Kibitzer December 15, 2017

With the holidays fast approaching and Chanukah specifically being the festival of lights, it was the perfect time for the Kindergarten to look deeper into the concept of light and explore it in a new way. The children used glow-in-the-dark paint and a UV light to bring this project to life. Check out the staircase outside the Kindergarten room: There is a game you can play to figure out who these faces belong to! And come to our Spread the Light Chanukah Fest this Sunday to see all we at Akiba have been doing with light!

#IlluminateAkiba

From the Desk of

I want to wish everyone a wonderful Chanukah! I hope to see many of you this Sunday at our first Spread the Light event. I can't thank all the staff who have worked so hard on this event enough as well as the sponsors supporting the event. It is going to be so much fun! Continuing with the theme of the holiday, I want to share with you what I can only describe as a new source of light we are planning here at Akiba-Schechter.

As many of you know, this summer we developed the first Research and Development Department in a Jewish Day School. The team of teachers and administrators that make up the department worked together to come up with areas of research to enhance what we are doing at the school. One of those areas is makerspaces in education.

The group, based on what they researched, proposed to rethink and redesign our current library space into a large makerspace. The space would be one where children are following personalized learning pathways in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Math (S.T.E.A.M.) in an integrated approach that will include Judaic and General Studies learning across the curriculum. Their research of current global trends made clear that social and technological forces have intersected to transform how we design, manufacture and distribute. An open source, Do-It-Yourself mindset, and social networks are enabling communities to make their own economic futures. The language of design schools is part of the vocabulary of K-12 schools and the team, and I agree, believes education needs to integrate more of this framework of learning to address a changing future. Schools need to become hubs of design knowledge, rapid prototyping, and self-directed learning to ensure our students are better prepared for a more flexible global world where, for example, science and math skills are not isolated knowledge sets, but a set of thinking skills that can be applied to the real world.

Between now and this coming summer, the makerspace R&D task force will continue to research and plan what kind of space we could create. The goal is to keep the function of the library with all our fantastic books while integrating all the technology, tools and resources to have a vibrant makerspace. The plan is to begin the redesign this coming summer and have students using it next fall. I look forward to sharing more with you as the planning continues. This project is being made possible by The Crown Family, and we are grateful for their support.

Shabbat Shalom!

Dr. Eliezer Jones

Head of School

Spread the Light!

Please join us for this celebration of Chanukah through art, music, and light! There will be a student art exhibit, light-themed activities, a LED Light Dance Show, delicious Chanukah treats and much more.

RSVP here.

Thank You to our Spread the Light Sponsors:

Spread the Light is Sponsored in Loving Memory of Arleen Schwartz, z"l by the Schwartz/Faier Family

In addition to the Schwartz/Faier family we would like to thank the following sponsors:

Helen Bloch of Law Offices of Helen Bloch, PC - Olive Oil Level: $180

Ruslana and Felix Friedman - Olive Oil Level: $180

Doug Glick and Jennifer Uson - Olive Oil Level $180

Larry White - Sufganiyot Level: $72

Erin and David Lowenthal - Sufganiyot Level: $72

Alana and Jon Beadell - Sufganiyot Level $72

Barbara Vogel and Craig Rosenbaum - Latke Level: $36

Nathan Wallen and Kristy Obuchowski-Wallen - Latke Level: $36

Brian and Michelle Altgold - Latke Level: $36

#IlluminateAkiba

Our Bnot Sherut, Meklit and Shaked

Some Perspectives from our Bnot Sherut

Meklit and Shaked have been our Bnot Sherut for four months now, so it's high time to ask how they are doing and what differences they have noted between life here and in Israel. For Meklit, who is from Ashdod but was born in Ethiopia, this year in Chicago is her first time abroad, so it comes as no surprise that she says, "everything is different here." For example? "People hold doors open here; and you're expected to do that as well!" Indeed, that perhaps goes to the stereotype that Chicagoans are, in general, friendly and polite. Meklit and Shaked agree that "everything is big here: bottles, buildings, houses, etc." Tell us something we didn't know! "Oh, cheese is orange here." True, there is such a thing as Cheddar, a uniquely American cheese. What does that tell us? Cheese in Israel is white, the way cheese is supposed to be!

Shaked, who is from Rechovot and whose grandparents hailed from Syria, Libya and Morocco, says that "in Israel, people are more up front and tell you exactly what they think if you ask them," which means she finds American niceness harder to navigate. Interesting point. Both of them worked with children before, Meklit as a Bnei Akiva supervisor for youth programming, and Shaked worked with at-risk children. For winter break they are going to explore California and Las Vegas, and of course they have a hard time believing that it will be cold in San Francisco. They've been warned!

Dvar Torah

Chanukah - A Hug from G-d

by Rabbi Holman

When Yosef's brothers sold him as a slave, he was brought to Egypt by merchants carrying various spices (although this type of merchant usually carries foul-smelling tar). If every detail of the Torah is significant, then the commentators wonder why we need to know what the merchants were carrying. What lesson do we learn from this? Some answer that with this small, almost insignificant detail, G-d was reassuring Yosef. Although his world had fallen apart, G-d was saying, "I am with you, don't worry." Here, the Torah is telling us to look for the silver lining, the hug from G-d, even in the darkest of times.

