FIVE JEWISH FESTIVALS, a sequel to Five Little Fingers, is an audio CD of original material for use as an RE resource in the classroom on a daily basis ( . . five minutes with God, five days of the week).
The CD consists of five 5-minute tracks, one for each day of the week, each containing a simple theme song, a daily meditation and a repeated prayer. Children are encouraged to think about a different Jewish Festival on different days of the week, but each day also has some elements the same, such as finishing with the Priestly Blessing and a violin playing the Hatikvah. The children take part by singing, listening to a short sound story, joining in the meditation and repeating a prayer.
The songs and script have been written by Trevor and Karina Stevens of Fishy Music Productions for children in pre-school, reception and Key Stage One but would also be suitable for older children with special needs.
FIVE JEWISH FESTIVALS aims to support busy teachers by providing short instant lessons involving minimum preparation. All you need to do is gather the children together, put on the CD at the beginning or end of the day and let the instructions guide the children through the different elements.
The tracks on the CD are:
- Monday – Passover (Pesach): pray for the poor
- Tuesday – Pentecost (Shavuot): pray for our friends
- Wednesday – Tabernacles (Sukkot): pray for the homeless
- Thursday – Festival of Lights (Hanukkah): pray for teachers
- Friday – Sabbath (Shabbat): pray for our family
There is also an accompanying set of User Notes entitled “FestivalTIPS” containing practical ideas for the classroom, the music in manuscript form with guitar chords and further information about Jewish Festivals.
You can listen to a sample track on the Sabbath by clicking on the link below
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Listen to Friday: SHABBAT | Can’t hear any sound? click here |
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Bonus Track: FESTIVAL DANCE |
What do teachers say about Five Jewish Festivals ?
” Five Jewish Festivals is a gift to teachers, who just have to put on the CD and see their pupils led through the collective worship. The theme song “Blessings” is particularly catchy – I even found myself singing it in Sainsburys!”
Anne Krisman, Head of RE, Little Heath School, Redbridge
” The pace and timing of each track on the CD are ideal and the accompanying book contains a lot of useful information and activities for my students. Highly recommended”
Dave Quinnell, SLD Teacher, Reading
To read the full reviews, click here
