 | | Sam (1st) works hard on blowing the Shofar. |
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| Welcome to a New School Year! |
Welcome back to what I hope will be a wonderful year! Over the summer we expanded our campus to include several classrooms at Congregation Rodfei Zedek. The students in Grades 3-8 go there each day for a block of their classes. It is exciting for staff and students to be in their new space. The synagogue has generously painted the rooms and teachers have done a yeoman's job making the classrooms warm and inviting.
We are also excited that many new families have joined the Akiba-Schechter community. If you haven't had the opportunity to connect with them, you will be able to do so at the All-School Picnic on September 29th. We welcome the following new students: Skyler Albert, Anna Copeland, Sari Freimark, Rachel McCarthy, Esther Singer (2nd grade), Leah McCarthy (3rd), Jacob Copeland, Gavi Singer, Libby Vadnai (4th), Nate Albert, Shira David, Yossel Goldbloom, Rivka McCarthy (5th), Abigail Koifman, Sarah McCarthy (6th) Anielle Nudelman, Oryah Rudick (7th). In addition, there are many, many new children in the Preschool and Kindergarten that starts after Rosh Hashana.
 | | Quite a crowd gathered and much fun was had at Mike's Place, the Preschool playground, at Thursday's Meet & Greet party for new Preschool Families. See more photos on Facebook! |
We welcome the following new teachers: Jamie Leonard and Ann Esse who both teach 3rd/4th grade classes, Mina Schanowitz (Kitah Bet) and Asher Zelig Krohn (Kitah Gimmel & Kitah Dalet), and Neil Landers (Science). We are also happy that Thea Crook (library), Jessica Kaz (1st/2nd grade), Etti Burov (Kitah Alef) and Joe Esse (5th/6th grade math & history) have taken on larger roles at Akiba-Schechter. Click here for more info on their backgrounds and responsibilities.
 | | B'not Sherut Tamar (left) and Shani |
This is our 7th year of participating in the B'not Sherut Program, and we welcome our new B'not Sherut, Shani Nadav and Tamar Cohen. Look for a more detailed profile of them in an upcoming Kibitzer.
Our front desks are now staffed by Miriam Friedman-Parks in the day school, Havah Hope at Congregation Rodfei Zedek. As always, Millie is at the front desk in the Preschool in the morning, and Elisa Aranoff is there in the afternoons and also continues directing our after-school enrichment program.
As we enter the Jewish year 5774, may you and your loved ones be inscribed for a sweet, healthy New Year.
Shana Tova U'matukah!
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 | | Mrs. Gold's new classroom in the Rodfei Zedek building |
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 | | What are they doing? Working in pairs, students in 208 (Ms. Gorosh's 3rd/4th grade) worked with question words (such as How? Why?) to ask each other questions. They are also using questions to learn about each others' names. |
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 The 7/8th grade Hebrew class meets in Room 201, Mrs. Kahana's new digs at Rodfei Zedek.
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Welcome to the new school year. Mrs. Kahana has moved to her new beautiful space at Rodfei Zedek in Room 201. There is still some setup work going on, but the students helped to brighten up all the hardships and are off to a very good start. Mrs. Kahana wishes everyone a Very Happy, Healthy, Peaceful and Productive New Year.
Ms. Groover's 5th/6th and 7th/8th Hebrew classes are spending this time before Rosh Hashana reviewing their vocabulary from last year. The students are practicing speaking and creating sentences. For the new students to Akiba-Schechter the word list may be intimidating, but they will have plenty of time and opportunity to master it. Next Tuesday everyone will complete a written assessment. After Rosh Hashana students will each receive a workbook with assignments appropriate for their comprehension and skill level.
