Sounds of Adar

Laylah, Asher, and Ziva shake bottles filled with beads, beans, and cedar chips

Purim is around the corner (February 24th), a holiday that is marked by its emphasis on happiness and fun. We wear costumes, eat hamantaschen, give baskets of shalach manot to our friends, and hear the book of Esther. Two memories come to mind when I think of Purim: First, as a child, getting dressed up in a costume and going to Shul with my family every year, using whatever grogger (noisemaker) I made in school, and the total fun it was to eat too much candy and make a lot of noise with your friends on a week night.

The second is from high school, the raucous singing and marching through the hallways on the first of Adar (February 11th). Instead of sitting in class, we spent the day singing and dancing with our friends.

Two things about Purim: It is a favorite holiday for children, and the most salient emotion of the month is happiness.

The Jewish month of Adar (February 11th) has not yet arrived, yet we are preparing for this very important month.

Groggers, or "rashanim" (literally "noise makers") are used when we hear the name "Haman" during the megillah reading. As a class, we can explore other things that make noise, and the range and depth of sounds in our world.

In Circle Time, we listened to a rain stick. I asked the children to close their eyes and only use their ears to experience it. It was very hard to close our eyes because we were so curious! Cassidy said, "It sounds like trickling." Ziva said, "It sounds like water."

the rain stick

Later, in group time, we listened to the ways different objects sounded when shaken in bottles. Some objects sounded loud, some quiet, and some in-between. Our bottles were filled with beans, buttons, bells, pom poms, pine bedding, lentils, corn kernels, and rice. You can guess which items were noisy, and which made barely a sound at all.

Finally, we made our own instruments, castanets, from cardboard stripsand shells. Children chose which color shell they wanted, and glued them to the ends of cardboard strips. They will be dry soon, and we cannot wait to hear their sound!