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Celebrating Light and Giving Tzedakah
by Carla Goldberg
Preschool Director
Chanukah is in the air at Akiba-Schechter with the smell of sufganiyot (jelly doughuts) frying, the sizzle of latkes cooking in the pan, and the sound of the children's voices practicing the Chanukah songs. Preschoolers have been exploring light, reflection and shadows in all of the classrooms. They've been creating on the light tables, overhead projectors, and projecting images of light and Chanukiot. In the Yellow Room the children worked on a giant mural for the story "The Runaway Latke." In the Lime Room the children painted beautiful images of Chanukiot and took pictures with projected images. In the Kindergarten they were busy learning special Chanukah songs, all in Hebrew and complete with choreography. I hope that you have had the opportunity to visit both the downstairs and upstairs hallways to see all of the learning. It is truly a magical time to be in a classroom at Akiba and experience the magic of the Festival of Lights.
The students at Akiba-Schechter have also been experiencing what it means to give (tzedekah) and help others during the holiday season. At the Spaghetti Dinner Kindergarteners through 4th graders participated in a food drive, a coat and boot drive and a book drive. The 8th graders participated in two Chesed projects this week. For one project a student collected money for Child Love, which gives gifts to children, who are in the hospital. The class traveled to "Ross for Less" on Tuesday morning and picked out stuffed animals, blankets and new toys to donate to children who are in the hospital at Comer or Lurie Children's hospital. On Friday they visited the Self Help Home and brought cards to brighten the residents' days. What a beautiful message our students are learning participating in acts of Chesed (loving kindness) and learning how important it is to give back to the community!
I hope that we have helped to brighten your holiday season with all of the creative and meaningful activities happening at Akiba-Schechter.
Happy Chanukah and Shabbat Shalom!
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Preschool
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| Cal and Bronte explore making spin art in the Green Room. |
Making Different Kinds of Marks of Paper
The Green Room has been doing a lot of Chanukah inspired art. One of the children's favorite activities was spin art inspired by dreidels. The children used a paper-covered lazy susan to create these beautiful paintings. They were fascinated by the different lines they could paint as it spun. The experience that they can make different kinds of marks on paper will help them as they develop the ability to create representational art. Practice making circles will help to draw eyes, heads, and other "round" objects; straight lines will eventually become arms or houses, and the experience of making curvy lines will help with drawing things like hair or ocean waves. The Green Room teachers will continue to give the children lots of opportunities to practice these skills in fun ways!
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Chanukah prep in Ready! Set! Go!
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The Kindergarten children are going old school this week with the game of Twister that was given to us from our Wish List. Here are Noa and Zohar are trying to move around without falling down. Their friend Noah is cheering them on.
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Grades 1-8
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The 1st and 2nd graders in Mr. Salk's class created all kinds of posters. Here, Lilly works on a 220 "tens poster" to adorn the classroom. Daniel works on a personal "tens poster" that goes to 200, and Shoshana is designing a "rhyme poster" with words that end with -est.
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On Thursday Ms. Leonard's 3rd/4th graders had a visit from their Kindergarten buddies. The Kindergarteners performed several Chanukah songs for them that were adorable. Three stations were set up in the classroom: At one, the kids made edible dreidels with pretzel sticks, marshmallows, frosting and Hershey Kisses. At another they enjoyed playing dreidel with the original and artistic dreidels the 3rd/4th graders had made from CDs, marbles and bottle tops.
The final station was reading Chanukah books. It was festive in the classroom!
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Morah Dorit and Morah Shlomit's 7th/8th grade "B'Ivrit" classes made donuts together. Students had to request all the ingredients in Hebrew and once they did, they were able to mix and pour and create the donuts for each of their groups.
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Chesed Shopping Trip
For her Chesed project, Sydney Goldberg raised money for Child Life, an organization that provides toys, blankets and stuffed animals for kids in Comer and Northwestern Hospital.
The 8th graders took the money that Sydney raised and went to Ross to purchase items to donate to Child Life. They had a great time, and the kids were so happy to provide the toys for kids in the hospital.
