Make learning fun with Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins activities! This digital download contains Hanukkah activities designed to captivate and engage young learners. These activities will brighten your lesson plans as you journey through Hershel’s clever antics. You’ll add a spark of creativity and joy to your read-aloud with them. The activities support literacy, encouraging students to explore themes, characters, and Hanukkah’s rich traditions. Take your students on a memorable adventure where learning and fun go hand-in-hand!

Young learners will be able to enrich their reading and writing skills through Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins activities. Each activity opens the door to literary exploration and creativity. Reading and writing skills are enhanced as students immerse themselves in the story’s cultural richness.

By discussing story problems, solutions, and cause/effect relationships, students develop critical thinking skills. For a deeper understanding of story language, students will analyze character traits, alphabetize vocabulary, and draw definitions. Further, interpreting quotes and making text connections encourages a deeper engagement with the text.

Engaging in word searches or crossword puzzles, researching and writing about Hanukkah, and responding to reading comprehension questions all reinforce reading comprehension. They continue the learning adventure by writing about Hanukkah and completing acrostic poems.

As a result of the included activities, students will be able to:

• Cut and trace to strengthen fine motor skills.
• Complete an acrostic poem.
• Write facts about Hanukkah.
• Determine and write about character traits.
• Write about the story’s problem/solution or cause/effect.
• Alphabetize vocabulary from the story.
• Draw and define story vocabulary.
• Interpret a story quote.
• Make text to self, text to text, and text to world connections.
• Research and write about Hanukkah.
• Respond to reading comprehension questions.
• Complete a word search or crossword puzzle.
• Apply Writing Skills with included writing templates and prompts.
• Practice Reading Comprehension with included discussion questions for beginning, middle, and end of the book.
• Engage in Social Skills with included whole group prompts and activities.
• Develop Fine Motor Skills with included coloring, tracing, cutting, and gluing activities. 
• Engage in collaborative problem solving. 
• Use digital tools to play a dreidel game. 
• Make a dreidel. 

Ignite a spark of creativity and a love for learning in your classroom, and watch as your students become spellbound by reading and writing. 

💙 Seeking more captivating literary adventures? Elevate storytime with these novel ideas!

💙 After downloading the Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins activities, pair your read-aloud with the immersive soundscape available in your Novel Effect app!

About the Book

On the first night of Hanukkah, a weary traveler named Hershel of Ostropol eagerly approaches a village, where plenty of latkes and merriment will warm him. When he arrives not a single candle is lit. A band of frightful goblins has taken over the synagogue, and the villagers cannot celebrate! Hershel vows to help them. Using his wits, the clever trickster faces down one goblin after another, night after night. But can one person save Hanukkah and live to tell the tale? 

Do you need the book to pair with your Novel Effect app? You can buy the book here!