This year, one of the things we did in class to prepare for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, was to create greeting cards for the students’ families. The activity was very successful, but before I tell you about it, I want to share with you a note that I received from the mother of one of the girls in my class:
“Yesterday we received a New Year’s greeting from our daughter, for the first time. She chose the words, she took photos and she chose the pictures. Something so small that left us sitting on the sofa into the night, unwilling to say goodbye to this day, to the feeling… Thank you so much! Have a great day and a wonderful year!”
So how did it all begin?
In preparation for Parents’ Night, we, the teachers of the Beit Issie Shapiro School for Special Education, together with the children, decided to prepare a little surprise for the parents. Each student put together a jar with a sweet surprise and a greeting card. We prepared the jar during math class, with the students filling each jar with a specified number of cookies. We prepared the card in Hebrew class where the general goals were reading sight words and individual symbols.
To create the cards, we used the app JiTap, which includes creation packs full of holiday related images and stickers. Each child chose the background that they liked and added the greetings that they wanted to wish to their family for the new year. Essentially, JiTap, makes the process of creating and writing greeting cards more accessible, and the result is beautiful. Just see for yourselves:
Before the lesson, I prepared the greetings by creating the symbols in the communication app TouchChat , and copying them to the photo gallery of the iPad. This way they could easily be added to the card in JiTap. We later printed each one and attached them to the cookie jars. The students enjoyed the process of photographing themselves and creating their own cards. Both the students and the staff were really moved by the activity and enjoyed being active participants in a beloved holiday tradition.
The parents received the final product on Parents’ Night and they were all very moved and impressed. As a teacher, I felt fulfilled knowing that each child succeeded in making their parents a Rosh Hashana card, in their own way.
The Final Product
Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!
If you are looking for more Rosh Hashana Ideas, please read our post from last year.
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