Pesach
(still
under construction)
Read
Gittel's Hands by Erica Silverman
Happy Passover, Rosie
by Jane Breskin Zalben
Let's Have a Seder! by Miriam Sagasti (board book) (Kar-Ben)
The Matzah Ball Fairy
by Carla Heymsfeld
The Matzah Man: A Passover Story by Naomi
Howland.
The Matzah that Papa Brought Home by Fran Manushkin
Matzo Ball Moon by Leslea Newman
The Mouse in the Matzah Factory by Francine Medoff (Kar-Ben)
On Passover
by Cathy Goldberg Fishman
Only Nine Chairs: A Tall Tale for Passover by Deborah Uchill Miller (Kar-Ben)
P is for Passover: A Holiday Alphabet Book
by
Tanya Lee Stone
Passover
by Miriam Nerlove
Passover Magic by Roni Schotter
The Passover Parrot by Evelyn Zusman (Kar-Ben)
Sammy Spider's First Passover by Sylvia A. Rouss (Kar-Ben)
A Taste for Noah by Susan Remick Topek (Kar-Ben)
What Can it Be? Riddles about Passover
by Susan Cornell Poskanzer
What is Passover? by Harriet Ziefert
Where is the Afikomen? by Roz Schanzer (board book) (Kar-Ben)
The Mouse in the Matzah Factory has been re-published by
Kar-Ben
with new illustrations by Nicole in den
Bosch, illustrator of The Shabbat Box.
All About Passover
Written by
Judyth Groner and Madeline Wikler
Illustrated by Kinny Kreiswirth
Available from Kar-Ben Publishers.
Today's
Jewish preschoolers come from a variety of Jewish backgrounds and experiences.
What the children learn in school is not always reinforced at home, simply
because parents may not be knowledgeable about specific holidays and
observances. What I love about All About Passover and the All About
series is the wonderful opportunity for the school-home connection that
it provides parents.
All About Passover is
written in short easy-reading sections, each covering a specific concept.
After a shortened version of the Passover story, Groner and Wikler write
about Chametz, Matzah, Tzedakah, the Seder and Seder table, Haggadah, and Four
Questions. Each portion of the book is accompanied by illustrations that
are both beautiful and detailed.
The concluding pages of the book
contain several recipes that families may make together during their Passover
observances.
In the context of preschool,
parts of All About Passover may be more appropriate for parents and older
siblings than for the preschoolers themselves. For instance, the Passover
story includes a line referring to the drowning of the first-born infant
sons. It may be wise to send a note home advising the parents that there
may be content that they may not feel comfortable reading with their children,
and therefore, if read as a read-aloud with the children, may need to be
improvised.
Too Many Cooks: A Passover Parable
Written by Edie Stoltz Zolkower
Illustrated by Shauna Mooney Kawasaki
Available from Kar-Ben Publishers.
It's Passover and Bubbie is busy chopping apples and nuts for her family's Seder. When her best friend calls her on the phone, Bubbie becomes a bit side-tracked and leaves the kitchen. One by one members of her family enter the kitchen and notice Bubbie's charoses in progress. To hide the usual blandness of the
charoses, the family members decide to add their own secret, special ingredients.
When the time comes during the Seder to eat the charoses, the secret ingredients are revealed after Bubbie exclaims: "OY! THE CHAROSES IS ATROCIOUS!" But how can the family continue its Seder without the all important
charoses?
The illustrations in Too Many Cooks will most definitely make the children laugh, especially those of modern-day Bubbie's phone conversation with her girlfriend. Likewise, they'll be tickled as some rather interesting ingredients are added to the charoses mixture.
This book will be a great read before making charoses with your kids. You may want to introduce the story by singing the song "Make
Charoses" or by chanting a fingerplay about charoses. As a story stretcher, make a class version of
Too Many Cooks by asking the children what secret ingredients they would add to the
charoses. But don't stop there...act out your revised story using illustrations or housekeeping props!
MAY YOUR CHAROSES BE
DELICIOUS!
Chant
Good
Morning Song
Several of my favorite secular teaching sites (The
Learning Leap and Mrs.
Sirois's Farm) list "Good Morning Songs," songs that are often
accompanied by pocket charts with corresponding graphics to help the children
become familiar with sight words. I thought it would be fun to
compose my own songs based on the Jewish holidays that could be used for several
weeks. Holiday concepts and symbols may be reinforced daily through these
simple predictable charts. Adding graphics to the sentence strips would
help the children read the songs. With older children, one might place the
graphics on separate cards so that children can match word to picture.
