Issue Number
May 1, 2015
Volume 11, Issue 17
Candle Lighting 7:29 p.m.
Parasha: Acharei Mot-Kedoshim
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Dates to Remember
Tuesday, May 5 Getting to Know 3rd Grade For parents of 2nd graders 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Thursday, May 7 Lag B'Omer 3:30 p.m. Dismissal*
Tuesday, May 12 Kitah Bet Tefilah Parents are invited 8:30 a.m.
Thursday, May 14 Getting to Know 3rd Grade 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. Sunday, May 17 Akiba Shuffle 10:00 a.m.
Monday, May 18 Yom Yerushalayim Classes in Session
Thursday, May 21 Israel Fair 5:15 - 7:15 p.m. Fun, food & games hosted by 7/8th graders and the B'not Sherut $5 RSVP, $7 at the door
Monday, May 25 Shavuot/Memorial Day No classes
Thursday, May 28 Kitah Alef Siyyum 2:45 p.m. |
Dvar Torah |
Use Your Words
by Rabbi Holman
"Don't hate your brother in your heart, you shall surely reprove your neighbor... Do not take revenge, do not bear a grudge, love your neighbor as yourself."
How do all of these commandments combine together into a coherent message? Often, we hate someone based on our perception of their actions. To the other person, there is surely a justification for what he/she did. Instead of hating, we need to "reprove" by speaking out our concerns, and solving our problems with words. If we do this, we will not come to take revenge and by understanding their perspective, we will certainly not bear a grudge. Ultimately, by using our words to understand the motivation of others, we can come to accept others for who they are, just as we would want to be understood.
Shabbat Shalom!
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Refuah Shleimah
...to Preschool Teacher Sharon Vadeboncoeur as she under goes cancer treatment.
...to former Kitah Gimmel and Hebrew teacher Carole Groover who is recovering from back surgery.
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Condolences
...to Preschool Teacher Arun Srimani on the passing of her mother.
May her memory be for a blessing.
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*Thursday May 7 -
No After School
Please note that on Thursday, May 7, all buses will leave at 3:30 p.m. There will be no after-school activities, with the exception of Late Pick-Up and Kids Club. If your child usually rides the bus, we assume s/he is going on the 3:30 p.m. bus unless you notify frontdesk.
Thanks!
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Getting to Know 3rd Grade
Parents of 2nd graders: There is a new date for Getting to Know 3rd Grade. This informational meeting will be held on May 14, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. in the day school library.
Please RSVP to
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National Teacher Appreciation Week: Help Needed!
Next week is National Teacher Appreciation Week, and we need your help with a project! A paper flower or butterfly will be coming home with your child today. If you or your child would write a thank you note for the teachers and staff and send it back, we would appreciate it! Thanks!
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Medical Forms
Medical forms for the 2015-2016 school year need to be submitted by 7/15/2015, so it's time to set up doctor appointments. Here's what's due:
Preschoolers who are entering the school for the first time or who will be two before 10/15/15 need to submit the medical form.
New students and Kindergarteners:
Vision form
2nd grade:
6th grade:
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Thank You to our Platinum, Gold and Silver Tribute Book Donors:
PLATINUMMatis & Ronit Blisko Harvey & Miriam Schiller Lawrence White Yigal & Donna Yahav GOLD Maury Aaron Ads & Tributes can still be viewed in the online Tribute Book.
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Akiba Shuffle
Sunday, May 17
10:00 a.m.
A long-standing tradition and fun for the whole family! Register here.
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Sports Galore Raffle!
Supporting the 8th Graders Trip to Israel
1st prize: four lower deck tickets to a Chicago Cubs home game, plus a behind the scenes tour of Wrigley Field.
2nd prize: a licensed Chicago Blackhawks jersey, autographed by Duncan Keith.
Drawing: May 15, 2015
Winner need not be present. Date of game to be determined mutually by the winner and the Cubs. $10 per ticket. To purchase, see any 8th grader or contact Elliot Cohen.