The same can be said for the Chanukah miracle. Why do we make such a big deal of the oil lasting eight days if the Torah records many other miracles of much greater magnitude? What's the big deal of some oil lasting eight days compared to the Ten Plagues? In truth, the period of the Second Temple, which is the setting of the Chanukah story, was devoid of these kind of overt miracles. It was a dark time when the Jews lived under successive foreign rule - first Persia, then Greece, and then Rome. Yet on Chanukah, the dedication of the Maccabees brought about one last miracle. It was as if G-d were giving us a hug and saying, "I know that you will be in a long, dark exile, but I will always be with you. Let this small light be a reminder to you in every generation that I am always with you."

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach!

From the Preschool

Maria paints her silhouette for the Spread the Light
event on Sunday. The Lime Room can't wait for you to see all of their glow-in-the-dark silhouettes on Sunday!

by Carla Goldberg

Preschool Director

Chanukah is here and walking through the hallways of Akiba you can hear the children singing and retelling the Chanukah story, smell the latkes and Sufganiot (jelly donuts) frying, and see the explorations of light happening in each classroom. The holidays are such a joyful time and you can certainly feel that joy at Akiba.

Each child at Akiba creates a Chanukiah (menorah) to take home and share with his/her family. In my Parent/Tot class a parent shared how much her son has cherished his first Chanukiah that he made at Akiba. He is excited to light the candles, watch them burn and when he first awakes in the morning, he checks to make sure that the Chanukiah is still there. This excitement about an activity begun at school that carries on at home is one of the things I love best about Akiba. Children are making connections between home and school and sharing their love of learning with their family. In many instances, parents and children are learning about the holiday together and experiencing it together for the first time in many different ways. We are helping to spread the light out into the world through our children's joyfulness.

We love to focus on light at this time of year: exploring with light tables, playing with light and shadows, and experimenting with oil and water. We are using flashlights to discover how light moves, viewing images of light festivals around the world, and creating art that reflects light in different ways. One class may discuss how light makes them feel, another class writes shadow stories, while another acts out the story of Chanukah and the miracle of the light burning for eight days.

This year we are also learning about how to Spread the Light out into the world. We hope you will join us this Sunday, Dec. 17th from 3-5 pm to view the light-inspired art created by our children, play interactive games with light, explore a light studio, and help spread the light that Akiba shines so brightly to families who are not yet familiar with Akiba. It is going to be a very special event for the whole family - I look forward to seeing you there! Special tip: Wear something white so you can glow in the dark...

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Chanukah!

Preschool

Aiden paints flames for the Green Room's classroom Chanukiah, see below.

Every day, the Green Room kids get to add one more flame to their Chanukiah in the hallway; flames they make themselves, see above.

Grades 1-8

Morah Elisa visited Kitah Alef on Thursday to demonstrate how an oil Chanukiah works. The kids were tasked with timing how long the oil would burn.

The 1st and 2nd graders in Ms. Harris and Miss Friedman's class stopped by to see Dr. Jones on their way to library last Friday to wish him a very special Akiba Yom Huledet Sameach! Not only did they get to walk into his office when the sign said on the door said, "Meeting in Progress, Do Not Disturb," but they also had fun checking out and inquiring about all of the fun gadgets in his office. They hope to be able to celebrate many more birthdays with you, Dr. Jones!

The 3rd/4th graders in Mrs. Leonard's class loved their Ellis Island Simulation last Thursday. They came to school dressed in old fashioned clothes and with small packed bags, imagining it was 1910. The kids all received realistic immigrant profiles and currency from their countries of origin. They had to go through passport control, interviews, paperwork and medical exams. The majority of them made it through but some kids were detained or deported. It was a fantastic way to learn through experience, and it was a lot of fun, too!

Adyra and Jed work on the physical layout and creation of their poster.

Children's Lives Matter

Over the past few weeks, the students in Mr. Millner's 5th/6th grade English class have been learning and researching China's One Child Policy, in order to get a better understanding of what the policy was, why it was instituted, what some of the issues with overpopulation are. After compiling their research, students worked in small groups to create an advertising poster, aimed at President Trump, convincing him that the One Child Policy would not be a good idea for the United States.

Art with Debbie

3rd grade artists made 3-D pop-up dreidel and Star-of-David Chanukah cards. They drew around a template--then cut and folded parts of the shape, leaving other parts attached. They then rearranged the folds so that their design popped out in 3-D. After that, all the fun was in the decorating!

1st and 2nd grade artists sculpted with Model Magic clay. They learned to make cubes, human and animal figures, and some made dreidels out of clay.

Library Corner

by Thea Crook

Life is What Happens While You're Making Other Plans...

That's precisely what happened with Miss Friedman's 1st/2nd grade class in the library last week. We were seated around the tables, and I was reading a book to the students. Unexpectedly, I heard a squeal, "You have Humphrey books!" Within seconds, the children

gathered around Jonathan, who started reading one of the books to the group. A couple of other kids start looking at others in the series. Sometimes, students teach teachers!

Last year, many of you read, and participated in discussions about, The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. The sequel is now out and it is really wonderful! The unexpected ending enhances this enjoyable book. I also recommend a look at Tablet Magazine's The Best Jewish Children's Books of 2017.

Chanukah Assembly

Parenting in the Age of Social Media

Springboard and JUF Young Families Event

January 10, 2018

7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Moadon Kol Chadash
2464 N Clybourn Ave, Chicago, IL 60614

More info here

Thank You

... to 5th grader Meira, who through sheer persistence and determination, triumphantly fixed Mr. Salk's Newton's Cradle, which looked like a hopelessly tangled mess when she brought it home.