Fourth Graders Celebrate Sukkot at the Embassy of Israel and in the Design Lab
October 7, 2015 by
Fourth grade students at JPDS-NC celebrated the Jewish holiday of Sukkot in special ways this year. During Sukkot, some Jews build a sukkah in their back yard and eat there. A is a hut or booth with at least 2 ½ walls and schach (plants) on top. A long time ago, when the Jews were in the desert, they built little booths. That is why we celebrate Sukkot.
This year, we got to participate in a JPDS-NC tradition and help start a new one. We were invited to visit the Israeli Embassy to help decorate their sukkah. The girls made two colorful paper chains that were about 20 feet long each, and the boys made a paper chain that was about 60 feet long! “It was awesome,” said Ari. “I thought it was cool to help decorate other people’s sukkahs,” said Zoe.
We also worked on a Sukkah Design Challenge in our Design Lab. The Sukkah Challenge is a challenge where you create something that would help with building or using a sukkah. We worked in groups to think about problems and solutions. Then we drew a design for a sukkah and built it by using materials from the Design Lab. For example, you could make a huge rubber band to keep all the logs together. It was cool to learn about the difficulties of building a sukkah. “I liked it because we made a lot of different designs,” said Rachel. “I thought it was fun working with my friends,” added Willa.
