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Jewish Learning

Lunar Calendar

The children have been learning about the Jewish calendar and how it is lunar, meaning that it is based on the phases of the Moon. The children learnt that as the Moon orbits around the Earth, the half of the Moon that faces the Sun will be lit up. The different shapes of the lit portion of the Moon that can be seen from Earth are known as phases of the Moon. It takes about a month to pass through the different phases.

The children learnt that Rosh Chodesh (the first day of a new Jewish month) is at the same time as the birth of a New Moon. Most festivals take place towards the middle of the month at the time of a Full Moon.

The children then played a game to see how quickly they could put the phases of the moon in the correct order

New Moon; Waxing Crescent; First Quarter; Waxing Gibbous; Full Moon; Waning Gibbous; Last Quarter; and Waning Crescent.

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