Accessible Activity for Yom Kippur: Asking for Forgiveness
In this social story, children explore the ideas of self-reflection and forgiveness as central themes to the observance of Yom Kippur. They are encouraged to reflect on what these concepts mean and how they relate to their own lives. The story can be read one on one or in a classroom setting encouraging meaningful discussion.
Here is a sneak peek at some of the pages:
You can find Yom Kippur: Asking for Forgiveness on the Jigzi website:
Ideas for Use in the Classroom:
- One of the pages takes a look at the calendar and emphasizes the 10 days between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.
- Use this page to take the opportunity to look at the Jewish calendar for this time of the year, and identify all the holidays that take place.
- Incorporate into a math lesson. Print the page or another calendar page and have students work on counting to ten with 1:1 correspondence and place stickers on each of the 10 days between the holidays.
- Read the story together in class and have discussions exploring the different themes.
- Self-reflection – explore good deeds we have done and things we may need to change or ask forgiveness for, what it means to hurt or offend someone, forgiving another person.
- Have students pull scenarios out of a hat to act out between students, to explore different feelings and ways to resolve situations.
- Use animations or clips from children’s shows for students to analyze and discuss the themes of disrespect, hurting someone’s feelings, doing something questionable…and how it gets resolved.
GMAR CHATIMA TOVA
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Discover more
The Jewish Educator Portal has curated a unique set of resources to help teach Yom Kippur.
High Holiday activities designed to encourage participation and enhance learning for children of varying abilities.
A collection of sheets, texts, and topics for Yom Kippur found on Sefaria.