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 | | Exploring shadows and light in the preschool |
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by Carla Goldberg
Preschool Director
Chanukah has been in the air at Akiba-Schechter this week. Throughout the school you could smell the latkes frying, hear the children singing Chanukah songs and see the candles being lit in celebration in each classroom. Children were playing dreidel, writing Chanukah stories, cooking sufganiot (jelly donuts), and creating a Chanukiah (menorah) to light with their families at home.
Interesting studies of light, shadows and oil happened in several of the preschool classrooms. Students were experimenting with light boxes and creating different shadows. An overhead projector was used and students discovered they could trace silhouettes. Children chose different animals or people to project onto images of Chicago. These scenes were then the "backdrops" for stories (or movies) the children wrote. It is incredible how Chanukah could inspire so much creativity!
 | | Mama's Little Baby Loves Latkes |
During both the Preschool/Kindergarten and Grade School Chanukah Assemblies the feeling of community was palpable. The rooms were packed with families and friends watching the children sharing what they have learned this year - whether it was a song in Hebrew or English, learning to play a musical instrument in the orchestra or performing an entire play in Hebrew. I really enjoyed how a Chanukah play was set to the music of Frozen. Combining the traditional story of Chanukah with the modern music of Frozen helped make this lesson meaningful, fun and relevant for our students. The students were proud to share their ruach (spirit) for the holiday season.
Thank you for joining us for these celebrations and for being a part of the Akiba family. Happy Chanukah and Shabbat Shalom!
 | | Kitah Bet and Gimmel perform at the Chanukah Assembly |
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 | | Kindergarteners through 2nd graders and their parents gathered for Cuddle Up and Read last Thursday. After dinner together, parents participated in a lively discussion about reading with their children led by Scott Salk, Miriam Schiller and Jeff, the manager of 57th Street Books, while kids were entertained by storyteller Dominique, also from 57th Street Books. The evening wrapped up with parents reading with their children. |
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Help us prepare the next generation of thinkers, innovators, leaders and world citizens by making a gift to Akiba-Schechter before the end of the calendar year. From our award-winning, community-based preschool to our academically rigorous middle school, your support helps us build a foundation for a lifetime love of learning.
Support Akiba-Schechter. Partner with Akiba-Schechter. Join us as we continue to inspire, challenge and nurture our students.
 A Tax Benefit for Year End Giving: Just a few days ago Congress passed the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 which reinstates the IRA charitable rollover for 2014. This provision allows individuals 70� and older to transfer, tax-free, up to $100,000 per year from their Individual Retirement Account (IRA) to a qualified charity by December 31, 2014. With time running out, please talk to your financial advisor to determine if this option is right for you. If it is, please consider a gift to Akiba-Schechter.
Thank you for your generosity. Best wishes for a bright and beautiful Chanukah. Questions? - Please contact Debbie Schneider.
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 | | The Lime Room wishes everyone a Happy Chanukah with their very special Chanukia, featuring the children and teachers. |
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 | | The Green Room has been busy making latkes. Here Rhys is busy shredding potatoes. |
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 | | In the Purple Kindergarten, the children have been learning about light in relation to Chanukah. The magna tiles and light table have been popular this week to build massive structures. |
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 | | Mr. Salk's 1st and 2nd graders had a great time making Chanukah mats for their big buddies. Here Alma and Annabelle are working on theirs. |
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 | | Naomi and her buddy make dreidels together. |
On Thursday the 3rd/4th graders in Mrs. Leonard's class had a special visit from their buddies in the Purple Kindergarten. The older buddies read their favorite picture books to their younger friends and then the children made edible dreidles together.
