Parents and their children, and teachers and their students can start the Jewish New Year with Sammy Spider. PJ Library and Kar-Ben have created guides and curriculum which are included in this blog. The celebration continues at this link “Rosh Hashanah Will Soon be Here. It’s the Beginning of the…
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Celebrate Shavuot with Sammy Spider & with a video of No Rules for Michael
Shavuot is celebrated seven weeks after Passover, usually in late May or early June when the wheat harvest ripens. Shavuot which means “weeks” is also known as the “Festival of First Fruits.” In biblical times, farmers brought bread baked from the spring wheat harvest to the Temple in Jerusalem as…
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Five Little Dreidels, a new rhyme for Hanukkah
Happy Hanukkah to all my friends. Enjoy this rhyme in your class room or at home. IT’S HANUKKAH THE DREIDELS SHOUT, TIME FOR LOTS OF FUN. COME AND JOIN THE PARTY. START SPINNING EVERYONE.
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Fun with Jewish Holiday Rhymes is Available and Free
As a Jewish educator, keeping Jewish learning alive has been a priority. Early in my career, I taught two-year-old children and I wanted to find a way to engage them in learning about Jewish holidays and traditions. I was familiar with secular rhymes and finger plays and saw how they…
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How the children in my classroom inspired me to write Sammy Spider’s First Simchat Torah
Our Rabbi’s, past and present, have taught us the importance of being a part of the community and have admonished us by saying, “Don’t separate yourself from the community.” Embodied within the Torah are values which teach us how to treat others. Several years ago at Simchat Torah, I showed…
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“Sorry is the word we use to show how much we care” Yom Kippur Observance for Children and Families
Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. It is a day on which adults fast and pray. We ask God to forgive us and we apologize to those we have wronged during the past year. At the end of Yom Kippur services, the…
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