Mr. Esse's 5th grade Math class is getting into gear by working together to solve word problems as part of a mystery game. The 5th graders' deductive skills have been outstanding! The class will be focusing on parts of a whole (fractions, decimals and percentages) this year and are eager to get started. Mr. Esse's 5th and 6th grade History class is learning about the Stone Age. The students are also working on improving their note-taking skills and figuring out what facts are important ("Need to Know") and what facts are interesting but less important ("Like to Know"). |
 |  Buddies Zev (8th) and Lev (2nd) get ready to create Shana Tova cards for the Chicago Mitzvah Campaign that distributes them, along with Challah and grape juice, to hospital patients and elderly people who are not able to be in their own home for Rosh Hashana. |
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Mr. Salk's 1st and 2nd graders have gotten right into the swing of things, writing in their journals and choosing activities that range from examining fossils, estimating and counting objects, and inventing characters to write about. A few have already chosen one of the United States to learn about. And that's not counting the room labels and alphabet posters that they are creating to fill the room with words. The students have gotten used to the routines so quickly and, most impressively, are extending so much kindness and helpfulness to one another that it's been a great week!
Quite by accident, Mrs. Esse's 3rd/4th class may have hit on the theme of "mice" for the year. Each student found a furry mouse waiting at her or his desk to be used as a study aid. When feeling frustrated or when really concentrating, these furry creatures might help everyone focus. (Or maybe not! We'll see.) The kids came up with the slogan, "Be nice to mice," and it has become part of the class's covenant of respectful behavior. They're getting used to all the routines, so that after the first break, they should feel comfortable.
Mrs. Leonard has truly enjoyed getting to know each child in her 3rd/4th grade classroom. Next week they will kick off their first unit of the year, learning about diaries and perspectives. The children will hear/read various books written in a diary format such as, A Diary of a Worm and other books in that series. They will notice how the characters have different perspectives on their environment. The students then choose an animal of their own to research and create a diary from the animal's perspective.
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 | | Mrs. Schanowitz's Kitah Bet played a riddle game about different Rosh Hashana customs: Each student got a card with a custom and had to come up with a riddle that the others had to figure out. |
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Mrs. Brackman's 5th graders are looking forward to a wonderful year. With Rosh Hashana just around the corner, they are in full holiday mode. Everyone had a chance to share their family traditions and their delicious holiday foods. With such a great group of energetic students, this promises to be a fun year, filled with discussions and learning.
Mrs. Brackman's and Mrs. Gold's 7/8th grade Chumash (Bible) classes have begun their studies in the Book of Bamidbar (Numbers). They are focusing of the on the stories of the spies going into the land of Cannan and the Korach Rebellion. The class is full of discussion and in-depth learning. Questions and "thinking outside the box" are encouraged!
This week Mrs. Willner-Schreiber's Language Arts classes began their short story units. They reviewed elements of short stories, such as point of view, plot, character, conflict and theme. The 7th/8th students read Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell Tale Heart" and discussed the affect that an unreliable narrator has on a reader's understanding of a story. The 5th/6th graders started their unit with "Raymond's Run" and tracked the main character's development throughout the story. All classes were also introduced to their first set of vocabulary words. Throughout the year students will learn new words each week, focusing on Greek and Latin roots, prefixes and suffixes. This week' s words all start with the prefix pre-. This will give them tools for deciphering meanings of unfamiliar words throughout their lives.
Mr. Landers's 5/6th grade Science class hit the ground running with doing experiments to observe energy transfer and wave phenomena. They've scrutinized water disturbances, played with slinkies, and made cup-o-phones to note the shapes and forms of energy moving through matter. This year's topic is "Waves, Sound and Light." As experimental physicists, the students are becoming more careful observers, learning to record data, and beginning to make hypothetical predictions to test out. They'll be putting our skills to the test later in the year with our science fair project, "Mystery River."
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 | | A chainlink tallying task in 1st/2nd grade in Mrs. Rapp's Room. |
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by Debbie Lekousis
 | | Room 205 - the new Art Room |
It's really exciting that Kindergarten through 4th Grade Art classes will be taking place in a really nice, clean, bright, new classroom on the 2nd floor, Room 205. The new room will enable students to experience art in a quieter place. The room can be darkened when they want to explore shadow-puppetry, view slides, or shine a bright lamp on 3-D forms to learn to draw the highlights and shadows that fall upon objects. The artists are going to love having a space of their own! This year will begin with self-portraits; the artists will experiment with various media, along with line, color, and shape to create portraits, sometimes capturing something of their "likeness," but in any case, expressing something uniquely "them."
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| Issue Number | |
August 30, 2013
Volume 10, Issue 1
Candlelighting: 7:09 p.m.