For classrooms that may incorporate more Hebrew, substitute Boker
Tov in place of Good Morning. I used the tune to "Shortnin'
Bread," as suggested at The Learning Leap.
Good morning to the seder plate.
Good morning to the matzah.
Good morning to the afikomen that we hide.
Good morning to Moses.
Good morning to Miriam.
Good morning to the Haggadah we read with
pride!
Tell the
Story
...with hand puppets of Moses, Miriam and Pharoah
or in the block area with Pharoah and Moses figures...
available from Chai
Kids, my favorite Jewish educational supply store!
Create
Four Questions Photo Book
(This sample says it
all! Kids' faces are blurred for privacy)
Baby Moses in the
Reeds: A Parsley planting and centerpiece for the seder table
For an adorable and functional seder
table centerpiece, invite children to glue tissue paper to a clear plastic
bowl. When dry, children plant parsley seeds. Give each child a
little baby manipulative (purchased from a craft store) and create clay or Model
Magic baskets. Place the baby and the basket on the soil.
Matzah Collages
These collages happened accidentally,
as the children were making matzah prints with tempera paint. We added a
little glue and a little glitter...and voila, some matzah masterpieces!
Related Theme
Websites...
Aish
Family Passover
Akhlah: Passover
Ancient
Egypt
The
Beautiful Seder Plate sung by Karen Daniel
Billy
Bear's Passover
Bitsela
Passover Graphics
BJESF
Pesach
Clay
Bricks and Seder Plates
Crayola
Passover Crafts (You will need to register on site, then do a Passover
search to be taken to the menu of links)
Creating
Passover Memories
Eileen's
Passover Crafts
Family
Fun: A Lesson in Tradition: Let Kids Help Prepare the Seder
Hanukat
Passover
HP
Passover Place Cards
iGrandparents
Passover
Jewish
Appleseed Passover
Josh
Discovers Passover! Online Story
Kids
Domain Passover
Kolel's
Pesach: Ideas for Families
Ma-ma-ma-Matza
sung by Andi Joseph
Mah
Nishtanah, The Four Questions sung by Andi Joseph
Matzah
Clip Art
Matzah
Man Author Site:
Naomi Howland (Print out a piece of matzah to make your own matzah man!)
The
Meaning of Passover: Parents Help Children Value Tradition
On-line
Passover Holiday Notes
Passover
Fabrics
Passover
for Children
Passover
Funology
The
Passover Haggadah in the Yale University Library Collections
Passover.net
Passover on the Net
Perfectly
Passover: A Dozen Ideas to Help Make Your Holiday More Fun Than Ever
Perpetual
Preschool Passover
Pesach
Song Sheets
Pesach
Together
Rabbi
Scheinerman's Pesach
Teaching
Pesach to Young Children
Torah
Tots: Pesach
UAHC
Parent Page: Pesach 2002
Uncle
Eli's Haggadah
The
VJ Haggadah
Teachers'
Exchange
Art
Projects
Submitted by
SueHes@aol.com
Crossing the Red Sea
Go to your local "party goods" store, they have foil that go across the door frame and hangs down in strips to the floor. I bought the red colored one and when we went in to play the Passover quiz...we had "Moses" take his staff and split the "Red Sea" for all of us to walk through. Of course we also had 4 stations that symbolized the "40" years, 4 sons, 4 questions, 4......where ever your imagination takes you.
Submitted by
Joyce:
Baby Moses
Cut a paper plate in half. Put a brad in one corner and attach the top half to the bottom half. This is the basket. Cut strips of brown paper and let children glue them on the basket. Staple bottom half of basket to a light blue piece of paper (allow top to open and close). Cut a wavy piece of darker blue paper and staple to the bottom (the River Nile). Open the top of the basket and glue on some grass to the top edge of bottom piece of the basket. Then glue on a baby on top of the grass. You now have Baby Moses in a basket in the River Nile.
Submitted Nancy:
Matzah
The kids can make great looking paper matzah by taking newsprint paper (drawing paper) and placing it on a lego table. Color over the top and it looksjust like
matzah! It works with Duplo boards too.
Songs,
Rhymes and Fingerplays
Submitted by Leslie:
Composed by Allison Teisch and Michelle Weiss copyright 1999
Matzarena!
(to tune of Macarena)
Matza with cream cheese
Matza with jelly
Matza with butter it fills my belly
Meats from the deli
I'm meshugah, I'm insane-ah!
Oy - Matzarena!!!!!!!
Use all of the hand movements and repeat three times as you turn around the room.
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