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As part of Eva Basa's Chesed project, the 8th graders visited the Self Help Home to sing Chanukah songs and give out the beautiful cards made at the Spaghetti Dinner and buddy program.
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1-Book, 1-Akiba
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1-Book, 1-Akiba Culminating Evening:
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
7:00 p.m.
We've been discussing the novel in our PJs, but now we're ready to go face to face! Please join us on January 11 for an evening of book activities, light refreshments, and a chance to dig deep into
The War That Saved My Life. Please join us!
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3rd through 8th grade have finished up the badminton unit with a series of competitive games. They all know how to keep score; they've mastered the service order, and they're playing at a very high level, using the skills and tactics they've learned over the past month.
1st and 2nd just finished up striking skills. Striking is hitting one object (a ball, birdie, or puck) with another object (a racket, paddle, or bat). This is a skill that requires hand-eye coordination.
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Middle School artists drew autobiographical cartoons in art class.
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Annual Fund Update
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Thank you to all our donors for their support of the Akiba-Schechter Jewish Day School Annual Fund. The donor list is now too long to share in the Kibitzer and we've therefore moved it to our website. We appreciate your generosity. If you made an Annual Fund gift or pledge and your name is not on the list, please contact Alexa Markoff, Director of Development
. If you have not made your Annual Fund gift yet, here is the
link
to our secure website. Thank you again for your support of the Annual Fund. Give today. Impact today.
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Lunch and Dinner Ordering
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| Shabbat-to-go dinner prepared by our chef Eddie |
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Hot lunch ordering: Registration for Jan-June hot lunches is now open. Click here to order.
Don't forget about Shabbat-To-Go Dinner from Chef Eddie. CLICK HERE to order.
We are also offering the option to order a weekday meal, great for a family dinner or a take-a-meal mitzvah. See the current lunch menu for ready-to-send options. $7/person.
18% of sales from dinners-to-go support the 8th grade trip to Israel!
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PTO Corner
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Thank You, Parents!
We want to thank parents for participating in this inaugural year of the Akiba PTO. The PTO has hit the ground running:
- Organizing classroom wish lists
- Volunteering for various school related events
- Managing Box Tops collections
- Supporting families in times of need
- Giving all teachers and staff holiday gifts
- Treating the teachers and staff to a breakfast on December 23rd
Just to name a few ...
With more work to do in the second half of the school year, we hope that those who have not yet participated, contributed or been involved will consider doing so. Please
contact us with any feedback, comments, questions or ways you want to be involved. Enjoy winter break!
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First Glimpse of the
2017-18 School Calendar
Download our key dates for the next school year!
Still Looking for Assistant Fencing Coach
Our fencing program is bursting at the seams! We are looking to hire an assistant coach to help out on Tuesday and Thursdays afternoons. Please
contact Coach Price if you know anyone who is interested.
Soccer at the Hyde Park JCC
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Dates to Remember
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Saturday, December 24
First Night of Chanukah
Monday, December 26
Winter Break Begins
Monday, January 9
Classes Resume
Wednesday, January 11
7:00 p.m.
Monday, January 16
Martin Luther King Day
No Classes
Thursday, January 19
Spelling Bee
Email frontdesk if you'd like a word list to practice over winter break!
Tuesday, January 24
8:45 - 9:45 a.m.
Middle School Spaghetti Dinner
5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
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December 23, 2016
Volume 13, Issue 10
Candle Lighting:
4:04 p.m.
Parasha: Vayeishev
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Refuah Shleima
...to the husband of Hebrew teacher
Dorit Rogan, who is recovering from surgery.
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Don't forget to set up your amazonsmile account to benefit Akiba. Thank you!
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Since 2004 Akiba-Schechter has received
$491,576
from the Kehillah Fund; this month it is $3,707. Over 1,400 community members participate in the Kehillah Fund's recurring donor program in support of Jewish day school education, and every month $71,000 is distributed to Chicago area day schools.
To learn more, please call
(847) 745-1668 or visit
www.kehillahfund.org
.
Thank you for your support!
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Affiliated with the Associated Talmud Torahs and supported by the Kehillah Jewish Education Fund
773-493-8880
Check out our new website!
www.akibaschechter.org
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