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Guest Speaker Nachum Lemkus for the Koby Mandell Foundation
Sunday, May 17
1:30 p.m.
Anshe Sholom
540 W. Melrose
Nachum Lemkus is the brother of our librarian Thea Crook and the father of Dalia Lemkus, who was so tragically murdered in Israel last November. The Koby Mandell Foundation provides therapeutic healing programs for Israeli children who've been affected by terror.
More event info here.
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Math Corner
Find the value of N for which 1/5 = 1/6 + N
Scroll down to check your answer.
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Library Corner
| Daniel from the Green Room makes his first visit to the library. |
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ATT Summer Program
Have your child experience an awesome summer. Learn new skills and develop talents with sewing, drama, yoga, sports, art, science, rocketry, dance, cooking, magic, woodcraft, self-defense, computer programming & more. Make new friends. Visit new places. Visit www.att.org to view brochure & register online. Questions, call Susan Feuer/Shelley Stopek at 773-973-2828.
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Educator of the Year Nominations
The ATT proudly announces the Sixth Annual Hartman Family Foundation Educator of the Year Awards. Show your appreciation of your children's teachers by nominating them. One award of $18,000 and two awards of $6,000 will be presented to three outstanding teachers. Easy to complete nomination forms are available at the ATT office or online at www.att.org. Nomination deadline: May 8, 2015. For more information, call the ATT at 773-973-2828.
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Kehillah Korner
Since 2004 Akiba-Schechter has received $384,842 from the Kehillah Fund. Our allocation this month is $3,528. We are grateful to our leadership and parents who contribute to the fund. Kehillah Fund represents the broad Jewish community and advocates for day school support.
We endorse the Kehillah Fund and are proud of our partnership. Over 1400 community members participate in the recurring donor program in support of day school education. To date, Kehillah Fund allocations to schools across Chicagoland have reached $5.5 million.
Kehillah Fund
8180 McCormick Blvd.
Skokie, IL 60076
(847) 745-1668 [email protected]
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This Week
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Yom HaAtzma'ut
by Carla Goldberg
Preschool
It may have been in Chicago but it was sunny in Akiba-Schechter as we all prepared for and celebrated Yom Haatzma'ut (Israel's birthday) last week. We have the tradition in the Preschool and Kindergarten to simulate a plane flight to Israel and visit many special destinations there. Here are a few highlights from our trip:
| Milking a cow in Kibbutz Sagol (a.k.a. the Purple Room) |
| Making pita in the Blue Room - the "shuk" (market) served other delicacies such as hummus and Israeli salad. |
| The Kotel - assembled outside the Green Kindergarten |
| Squeezing oranges in Kibbutz Sagol. |
| Sand painting and fishing at the beach in Eilat (a.k.a. the Yellow Room) |
Happy 67th Birthday Israel! This is one of those traditions that students still talk about long after they have graduated from our preschool and kindergarten. We can't wait to celebrate again next year!
We have had so many examples of how strong our Akiba community is the past few weeks. Thank you to the upstairs Blue and Yellow Room parents who organized a special day of socializing and making cards for senior citizens in an assisted living center in Bronzeville. From the pictures you can see that a good time was had by all.
A special thank you to all of the families who have been helping one of our preschool parents who is recovering from surgery. We are also grateful for the tremendous love and support for Preschool Teacher Sharon Vadeboncoeur as she undergoes cancer treatment again. It makes me proud to belong to this community.
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| Greeting cards made by the families of the Blue and Yellow Room to be given to residents of the Bronzeville Park Skilled Nursing Home |
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Akiba-Schechter History Fair Winners Go on to the State Expo!