Parasha: Nitzavim-Vayelech
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Dates to Remember
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Monday, September 2
Labor Day
No Classes
Wednesday, September 4
Erev Rosh Hashana
No Classes
Thursday & Friday,
September 5 & 6
Rosh Hashana
No Classes
Monday, September 9
First Day of Kindergarten (12:00 Noon Dismissal)
Preschool Visitation
After-School Programs Begin
Tuesday, September 10
First Full Day of Preschool
Late Pickup Begins
Wednesday, September 11
8th Grade Mandatory Parents Meeting
7:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Grades 5-8 Back-to-School Night for Parents
7:30 p.m.
Friday, September 13
Erev Yom Kippur
12:00 noon Dismissal for Preschool & Kindergarten
12:30 p.m. Dismissal for Grades 1-8
Monday, September 16
Preschool - 4th Grade Back-to-School Night for Parents
7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, September 18
Erev Sukkot
12:00 noon Dismissal for Preschool & Kindergarten
12:30 p.m. Dismissal for Grades 1-8
Thursday & Friday,
September 19 & 20
Sukkot
No Classes
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Welcome Back to School!
Have a Great Year!
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| Dvar Torah |
Rosh Hashana
by Rabbi Holman
In synagogue this Rosh Hashana we will hear one-hundred blasts of the Shofar. Why so many? The minimum obligation is certainly much less - only 30 sounds. Some explain that it "confuses the accusing angel." As G-d judges us and weighs our good deeds and mistakes, one angel has the job of prosecuting us. Our one-hundred blasts are said to confuse him until he relents. What could be the deeper understanding of this imagery? Our one-hundred blasts are an example of our going above and beyond our minimum obligations. When G-d sees our love for the Mitzvot, our desire to do our best - above and beyond the call of duty, He must certainly take that into consideration when judging our actions.
May we all strive to be the best that we can be, and may we all merit a good, sweet new year. Shana Tova!
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Buddies Create Rosh Hashana Cards
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Shana tova! This is one of the cute Rosh Hashana cards created by the 1st/2nd graders and their 7th/8th grade buddies during the Rosh Hashana Buddy Program held on Thursday.
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Lulav & Etrog
Orders
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Believe it or not, it's time to order your Lulav & Etrog for Sukkot. Please download the order form.
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| Mazal Tov |
...to Jonathan Gendler (8th) who celebrates his Bar Mitzvah this weekend.
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| Mazal Tov |
...to Green Kindergarten teacher Shuli Kupchan on the birth of a baby girl over the summer.
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| Condolences |
...to Rhea Basa and her family on the passing of her father, Dr. Gerald Schnur.
...to the Glick Family on the passing of husband, father and grandfather Dr. Gerald Glick.
May their memory be for a blessing.
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| Thank You |
...to our volunteers who helped serve lunches this first week of school.
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Lunch Volunteers
Needed
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for the following dates:
September 3, 10, 11, and 17
Please contact Havah Hope if you are able to help serve lunch on any of those days.
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A Favorite Children's Book for Rosh Hashana
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Library Corner
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by Thea Crook
A big shout-out to the Media Interns who worked so hard during the summer to prepare the library before the start of the school year:
Shira Friedman-Parks
Tova Hope-Liel
Rivka Koppel
Rebecca Price
Lilit Matar
Jonathan Gendler
Margalit Roitman
Samantha White
Zev Goldberg
They will receive a credit towards their graduation trip to Israel. We were just as thrilled to have had help from two Akiba graduates - Dena Leibowitz and Gabrielle Roitman.
The entire catalog is now digitized and sorted by color-coded genres. Please stop by and take a look. The library will be open every Monday afternoon between 3:30 and 4:25 PM for students to do research, read and select books. Please inform the front desk if your child plans to use the library on any Monday afternoon.
Please check to see whether you have any Akiba library books in your home. We appear to be missing lots of books.
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| Bring in your Box Tops | |
We continue to collect Box Tops for Education. Please bring in your Box Tops (found on all General Mills products and many others). It does make a difference!
Collection boxes are found in the school offices on Elisa's and Millie's desks.
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