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 | | Staging a revolt as part of the Rome Government Simulation in Mr. Esse's 5/6th grade History class. |
Mr. Esse's 5/6th grade History class has been studying Rome. To get a true sense of how the government operated, the class has been involved in a Rome Government Simulation. Each class has been divided into Patricians (noble class) and Plebeians (common class). Each day, the class is given a set of objectives to meet. If they complete all the objectives, they earn a reward. The decision on how to complete each objective is left to the Consuls, who are Patricians elected by the other Patricians, and number of votes are based on "wealth." The students quickly figured out that the rules favored the Patricians. While the simulation was intended to teach the students how the Roman government operated, it's also been an opportunity to learn how people respond to different situations. Many of the students assumed roles that were foreign to their normal lives. Some became power hungry. Others complained about the unfairness. A few chose to sit out and eventually enough of them joined to stage a revolt. This turned into a great lesson on how to protest injustice in a peaceful and positive way. It also gave students an opportunity to examine the choices they make and how they behave when placed into an unequal power structure.
 | Mrs. Brackman's and Mrs. Gold's 5/6th grade Chumash classes prepared for Chanukah by learning about the blessings and customs. Here students show off the Chanukah placemats they created.
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In honor of Chanukah, Mr. Marcus's Mishna class had a Megillah reading. Not the Purim Megillah, of course, there actually was no scroll, and the reading was done in English. But the students did hear a reading of Megillat Antiochus, a telling of the Chanukah story that was apparently read in Italian and Yemenite shuls during the Middle Ages. It is a mixture of the familiar and the unfamiliar, for example, surprisingly Yehuda does not take center stage. His brother Yochanan does. And there are elephants!
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by Rachel Slutsky
Social Worker
Our Middle School staff has thoroughly enjoyed our partnership with outreach educators from the Response Center this year. The Response Center, a part of Jewish Child and Family Services, is a youth social service agency located in Skokie that aims to empower youth and their families to make healthy life choices. Together, we planned and facilitated workshops for our 5th/6th graders on stress management, bullying prevention, and puberty education that were all well received.
We began many good conversations during these workshops, and we encourage parents to continue the conversations at home. Here is a resource list of books and websites that may help you have well-informed discussions. We look forward to bringing the Response Center educators back in January and February to work with our 7th/8th graders. We are confident that our students will enjoy learning with these superb professionals.
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 | | Working on a snow scene |
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Kindergarten artists made snow scenes with paper circles and added adorable details in oil pastels. They also explored pattern and design by creatively decorating a hexagonal multiform tessellation, which in their capable hands became flowers, faces, turtles, honeybee hives, and so many other things. They have finished making landscape pictures, featuring black paper 'silhouettes' of buildings, trees and other structures set against a fiery, sponge-painted Aurora Borealis sky. These are very lovely and are on display now.
 | | Weaving! |
1st grade artists are nearing the completion of their beautiful radial weaving projects. 2nd grade artists are enjoying an ongoing open workshop of radial weaving and/or making teepees. 3rd and 4th grade artists finished their gorgeous sand paintings, which are on display now. Some students are in the process of building 6-piece cubes or 12-piece 'faceted jewels', while others are exploring different drawing styles from a variety of special drawing books.
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 | | Mazal tov Fencing Tournament winners: 1st - Elie Altgold, 2nd - Liam Jankelovicz, 3rd - Gabe McGiver |
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by Rhea Basa
Music Teacher
"If you say it loud enough you'll always sound precocious -
SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS!"
We are so excited to begin working on the Akiba-Schechter musical, Mary Poppins! This year the musical will be presented by 3rd-8th grade students. I'm also very happy to announce that Rachel Silvert is back as stage director and choreographer, and Michelle Alt will be designing our wonderful costumes.
Auditions happened this week. The students who are selected for the Company will be required to stay every Monday and Wednesday after school starting December 17 until the show which is tentatively scheduled for March 13 and 15. There will also be a rehearsal on Presidents Day, Monday, February 16 when school is not in session.
While priority will be given to 7th and 8th graders for major speaking roles, those students who are not in the Company will still have an opportunity to participate. They will not be staying after school on Monday and Wednesday but will rehearse during the school day in their music classes. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.
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