis for thought-provoking discussion and real learning even among children in very early grades.

This free resource guide provides context, definitions for vocabulary and allusions, questions for pre- and post-reading, and suggested activities. Download it here.






Kar-Ben has free resource materials to accompany several Holocaust related books:

This resource guide for Janusz Korczak's Children provides context, definitions for vocabulary and allusions, questions for pre- and post-reading, and suggested activities. Download it here.




 
A Comprehensive Study Guide for Teachers prepared by Tolerance Minnesota©, a program of the Jewish Community Relations Council.

This study guide is designed to help students, teachers, and families prepare for and discuss Six Million Paper Clips: The Making of a Children's Holocaust Memorial. It contains background information, lessons and activities for students in grades 6-12. Download it here.

The Secret of Priests Grotto combines natural history and family history to tell the remarkable story of the Stermer family, an extended Jewish that survived the Holocaust by hiding in the labyrinth of Ukrainian caves known as Priests Grotto to escape Nazi persecution. Download a teacher's guide.

Haman's Shrinking Hat: A Purim Game!

This is a fun movement game that could be played at school or at home or at a Purim carnival!

You will need:
A very big paper or fabric triangle for each player (newspaper works best)
Purim music

Let's Play!
1. Leader plays Purim music and players march in a circle, holding their triangles. When the music stops, each player folds his/her triangle in half and stands on it. The last player to do so is out.

2. As the music starts and stops, the paper triangles get smaller and smaller and the number of players fewer and fewer. Keep playing until only one player is left.

Hamantaschen--which are triangle shaped--are reminders of Haman's three-cornered hat.

From Jewish Holiday Games for Little Hands by Ruth Esrig Brinn.

Teachers: Plan Ahead for Rosh Hashanah Events

In What’s the Buzz: Honey for a Sweet New Year, learn how the honey is extracted from the combs and makes its way from the hive to the table, to be enjoyed with slices of apples for a Rosh Hashanah treat from the perspective of a young Israeli girl on a class field trip.

Unique Rosh Hashanah program ideas for your school: This book offers cross-curricular tie-ins with science, including: studying insects such as bees, the recent threat to the bee population (called colony collapse disorder) as well as the benefits of symbiosis. Students can visit a bee farm or schools can invite a beekeeper to speak to an assembly.

This book is the third in Kar-Ben’s “Nature in Israel” series, and can be part of student learning about Israel, including its terrain and habitat and why it is called the land of milk and honey!