Integration is a critical part of the Agnon School curriculum. We look to weave as many parts of our teaching together as possible. Rosh Chodesh, it turns out, is a perfect fit as it ties science to Judaics. With a little bit of effort, many more subjects can be included in the teaching of this special monthly event.
During the late 1980s our science teacher left. Soon after having made the mistake of saying how much I enjoyed science I became the fifth-eighth grade science teacher, as well as the art teacher. Wanting very much for science to be discovery-based and as hands-on as art, I took summer classes, and I became fascinated by the phases of the moon. It was during this time that I learned about the monthly event on the calendar called Rosh Chodesh.
My seventh grade science students investigated the phases of the moon and dizzily created their own phases with volleyballs in a darkened room using a projector as the sun. In addition, students viewed slides of moon phases, including first crescents in the sunsets. While viewing the wall size images, students were asked to write their thoughts. In art, these students went outdoors to draw a horizon line, which was then transferred and cut from 18 x 24 black construction paper. The “black sky” was discarded, leaving the silhouetted landform topped with intricately paper cut horizon. Next, the students used a white crayon to draw a crescent in the top left section of white 18 x 24 paper. To depict the vivid colors of the setting sun, a watercolor wash was applied to the entire page. The wax crescent resisted the watercolor and we had a moon in the sunset sky. Attach the black horizon and voilà! a painting of the Rosh Chodesh moon at each student’s western horizon at home.
And then I told them a story. Once upon a time, a long, long time ago on a hill in Judea, there was a man who had a job. He was to sit on his hilltop and scan the skies waiting to find the first crescent moon of the month. He would peer and gaze and wait to see the slender crescent appear near the western horizon in the luminous colors of the sunset. When he saw the moon he would light a great fire for another person to see on another mountaintop. Soon the hills of Judea were aflame and the people of Israel knew that it was the next month.
Today this program continues. It has been done in various grades (no younger than fourth) over the years, but now it is in fifth grade as that is where the moon curriculum is taught. Students continue to be inspired by images of the moon and write with their language arts and Hebrew teachers. In Tanakh class, fifth graders learn the history of Rosh Chodesh and they map the progress of the moon phases through a month. They investigate their Hebrew birth dates. In music, they learn “A Moon Song” in Hebrew and English. The song speaks of the new moon in all its metaphors.
Rosh Chodesh allows fifth grade students to connect the importance of the moon to their lives as Jews and to history. In social studies, students are broken up into groups and asked to do research on one Native American tribe. Students become knowledgeable about the culture of Native Americans, including food, language, agriculture, games, and how they used the moon on a daily basis. Students then use this information to create picture books. Then they compare and contrast how the moon is used today, in the lives of Jews and Native Americans.
In science, the students explore our moon through hands-on investigations. They learn about the rotation and revolution system between our Earth, moon, and sun. This provides the groundwork to explain why and how our moon has different phases. The students use simple manipulatives like styrofoam balls and flashlights to gain a better understanding of this concept. They examine the different features of the lunar landscape and atmosphere. An experiment is performed with different sized marbles and sand to investigate the relationship between the size and distance of meteoroids and the width and depth of craters. The unit concludes with a description of how the moon’s gravitational pull creates high and low tides on Earth.
Usually for Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, parents, students, and teachers meet outdoors at sunset. We stand at the best possible spot near the school to enable us to find this mysterious moon. Students bring shofars from home and we fetch all that we have in school. We peer and we gaze and we wait and hope to see the slender crescent appear near the western horizon in the luminous colors of the sunset. The anticipation is broken when one student blows the shofar and everyone’s attention is drawn to that youngster. “I don’t see it—where is it?” Pale, slender, and elusive, the moon is difficult to spot as the sky slowly darkens. One person helps another, pointing and giving visual landmarks, and before long the air is filled with the sounds of shofars and the exclamations of those who have spied the moon, adults and children alike. It is really quite exciting.
Our program begins outdoors in full view of the celestial object. Blessings are said and songs are sung and we break into Israeli dance. Parents, students, general studies and Judaic studies teachers, and administrators equally join in. We dance and sing our way indoors, where our program continues. Parents are treated to various presentations: in science, as children personify the moon phases; language arts and Hebrew, as students read their diverse writings; in music, where several unusual instruments are used to enhance the eerie scenery such as Chinese gong, Chinese prayer bell, Chinese prayer bowl, and tree chimes. And of course, there is a magnificent display of the Rosh Chodesh paintings and writings.
Since the days of Moses and before, this moon has been circling our Earth marking time. Jews through the centuries have spied this moon many times a year: full and brilliant for Pesach and Sukkot; marking the New Year for Rosh HaShanah; changing the month for Rosh Chodesh. What a superb and genuine connection to our people and our past. ♦
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