A week of fun

An extra week of school means extra fun.

We compared one of our river rock menorahs to the oil cup menorah in the classroom.

Both have spots for eight nights of candles and a spot for a shamash.

We noticed on both menorahs the candle holders for the 8 nights are all in a line, the only tall one is for the shamash- the helper candle.

We learned that some people use oil in their menorahs and some people use candles.

We pretended that it was already Chanukah.
Sadie: It's in 3 days!
Morah Tzivie: That is right! But let's pretend tonight is the fourth night, how many candles will we need?
Mason: 4.
Mason went up and placed the 4 candles in the menorah.  He pretend to light them from the newest to the oldest with the shamash and Morah Tzivie led us in the blessing.
Sadie took a turn pretending it was the 7th night.
Morah Tzivie: How many candles do we need to add?
Sadie: (counting) 1, 2, 3.
Sadie "lit" the candles for the 7th night. We counted down with her, 7 6 5 4  3 2 1 - it's the 7th night!

The miracle of the oil took place in the Beit HaMidash, the Holy Temple. 

We took a closer look at the drawings of the Holy Temple in our books.

We noticed the shapes used.

Lochlan: I see the circle blocks we have.

Morah Katie: The cylinder blocks.

Maya: I see squares.

Nora: I see rectangles.

Olivia: I see a bunch of squares making up a big rectangle for the door.

Morah Katie: What shape is up on top of the tall walls?

Lakshmi: I see triangles on top.

Morah Katie: We have all those shapes, do you think we can build a block size Beit HaMidash, Holy Temple?

Kids: Yes!

Happy Chanukah!

Oil science

Oil science 

Morah Katie: What happens when we add oil and water? What color is the oil?

Mason: Yellow.

Morah Katie: What color is the water?

Matan: Blue

Morah Katie: If we mix them, what color will we get?

Lakshmi: Orange.

Sophia: Pink

Nora: Green

Morah Katie: What happened? Did they mix?

 Kids: No.

Morah Katie: What color is on top?

Kids: The oil, the yellow.

Morah Katie: What color is on the bottom?

Kids: The blue. 

Morah Katie: The science behind it: water likes water better than oil 

AND oil is less dense, it is not as heavy as water.  The water will sink, the oil will rise to the top.

I encourage you to try and see if you can mix the water and oil to make green.

Morah Katie: Nora, did you make green?

Nora: No but some blue bubble came up to the top.

Morah Katie: Sophia, What is happening to the oil when you pour the water in? 

Sophia: Well it is mixing but it is not staying. The blue is down.

Matan: It's not mixing. The oil is on top but some blue bubbles are on top.

Mason: The yellow, the oil, didn't mix in. 

Last week we tried to create some mystery messages in oil with our water color paints.

Mason and I noticed the smallest layer of oil in the water color jar, which led us to a discovery.  

We discovered that despite our attempts to have the water and oil resist each other, our paint brush had become contaminated with oil.  Our oiled paint brush spread and diluted the oil just enough to counter the effects of the difference in density, and the fact that water molecules prefer water over oil.

Morah Katie: Oil is really special. We know it can be used to light a menorah.

 What happened to the oil long ago in the Holy Temple?

Lakshmi: It got messy and there was only 1 jar left. 

Morah Katie: When the Maccabee's realized they had just one jar, what did they do?

Nora: They needed to get more oil but they used the jar they had and it lasted for the 8 nights.

Morah Katie: Where did they get the oil from?

Matan: They had to go far.

Nora: Yeah they didn't have store to just go to.

Morah Katie: They would take a cart and travel to the olive orchards about 4 days away, and once they had more olive oil, they would travel back.

This is a picture of the ancient machine used to press the oil from the olives. Does it look easy?

Kids: NO!

Morah Katie: WE are going to try to get oil from some olives, here in class.

Each child pressed 3 olives.  

The oil and juice were collected in one cup.

 After 20 olives....

the tiniest bit of oil had been pressed! 

We are calling it a successful day.

We have been creating beautiful menorahs,
which we are excited to send home

The oil miracle

The Chanukah story is an exciting one, with heroes the children are eager to emulate.

It is fun to be the brave Jewish children tricking the Greek soldiers.

The excitement continues with the miracles.

Morah Tzivie set up an experiment.
We lit a tiny cup of oil and kept an eye on it as it burned.
Morah Tzivie: The oil is fuel, food, for the fire.  The fire will eat up the oil until it is all gone. 
We know that after the Maccabees chased the Greeks away, they found the tiny bit of oil and it lasted for 8 days.  
Let's watch our menorah and see what happens to the oil.





Experiment 1

The fire used up all the oil by the middle of nap time, about 1:00  

 Experiment 2

This time the fire used the oil up by lunch time.   

Morah Katie: How is the oil at The Gan different from the oil at the Beit HaMikdash?

Mason: The oil didn't refill.

Nora: The fire ate up all the oil.

Matan: It lasted just for that time.

Maya: It didn't last for a long time, for 8 days.

Morah Katie: Did a miracle happen at The Gan?

Kids: NO.

Lakshmi: No miracle.

Nora: The oil just got used up.

Matan: Morah Katie, the FIRE used UP the OIL.

Mason: The cups didn't refill.

We are discovering we use oil to make latkes and fry donuts for Chanukah treats.

We tried to make mystery designs with oil and water color paints. 

(more on the science to come!)

We had some fun and discovered how many candles tall we were.