Celebrating Hanukkah in the Music Classroom

Celebrating Hanukkah in the Music Classroom 

This is a beautiful season of light and there are so many incredible, engaging, and thoughtful ways to celebrate Hanukkah!

Sing Songs for Hanukkah

While there are substantially less well-known songs for Hanukkah than many of the American Christmas Carols, there are some truly beautiful pieces that would be great for your holiday concert, winter festival, and music classes.  Some of my favorites are:

•  Hanukkah, Hanukkah -  perfect for early elementary students who are practicing steady beat, half note pulse, and using color-coded music for Boomwhackers, bells, or Orff. Grades 1-3
• I Have a Little Dreidel - Cultural references & perfect for practicing the interval of a 3rd (Sol-Mi & Fa-Re).
• Light One Candle - It is a beautiful verse & chorus piece which lends itself to solo opportunities!
• S'vivon, sov, sov, sov - Easy song sung in Hebrew.
• Oh Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah - Another great voice & Boomwhacker lesson!

My recorder students are ready to branch out a bit, so I've created these Winter Holiday Songs for Recorder which I use with 3rd Graders, but they'll fit nicely in your recorder class up through 5th Grade.

And that's not all - I have my upper elementary & early middle schoolers composing in menorahs as well. How are you celebrating Hanukkah in your classrooms?

Move & Dance

Scarf Routines for Hanukkah Songs are a life-saver for those days where kids need to move & dance! These are a big hit in K-2. There are tons of videos out there, though sometimes I like to have this routine displayed in lieu of a video to reduce visual stimuli.

Play Games:

"Dreidel" is a game often played during Hanukkah, so why not add it to your class?!  Dreidel Rhythms Game for Hanukkah is brand new, and when I used it with my students was not only a quick activity after singing, "I Have a Little Dreidel" but was requested during the next 2 classes as well. Even siblings came to class and asked to play this rhythm review game. It was so lovely watching Jewish kids light up to be able to celebrate their holiday & culture in music class! Best for students practicing quarters, eighths, and rests.

Some additional ideas:

• Drum (great for bucket drumming or at home practice during break!)
• Compose in Chrome Music Lab
• Play games
• Play ukulele
• Play guitar
• Play Orff (Bundled for 30% off!!)
• Sing along
• Write Thank You cards!
• Digital Escape Room

Enjoy this season of light,

Jaime