SARASOTA – Fruitville Elementary School Students learn about the traditions of Hanukkah in class.
Second-grade student at Fruitville Elementary, Caedan Ceday, believes everyone deserves to know what other people do for holidays.
“Different people may celebrate different holidays and you want to know what they might celebrate so then you can learn more about what they do with their family,” Caedan Ceday said.
The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee and PJ Library help make this happen. PJ Library is an international program giving parents resources to teach about Hanukkah, and The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to save Jewish lives.
A lot of classrooms want to learn about Hanukkah and are relying on parents to teach. So, Last year, The Jewish Federation began the “Hanukkit” initiative, a “Hanukkah lesson plan in a bag,” meant to empower PJ Library parents to teach about Hanukkah.
It includes dreidels, gelt; chocolate coins, dreidel game instructions and a laminated story about the miracle of Hanukkah.
The organizations share materials with second-grade students in Michala Chipurnoi’s class. Mary Collier with PJ Library explains.
“We wanted them to share their traditions with their friends in their classrooms and help their friends understand that there are people that don’t necessarily celebrate Christmas,” Mary Collier said.
So, I took a poll of the class to see what each kid celebrates, and this is what I found. The kids raised their hand on what holiday they celebrate.
Almost everyone in the class celebrates Christmas. Two people in the class celebrate Hanukkah. And one other student celebrates Three Kings.
When I asked student, Yariel Hernandez, what he would like to share with people on the Suncoast, he said:
“You should never make fun of someone who celebrates a different holiday,” Yariel Hernandez said.
Hanukkah begins Sunday, December 22 and ends Monday, December 30.
The class learns about other holidays around the world as well.
