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The Stallions huddle during their first game on Wednesday against GEMS World Academy, which they won 24:21. Go Stallions!
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The Many Facets of Kindergarten
by Carla Goldberg
Preschool Director
We had a wonderful Kindergarten Coffee on Tuesday morning. We hosted a room full of current and prospective parents who listened to our Kindergarten teachers, Jill and Iris, speak about the Kindergarten's play-based program that includes a social and emotional curriculum and organically incorporates Hebrew. With our many, many years of experience, we know it provides a solid bridge to any first grade program.
This week's activities in the Kindergarten highlight its multi-faceted program. On Thursday, Kindergarteners undertook a field trip to the Garfield Conservatory to prepare for their study of trees that they are doing on the occasion of the Jewish New Year of the Trees, Tu B'Shvat, which is coming up on February 11. While this is a celebration of a Jewish holiday, this study of trees is also a unit on botany (teaching such scientific skills as observation and research), geography (what kind of tree grows where?), and will include a creative project like building trees out of clay.
Speaking of creative projects, the Kindergarten has done another beautiful iteration in their series of self portraits (see picture below), which is not only an art project, but promotes the development of fine motor skills, observation and self-awareness.
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| On Friday the Kindergarten learned about Chinese New Year as current parents shared their tradition. |
On Friday, the Kindergarten learned about the Chinese New Year, a unit that was initiated and led by current Kindergarten parents, who wanted to share their tradition on the occasion of the upcoming Year of the Rooster. They decorated the room and introduced the kids to the custom of exchanging "good luck money."
Shabbat Shalom!
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Parashat Va'eira
by Rabbi Holman
People often ask, "Why doesn't G-d just do a miracle and make us all believe in Him? Why doesn't He just come out and prove Himself?" Perhaps you might discuss this at your Shabbat table...
In this week's Parasha, Pharaoh also demanded proof from Moshe that he represented G-d. So Aaron turned his stick into a snake. Unimpressed, Pharaoh was later shown the plagues of blood and frogs. After the frogs, Pharaoh actually gave in and acquiesced to the Jews' demands. Once the plague was over, Pharaoh reneged. After Aaron turned the dust into lice, Pharaoh's own magicians admitted that it was "the finger of G-d" and not a magic trick.
Why wouldn't Pharaoh let the Jews go if all the Jews wanted was a three-day vacation? He had asked for proof of G-d's existence, and he got what he asked for? (Please also note that G-d "hardened Pharaoh's heart only after the fifth plague. For the first five, his free will was intact.) Try discussing this at the table tonight and see what people come up with.
Shabbat Shalom!
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Preschool
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The children in Ready! Set! Go! found a giant chunk of ice on the playground; they brought it into their classroom and spent the morning examining it. The next day they found a tub of muddy water where the ice had been!
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Miriam and Noa's self portraits
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Self Portraits Build More Than Drawing Skills
The Kindergarten has done another round of self portraits. The children's effort is greatly noticeable in their final beautiful work. The teachers are very proud of the process and the way the children worked on their portraits. This month they used the overhead projector so the children could trace their silhouettes projected onto white paper. This task was targeting the enhancement of eye-hand coordination, the ability to follow lines, to stay focused and of course to persevere as it took a good amount of time to complete them.
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Grades 1-8
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In Mr. Salk's 1st/2nd grade visits different continents, and each child chooses a country to learn about. Here Daniel, Matthew, and Isaac are looking at atlases for information about African countries.
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On Thursday, Mrs. Levine's 3rd graders celebrated the completion of Volume 1 of
3rd grade Everyday Math. Bravo!
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Working on Making a Scene
Mr. Millner's 5th/6th grade Language Arts class has been discussing the most important themes, symbols, and settings of the book Rules by Cynthia Lord. These discussions will help the groups narrow down the scene selections for their project entitled, "Let's Make a Scene." They will be choosing a scene or scenes from the book that best represent their selected theme, symbol, or setting. Upon selection, the groups will write a script and film their scenes to be presented to the rest of the class, school and their family members.
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Morah Shlomit's 6th/7th/8th grade Ivrit class has been working on their family trees.
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This week the 3rd/4th graders in Mrs. Leonard's class did research for their author studies. Each student chose an author to learn about and read multiple books by. They created timelines with personal and professional milestones. Some of the authors are Roald Dahl, Judy Blume, J. K. Rowling, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Megan McDonald.
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Patricians and Plebeians
Mr. Esse's 5th/6th grade History class has been studying Roman politics and social classes. To better understand how the Patricians and Plebeians interacted, the class has been doing a government simulation where they are given a task and receive a reward if the task is completed. They have to vote on how to complete the task and distribute the reward. However, the votes aren't one per person, but are instead based on class and wealth. The students have cleaned Loeb Hall, done hundreds of push-ups and jumping jacks, made jewelry and filled buckets of water during this simulation. Mr. Esse is looking forward to reviewing the experience and looking at different themes that came up during the simulation.
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by Sara Price
Grades 1-4 are in the middle of the scooterboard unit. They learned to use their upper and lower body strength to propel themselves. Now they're finishing up with games of Scooterboard Quidditch.
The middle school is in the midst of the fitness unit. They spent the past two weeks learning about the importance of aerobic or cardiovascular fitness. They learned to use their heart rate to determine their exercise intensity during cardio-kickboxing and step aerobic classes. They also explored flexibility. During the second half of the unit, They are learning about muscular strength.
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Middle school students studied patterns and discussed shading using repeating designs in preparation for print making.
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Students began to carve linoleum blocks for print making, using cutting tools.
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Lunch and Dinner To Go Ordering
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The Hot Lunch menu is online! Check it out!
You can still register for lunches for January through June.
Dinners To Go: We offer the following options, all of which you can order on the website:
Weekday Meal
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! Last month, over $200 was credited to 8th grade funds.
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As you learned in December, we have changed our re-enrollment procedures. Effective immediately, all current students will be automatically re-enrolled for the 2017-2018 school year. No more paperwork or buttons to click! If you do not plan on returning next year, please notify
Yelena Spector
no later than
January 31
to avoid automatic re-enrollment fees.
Are you planning on applying for financial aid? Please check the
Affording Akiba
page on our website to learn more about the process and what you need to do. The deadline for submitting tuition assistance paperwork is
February 28, 2017
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2017-18 School Calendar
Download our key dates for the next school year!
Geography Bee Winner
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Mazal tov to Geography Bee winner Aaron Faier (7th) and good luck in the next round!
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Dates to Remember
Saturday, February 11
Tu B'Shvat
Thursday, February 16
Parent/Teacher Conferences
Grades 1-8 Conferences: 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Preschool 4:00 - 8:00 p.m.
No School for Grades 1-8
Preschool in Session but no late care and no bus service
Friday, February 17
Parent/Teacher Conferences (Preschool only)
8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
No School
Monday, February 20
Presidents Day
No School
Professional Development Day
Mandatory Rehearsal Day for School Play
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...to Judaics teacher
Ahuva Wiesenfeld, who gave birth to a baby boy about
10:30 p.m. last night. Everybody is doing well!
They will have a Bris next
Friday, February 3, at Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation at 540 W. Melrose Street in Lakeview. Davening begins at
7:00 a.m. and the Bris ceremony and meal will follow (about
7:35).
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January 27, 2017
Volume 13, Issue 12
Candle Lighting:
4:40 p.m.
Parasha: Va'eira
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...to Eliyahu Malkin (7th) and his family on the marriage of his sister, Tali.
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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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