 | | Watch out Chopped! The Kitah Alef kids are now expert chefs! This week they learned the Hebrew words for "chef," "toast" and "good," and so they tried this all out making toast with sugar and cinnamon. It turned out "tov meod!" |
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The Beauty of the Multi-Age Classroom
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by Miriam Schiller
Principal
We at Akiba tend to forget how unique it is to have multi-age classrooms. We have had classes grouped in two-year spans (1/2, 3/4, 5/6 7/8) by design, for over 25 years. This creates a cooperative social and learning community in so many ways.
In any traditional classroom, children are on a spectrum. Teachers traditionally teach to the middle, remediate one end and enrich the other. At Akiba-Schechter, we take the real norm and make it the established norm. In other words, students naturally progress at their own rate. The traditional graded classroom forces them to align their progress with an imaginary timeline. Thus, students who are falling behind often fake mastery of a subject - building on a weak foundation - and faster students often are forced to slow down. Because the multi-age classroom covers a two-year span, children have more time to develop as they naturally would, without an external timetable. Imagine the role this plays in a child's self-esteem.
Multi-age settings also foster cooperative learning skills so necessary in our modern world. Children learn to work with older and younger peers, which more accurately reflects the world they'll encounter as adults. It also creates a more natural pool of friends because of the overlapping of grades. Multi-age classrooms promote deeper student-teacher relationships, since teachers work with each child for two years. By the time each student graduates from each class, he or she has developed a deep, nuanced, and lasting relationship with the teacher.
Perhaps the greatest benefit of the multi-age classroom is that its culture permeates the entire school, creating a stronger and more authentic community. Cross-pollination between ages is the norm, not the exception, so children feel connected to a larger group than simply their own age group. When students inherently understand the power of community and their ability to play a role in it, they are positioned to be true leaders.
This is just one of the things we are proud of at Akiba-Schechter. I hope you'll join us on December 17th for the Chanukah Assembly so you can get a glimpse of the students and the work we do together.
Shabbat Shalom!
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 | | The children in the Blue Room have started working with their classroom buddies, namely a classmate whom they might not have discovered yet. Their first special project together was a buddy portrait, when each one of them posed for his or her buddy to draw their likeness. Here Isaac and Zohar are clearly having fun with this! |
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 | | Getting ready for Chanukah in the Purple Room! |
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Oh Chanukah, oh Chanukah, come light the menorah! The Purple Room is being transformed from Thanksgiving to Chanukah. The class's large pilgrim, who used to be Noah, will become Judah Maccabee surrounded by his brave soldiers. Cooking projects will be making Sufganiot (jelly donuts) and Latkes (potato pancakes). The Purple Room looks forward to celebrating the Festival of Lights by lighting the class Menorah and singing the blessings and Chanukah songs.
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 | | The Green Kindergarten began their first author study, reading Kevin Henkes books. Based on his book Sheila Rae, the Brave, they wrote about a time the children felt brave and shared it with the class. |
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 | | The three-year-olds had their first visit to the big library this week! |
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 | | What's in a name? In Mrs. Brackman's, Mrs. Gold's and Mrs. Wiesenfeld's Chumash classes, students researched the meaning of their Hebrew names as a follow-up to learning about Moses being saved by Batya, Pharaoh's daughter, receiving his name and why he was given that name. Here Aliza Jane presents her findings. |
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Mrs. Rapp's 1st/2nd grade class has been watching penguin nests in Antarctica, including their very own penguin whom they got to name Karlson. The children voted on the name and chose it after reading Karlson on the Roof, Astrid Lindgren's beloved book. Thank you to the Radutny family for the book suggestion. Now the students are writing How-To Chapter books, using attribute blocks designed in 1970 by professors from MIT.