Mazel tov to 7th/8th graders who will be competing at the History Fair State Expo in Springfield, Illinois, on May 7:
Sarah Campbell, paper: Bruno Bettelheim
Shira Friedman-Parks, website: Josephine Cochran
Isabel Kucher, exhibit: Jane Addams
Bina Wilens, paper: Robert Mendelsohn
Zoe Weiner, website: Natasha Goldowski Renner
Sarah Winitzer, paper: Ida B. Wells
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Preschool
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| In the Green Kindergarten, Lars smells an orange and an grapefruit. |
Nutrition
The Green Kindergarten started a new unit on nutrition. They started off with comparing an orange and grapefruit and used four out of their five senses to observe both fruits: smell, taste, see and feel.
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| Now the Kibbutz cow is jumping over the moon. |
The Kibbutz Cow Jumps over the Moon
"Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! We're going to the moon... the Purple Room is talking about the planets in the solar system. The children especially like Neptune because of its sparkly ring. They've read a book about Jenny Cow jumping over the moon, and that gave them a good idea about what they should do with the cow that was on the Purple Room's Kibbutz during Yom Haatzma'ut. The house Dara made out of two huge boxes is perfect for a spacecraft. Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!
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Grades 1-8
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During flex time last Friday and this Monday, a group of students learned clown face painting from Mrs. Willner-Schreiber.
Learn more about the hierarchy of clowns and what the different clown faces mean on our blog.
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Studying Maps
Mrs. Rapp's 1st/2nd grade has been studying maps. It is great fun for this age. They have been drawing the playground from the child's eye view and then went to Room 209 to get a bird's eye view. When the weather ever gets nice, they will do the ant's eye view. There are two wonderful books for the ant's view: Two Bad Ants and Hey, Little Ant. They have studied map scale, legends, the compass rose and they also designed a perfect park. Math continues with fractions.
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| Mrs. Wiesenfeld's Kitah Gimmel read a book about Theodor Herzl and mapped out the important content using the diagram shown. They were inspired by Hertzl's famous saying (translated from German): "Im Tirtzu Ein Zo Agadah" (If you will it, it is no fable). |
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| In Math Club Ben, David, Shira, and Sarah construct rectangles using the Golden Ratio. |
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| Mrs. Kahana's Kitah Gimmel has acquired a beautiful vocabulary, enabling them to create small acting rolls. Here Verdit is demonstrating. |
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| Open library! Samantha, Anielle, Aya, Oryah and Liam do homework, perusing the new Chrome books. |
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Art with Dara |
| 5th and 6th grade students drew comic strips and created their own expressive characters in Art this week. |
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| 7th and 8th graders at the Hyde Park Art Center learning to use potters wheel |
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P.E. Update |
by Sara Price
This week was all about tennis in physical education. 3rd through 8th grade enjoyed the sunny weather as they walked across the street to the tennis courts in the park and worked on their forehands and backhands. Next week they'll concentrate on serving.
1st and 2nd grade are also building up their striking skills. They started with paddles and whiffle balls, and quickly moved on to tennis racquets, and finally badminton racquets and birdies. Striking one object with another is a challenging skill that requires a great deal of hand-eye coordination. The students are really getting the hang of it!
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Dedicate A Day
| Ezra had a Day Dedicated in Honor of his 10th birthday this week. |
Our Dedicate A Day initiative is an opportunity for you to dedicate a school day in honor of someone special. Celebrate a birthday, anniversary, graduation and other important days or remember a loved one. It's a great way to say thank you to someone. Simply select one of the following choices. We will recognize Dedicate A Day donors in the Atrium and the Kibitzer and send a card to whomever you designate.
Chai Five $90 - Commemorate a birthday, anniversary, yahrzeits, graduation or other important day
Shabbat $360
Celebrate $500 - Rosh Chodosh, Chanukah, Tu B'Shvat, Purim, Akiba Musical, Yom Ha'atzmaut, Lag B'Omer
You can choose any day throughout the school year. Pick up a donation card in the Atrium, call 773.966.1068 or donate online. Please indicate that your donation is for Dedicate A Day.
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