In almost perfect unison, about 45 students at The Academy pressed their index and middle figures on top of their lips and softly blew.

At the moment, the youngsters were playing air shofar with imaginary ram's horns. Soon, though, they would clean, sand and drill the beige or brown horns to make the real thing.

Shofars are the traditional ram's horn trumpets used by ancient Hebrews in battle, or to announce news and events -- much like a church bell. In Jewish tradition, Joshua is said to have blown a shofar to bring down the walls of Jericho.

The horns now serve as a central part of Jewish ritual on the High Holidays of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur -- the Jewish New Year and Day of Atonement, respectively. The horn is used to ``wake people up'' for holiday prayers.

On Thursday, students needed little rousing when Rabbi Yossi Harlig transformed their school into what he called a ``shofar factory.''

``We are the only traveling shofar factory in Miami,'' said Harlig, director of the Chabad Center in Kendall. ``For the High Holidays, we go to the schools and do these programs for the kids. We make olive oil for Hanukkah and matzo balls for Passover.''

This year, Rosh Hashana starts Sept. 19 at sunset and continues until sunset the next day.

During the class, the students, ranging in age from pre-kindergarten to third grade, learned how to make a shofar, which has an earthy, organic tone, like an unrefined trumpet.

The shofar makes a variety of sounds, depending on the breathing and mouth position of the person blowing it. It can be a bleat, a clarion call or a wail.

The ram's horns typically are shaped like crescents, but also can twist into spirals. The longer the horn, generally, the deeper the note it produces.

The youngsters watched as Harlig and his assistant removed bone marrow from the horn, sanded it down and shellacked it. He then drilled holes to make a mouthpiece. Then, the kids were given a horn of their own with which to make their own trumpet.

``It felt as hard as rock,'' first-grader Galia Dircie, 6, of Palmetto Bay, said after trying to blow the horn.

Second-grader Matthew Waldman said he won't soon forget his day as a shofar craftsman.

``I'm going to use it on Rosh Hashana,'' said Matthew, 7, of Continental Park.

His mother, Cecilia Waldman, said she could not be happier for her son to get the chance to be a part of Jewish tradition.

``It's really exciting,'' said Waldman, 45.

``It's a new year and at a new school. It ties everything together for them.''

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