Rabbi Holman's Dalet class has reached the end of the second Aliyah in their Chumash studies! Yosef's brothers conspired to kill him, but Reuvain saved him. Did Reuvain say, "Don't kill him" or did he have a more sneaky way of saving Yosef? Why would Reuvain want to save Yosef more than any other brother? (Why might one suggest that Reuvain would want to kill Yosef more than anyone else?) In the weekly Parasha the students learned about how Dina was kidnapped and discussed the seriousness of "stranger danger." At the end of the Parasha, the last son, Binyamin is born. Now the Dalet kids all know the twelve tribes by heart. Try and stump them!
 | | Mrs. Kahana's Kitah Dalet practices for their Chanukah play. They cannot wait for their big day. We hope you can come and see them! |
Mrs. Kahana's 7th/8th grade students continue to read stories that raise questions and develop ethical discussions. The current story is about Gil and his love and compassion to dogs and his parents' reaction. It helped the students realize that they are blessed to have you as their parents. The 5th/6th graders were introduced to the "Chelm" stories. While reading them and doing different assignments, they also wrote their own solutions to the problems that the Chelmaim faced, generating lots of creativity and laughter! The 3rd graders continue to work hard and enrich their vocabulary through the stories they read and the Chanukah songs they are practicing.
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 | The 3rd/4th graders in Mrs. Esse's class have been working feverishly to complete a card game called Timeline. They got the idea from a commercial game Mr. Salk has in his room, and each student will complete a set of 20th century cards. Students researched important events, found matching images or graphics and assembled the cards and date stickers. Next step: Let's play!
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 | | On Wednesday, our B'not Sherut Tehila and Reut hosted the first in a series of activities focused on the 8th graders' upcoming graduation trip to Israel. Pictured here: Jackie, Reut, Tehila, Naomi and Margalit. |
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 | Preschool artists have been experimenting with watercolor techniques. Here Kaylen and Ava work with salt, wax, and tape.
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 | | Badminton in P.E. class |
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by Sara Price
This week P.E. classes finished up a month-long badminton unit in 3rd through 8th grades. The children learned several fundamental strokes like the serve, the deep clear, the drop, and the smash. They learned basic strategies through games and drills, and finally learned enough of the rules and the service order to play full doubles and singles games. It was wonderful watching the 3rd and 4th graders go from struggling to hit the birdie to playing competitive games! The older students have become quite good at this internationally popular lifetime sport.
1st and 2nd graders completed their basic movement skills and have moved on to manipulative skills. So far they've covered hula hoops, jump ropes, throwing, and catching. The children have learned several ways to throw a ball, i.e. the "bubbe" toss, the chest pass, the bounce pass, the overhead pass, and a one-handed overhead pass (T-Elbow-Step-Throw).
3rd through 8th graders will finish up the school year with a basketball mini-unit, and 1st and 2nd will learn kicking and trapping.
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| Issue Number | |
December 5, 2014
Volume 11, Issue 7
Candle Lighting: 3:59 p.m.
Vayishlach
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| Dates to Remember |
Thursday, December 11
5:15 - 7:00 p.m.
Kindergarten & 2nd Grade
Monday, December 15
History Fair Information Night for Parents
7:00 - 8:00 p.m.
5th - 8th Grade Parents
Wednesday, December 17
Chanukah Assembly
9:00 - 10:00 a.m.
Preschool & Kindergarten
at Congregation Rodfei Zedek
10:15 - 11:30 a.m.
Grades 1-8
Valet parking will be available
Monday, December 22
Winter Break Begins
Monday, January 5
Classes Resume
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| Inside Judaic Studies (Part 5) | |
Diversity
by Rabbi Holman
At Akiba-Schechter, we value and celebrate the diversity in our school community. The children come from all backgrounds and grow to value and respect others who may have different experiences. In order to present a curriculum for everyone, we study foundational texts and material which have been the basis of Judaism for countless centuries. The Torah with Rashi's commentary, the Talmud as well as both modern and biblical Hebrew are standard sources of Jewish learning at Akiba. Jewish practice focuses on what has been traditionally done by Jews for ages in the home and synagogue. Never is the material presented as what one ought to do, but rather as a point of reference for one's own personal tradition. The children can then bring their learning home and develop it within their family's tradition. In this way, we can encounter our deep heritage while at the same time learn to value each other as people more than anything else.
Shabbat Shalom!
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Chanukah Assembly
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Wednesday, December 17
9:00 - 10:00 a.m.
