Introduction: Where/Who?  Israel/Jewish 
Show where Israel is located on a globe or map in comparison to where the children in your class live.  If possible, provide books and pictures of Israeli children and culture.  Also explain that there are Jewish people who live in other parts of the world who also celebrate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur -- not just in Israel.   

When? September/October

Why? Rosh Hashanah is the two-day start of the Jewish New Year, which is part of a ten day period of repentance that ends with the day of atonement, Yom Kippur.  Unlike what Americans think of as a new year celebration, for Jewish families, this is a time to gather to think about what they may have done wrong the past year and to say they are sorry to God and to people they may have hurt.  They then promise to do better for the upcoming new year.       

How? Today, families celebrate Rosh Hashanah by going to the temple to hear the playing of the "shofar" which is a ram's horn that is blown like a trumpet.  The sound is to remind everyone of their need to be sorry for any wrongs they may have done and promise to be better.  Families gather together and eat special foods too, especially apples dipped in honey which symbolizes the wish for a sweet new year.  (Sometimes a special bread is dipped into honey too.)  Families and friends greet each other by saying "L'Shanah tovah!" which means "Have a good year!"  Yom Kippur is the most important day of this new year celebration for some mommies and daddies because it's a day when they go all day without eating so that they can pray at the temple.
  
My Favorite Activities:

Make a Shofar: As I said above, a shofar is basically a ram's horn (as in bighorn sheep, ibex -- a wild goat), and if you know anything about these majestic animals, you know that, depending on their age, the horns of one ram may be bigger and curlier than another.  Some shofars are plain, looking just as it does on the ram, while others may be decorated (like the one above).  For a preschooler-created shofar, children can decorate or paint paper towel tubings.  They can even slightly twist their tubes to make them look more like a ram's horn.
Blowing the Shofar: Have children blow their "shofars" in different ways (just like the grown-ups do): One long blow (to honor God), three medium blows (that sorta' cry or wail to tell how sorry we are for any wrongs we've done), and nine short blows (that are for making us perk up and promise to live better).

Apples n' Honey Snack: Cut apples into quarters and pass them out to the children for dipping into small bowls of honey.

Have children do apple prints on large paper plates

Honey Dippers: Let children practice using a honey dipper to get honey onto a very clean paper plate.  Then allow them to fingerpaint in the honey and then lick their fingers.

Apples Game: Place green, red, and yellow apples on a tree (posterboard or flannelboard).  While repeating the following rhyme, each child takes a turn picking an apple from the tree and putting it in a basket:

Where's the Tapuach? (Tapuach is Hebrew for apple)
Where is the tapuach (child's name) will eat
For (his/her) Rosh Hashanah treat?
Will it be yellow, green, or red?
 "It's (child names color)," (child's name) said.

This was always my favorite activity we did with the children:
Honey Jar New Year Card: For each child, fold a piece of construction paper in half.  From the fold, draw a rectangular shape with rounded corners (resembling a jar).  Cut it out on three sides, leaving the folded edge intact forming a double-thickness card that can be opened vertically.  Print the word "Honey" on the front.  The children then crunch small pieces of yellow tissue paper for "honeybees" and glue them onto the "jars."  Using black markers, they then draw wings onto their bees. Inside the card, print the words, "L'Shanah tovah!"
Alternative from Jan G., in New Jersey: Stormie, instead of a honey jar card, cut out brown "beehives" (rounded triangular shapes), and here's a popular fingerplay to go with it:

Bees in the Beehive
Here is the beehive (make fist), but where are the bees?
They're hidden away where nobody sees.
Watch and you'll see them come out of the hive (point to fist with finger of other hand),
Oops!  Here they come!  1-2-3-4-5! (open fist slowly and point to each finger while counting)
Buzzzz, Buzzzz, Buzzzz! (move fingers like buzzing bees)

Suggested Books:
*On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur by Cathy Fishman; Melanie Hall, Illustrator
*Sound the Shofar! : A Story for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur by Leslie Kimmelman; John Himmelman, Illustrator
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Notes from Stormie:
*If you celebrate Rosh Hashanah and have ideas to share, please e-mail me, or if you find that I have unknowingly presented misinformation concerning this holiday, please let me know so that I can gladly correct my mistakes.
*If you would like to begin collecting ALL my current classroom ideas (each on a 4 x 6" index card), as well as new ones that I create, you can do so by ordering my "Activity Cards."  Click here to check them out.