Thread by @JewWhoHasItAll

Dear Teachers,

It's nearly time for Spring Break, so of course you will be looking for ideas for your class' Spring Fling party. Here are some tips for making the party fun & inclusive for the whole class, plus some school-wide events we’ll be having at our #PublicSchool.

1/18

There are so many beautiful & useful crafts for this festive season.

Decorate pillowcases, matzah covers, or afikoman bags with seasonal symbols like kiddush cups, matzah, shank bones, eggs, bitter herbs, & decorative plates, for kids to take home for their Holiday meal.

2/18

Avoid renditions of the Malach HaMavet, which may be considered religious in nature and not appropriate for #PublicSchool.

3/18

Ask each child to bring in a photo with their whole family to make laminated placemats with family pictures for use at their Holiday meals.

Prepare seasonal symbols like insects, diseased animals, & extreme weather events for the kids to use to decorate their placemats.

4/18

Recognizing that students come from many cultures, include alternate symbols like ashes, fir trees, and rabbits for those who celebrate a holiday other than Pesach.

5/18

Gentile children may feel especially included if asked to stand up front to explain the meaning of all their symbols to the whole class.

You might learn something!

6/18

Art classes this week will be making plague-themed paper crowns (grades K-2) or shadow puppets of the Pesach story (grades 4-5); the younger children may enjoy wearing their crowns at the party.

7/18

On the last day before Spring Break begins, you may enjoy a party at lunchtime.

Assign each child a food to bring for the party— charoset, juice, plague candies, etc.

Please note that all treats should be nut-free.

8/18

Each child should also bring an afikoman pouch for a fun class afikoman search.

9/18

Younger grades may enjoy a special seasonal show-and-tell.

Ask children to bring in their favorite haggadah, Miriam's cup, or other holiday item to explain to the class what they like about it.

Gentile students may bring in an item from their spring holiday instead.

10/18

Classes with a gentile student may choose to recognize the classmate’s heritage with a basket of roasted eggs in the room, perhaps decorated with other seasonal symbols like frogs, parsley, horseradish, and lettuce.

11/18

Our school-wide chametz hunt is a popular activity every year! On the last day of school before Pesach break, we will be hunting for small colorful paper boxes with chametz inside.

How many can each child find?

12/18

Hidden somewhere in the school is a single special box containing a piece of matzah instead of chametz— the beloved afikoman!

At the end of the Chametz Box Hunt, the child who found the most chametz and the child who found the afikoman will each get a prize.

13/18

The chametz collected will be burned the morning before Pesach in the school firepit at 10am.

Please notify your classes that students & members of the community are welcome to bring their own chametz to the communal biur chametz on the morning of Sixth Day.

14/18

This year our school will be holding a holiday pageant.

The children will be performing the play “One Little Goat,” which tells a secular version of the Pesach story through the eyes of Gadya the Goat, who witnesses the exodus from Egypt.

15/18

We will livestream the holiday pageant for family members unable to attend due to COVID concerns.

16/18

The pageant will launch with a singalong of “Kadesh, Urchatz” and end with a singalong of “L'shana Haba’a b'Yerushalayim” and a festive visit from Eliyahu ha'Navi, a popular secular figure in Judeo-Islamic cultures.

17/18

Gentile children who don't wish to participate in any of these activities may bring in a parental note to excuse them, and they may enjoy silent sustained reading time in the library while the pageant takes place.

Thanks again for all your work! Chag kasher v'sameach!

18/18