Preschool & Kindergarten
at Congregation Rodfei Zedek
10:15 - 11:30 a.m.
Grades 1-8
Loeb Hall
Valent parking available
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After-School
Winter Session
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Registration for the Winter Session of after-school programs is now open!
Contact After-School Director Elisa Aranoff with any questions.
See you after school!
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Picture Retake Day
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Tuesday, January 13, 2015
9:00 - 10:30 a.m.
To get your retakes for free, please follow these instructions: Notify Havah by email before Friday, 1/9/15, if you want picture retakes. On the day of retakes, remove the class picture from your child's packet and put the rest of the packet in their backpack.
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Akiba Globe
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Our student newspaper, the Akiba Globe, has come out with a new issue!
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Mrs. Basa's
Math Corner
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The figure shown consists of 6 congruent squares. The area of the figure is 96 sq. cm. What is the perimeter of the figure, in cm?
Scroll down to check your answer.
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Lunch Volunteers Needed!
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We need volunteers on the following dates:
Wednesday, 12/10
Tuesday, 12/16
Tuesday, 1/6
Wednesday, 1/7
Tuesday, 1/13
Wednesday, 1/14
Tuesday, 1/20
Wednesday, 1/21
Tuesday, 1/27
Wednesday, 1/28
Tuesday volunteers just serve lunch and help out from 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., Wednesday volunteers prepare lunch and serve from 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. We are happy to split shifts for people who cannot devote this much time during the workday to volunteering.
If you would like to help out with school lunch, please contact Havah in the preschool office or email her.
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| Thank You
Lunch Volunteers!
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Thank you to the following people who have helped prepare and/or serve lunch in the month of November: Tanya Weissman (twice), Daphnit Ruddick, Ruslana Friedman (twice), Lori Kaufman (Jankelovics), Zev Goldberg (alum), Barbara Vogel, Aliza Barsky, Valerie Kanter, Stephanie Rothman, Polina Imas, Wendy Malkin, Michelle Altgold, Amy Witiker, Aliza Barsky, Susan Feinstein (Sarah and Shammai's grandmother), Helen Bloch, Talia Altgold (alum), Gabrielle Roitman (alum) and Heidi Amarosa (three times).
As always thanks to our parent chef, Mordy Spero (4 times)!
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Regarding
Tuesday Lunch
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If you are on the Tuesday menu meal plan (this does not apply to those who paid for the whole year up front), it is time to fill out the spring menu. If you are unsure which Tuesday meal plan your child is on, call Havah Hope in the office at 773-493-8880 or
email her.
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| Akiba-Schechter Kippot for Sale! |
The 8th graders are selling Akiba-Schechter kippot as a fund raiser for their 8th grade trip to Israel.
$15/kipah
Please contact an 8th grader or contact Mr. Cohen to purchase. PS: These kippot are quite clever: They include a clip inside!
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Can't Think of What to Give?
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How about a donation to Akiba-Schechter? Email Debbie Schneider if you would like your donation to be in honor of someone. We'll send a card with your special message.
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| Chanukah Fair |
Everything you need to celebrate the holiday!
Sunday, December 7
10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Congregation Rodfei Zedek
5200 S. Hyde Park Blvd.
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| Essentials of Effective Parenting |
Rabbi Isaac Mayefsky z''l Memorial Lecture
December 6, 2014
8:00 p.m.
ATT
2828 W. Pratt Blvd, Chicago
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| ATT Gala |
Join ATT at its
85th Annual Gala,
Raising Expectations
Paying tribute to life-time honorary president, board member, and good friend of the ATT Mr. Paul Rosenberg z"l with the Barney Goldberg Leadership Award, and YB'L Rabbi Meir and Elizabeth Fischer Shapiro celebrating 50 years enriching Jewish education in Chicago with the Evan Goldberg Maling Pillar of Jewish Education Award at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare Rosemont, IL
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Evening begins at 5:00 p.m. with a Showcase Reception. Call ATT 773-973-2828 or go to www.att.org
for more information. Ad deadline is December 3rd. (Complimentary self-parking; valet parking is not.)
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