Dressed in festive costumes, Shushan Purim was enthusiastically celebrated at JKHA throughout all the divisions today. All of JKHA enjoyed competing in the wild ‘n wacky challenges from getting pied in the face to energetic relay races and more. Lower school added STEM fun to the day with coding projects where students coded graggers, complete with sound effects! Sixth graders planned and ran a Purim Carnival that was enjoyed by the early childhood students. Middle school competed in a Daily Dose Decathlon, in which each grade first held grade competitions on their vocabulary words in classrooms, with the grade champions then competing in front of the whole division in the auditorium. Middle school was treated to outdoor fun with inflatable games, sumo wrestling, cotton candy and more.

On Taanit Esther, middle school students participated in a Purim Moadim L’STEAMcha project. First they learned the background behind the custom of shaking a gragger during Megillah reading when Haman’s name is read and discussed the differences and significance of how to shake the gragger from below but spin the dreidel from on top. Then they learned about the science behind sound and how sound is created through vibrations. To complete the program students then created graggers incorporating all that they had learned.