Kibitzer February 21, 2020

The Kindergarten celebrated their 100th Day of School this Thursday with all kinds of 100-related activities. Families visited and helped celebrate.

#akibagratitude

SAVE THE DATE!

I am excited to announce that we are gearing up for our annual fundraiser and celebration! We have a date, a venue and a 70th birthday party in the works! This event is going to be very family friendly and a wonderful time for all who attend. More details to come including honorees, registration and more!

Shabbat Shalom!

Dr. Eliezer Jones

Head of School

From the Preschool

The Power of Early Childhood Education to Affect Change

by Carla Goldberg, Early Childhood Director

On Presidents Day the Early Childhood teachers participated in a "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Day of Learning," organized by the Jewish Early Childhood Collaborative. Over 400 Early Childhood Jewish educators gathered in Deerfield to learn and take a deep dive into this important topic.

We started the day with an opening lecture by Rabbi Ruti Regan. She told the story of Rabbi Hillel being asked to teach the meaning of the whole Torah while standing on one foot. Rabbi Hillel replied, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah, the rest is the explanation, now go and learn." This beautiful story and statement set the tone for the day as we explored the idea of diversity, equity and inclusion. We discussed and played with ideas of how we can be more inclusive in our own classrooms and schools, and how, as Early Childhood educators, we have the power to create change in the world.

I would like to invite you to join me in our community showing of the movie No Small Matter on Tuesday, February 25, at 7:00 p.m. at Akiba-Schechter. This feature documentary explores "the most overlooked, underestimated and powerful force for change in America today: Early Childhood Education." It is an important piece for everyone to see and share with their friends and colleagues. At Akiba we believe strongly in Early Childhood Education and the impact it can have on your child's life. We are proud to be providing an opportunity for the community to see and discuss this movie together. Please invite your colleagues, friends and neighbors to join us on February 25!

Shabbat Shalom!

Preschool

The Blue Room children are working on making the blue print of the Mars Rover.

The Yellow Room recently adopted two guinea pigs that were in need of a home. They are brothers and just a little over a year old. The kids voted as a class to give them names. The blonde one is Marshmallow, "Mello" for short, and the black marbled one is Cappuccino, "Chino" for short. The kids love them so much, and they are a wonderful addition to our class. The children take pride in taking care of them and are very well versed on how they should be treated. If the volume in the room gets to be a little too loud, friends will remind each other that loud noises can sometimes startle the guinea pigs. The children also help feed them.

Day School

At Davening (Prayer) Thursday morning, Kitah Bet practiced the Amidah.

Creating, Buying and Selling in Room 204

The 3rd/4th grade students in Mrs. Leonard's class love learning about Economics! Stop any one of them in the hallway, and they can explain how supply and demand are related as well as demand and price. This week the children had the chance to become producers and consumers by having their own businesses. They needed to make ten items out of paper, and sold animal origami, technology, kites, purses and bags, jewelry, fortune tellers, instruments, food, boats and swans! The kids created their own stores, including advertisement, slogan, and pricing. Everyone had the same amount of money and they came home with beautiful crafts. Stay tuned to their next business model!

Acting Out Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors

Humanities students just wrapped up their study of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors. Students acted out the play entirely in class through readings and short performances. As a performative final assessment for the unit, the students worked in groups to stage a scene from Act IV of the play: They read and discussed it without any teacher support, made decisions about abridging or adding language, staged it, and performed it. Each group demonstrated well what they have learned about how language and movement can work together to communicate emotions, ideas, and meaning to an audience. In the photos above, students made quick tableaux illustrating the emotions of two characters as one professed unrequited love to the other.

In Morah Dorit's Hebrew class, paper was spread on tables, three groups of students were writing their vocabulary words in form of a crossword puzzle or Scrabble. Groups then met and connected the vocabulary in the middle. Everyone had a blast!

Mrs. Brackman's Jewish Thought classes have been busy preparing Google slides and videos about Purim to present and teach to the younger classes. It has also been a great opportunity to work together and share ideas.

Spotlight on...

Basketball! It's Been a Great Season!

This year's basketball season has been a year to remember for our teams, the Wolves! The girls' team got off to a great start and won the most games ever in program history with a 5-2 record.

The girls' coach Joe Esse noted: "Key to the girls' performance has been continuity. Four of the eight girls have played all three years of the program's existence. They come to every practice and work hard to get better. The 8th and 7th graders, who had already been on the team, all improved significantly. And it was wonderful to see them joined by new players from 5th through 8th grade."

Read on...

Please note the schedule for the remaining tournament games at Ida Crown Jewish Academy in Skokie:

Today 2/21, 12 & 1 p.m. Boys

Saturday 2/22, 9:30 p.m. Girls
Sunday 2/23, 10 a.m. Girls | 9 a.m. or 11 a.m. Boys

8 Questions for an 8th Grader

We continue our series of featuring one of our 8th graders in each issue of the Kibitzer.

This time, it is Avi Goldberg :

Since when have you been at Akiba? I have been at Akiba since 1st grade.
What neighborhood do you live in? I live in "Skevanston."
What do you hope to accomplish in 8th grade? How is being an 8th grader different from your previous grades at Akiba? I hope to be able to accomplish more in mathematics than I have in past years. Being in 8th grade is very similar to 7th grade, except you don't have any other students to look up to.
What is your favorite subject at Akiba and why? I like Gemara because there isn't any other class like it.
What do you think is special about Akiba? What do you particularly like and why?

I like Akiba's teachers. Each one of them knows every student and knows how they learn. And then teaches them that way.
If you have had your bat mitzvah or are preparing for it, what did you learn from it? I have already had my bar mitzvah and while studying it, I got to learn my parsha extremely in depth. And it just so happens to be Shemot, which has a lot of stuff going on in it.
When you're not at school or doing homework, what do you like to do? In my free time, I like playing strategy games like Settlers of Catan, Seven Wonders, and Magic the Gathering. I also do Tae-Kwon-Do, play the recorder, and play on the basketball team.
What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be in a field of mathematics that isn't raw mathematics. If that doesn't work out, I might try chemistry.

PTO

Families had loads of fun at the PTO's ice skating get-together at the Midway Plaisance Ice Rink on Sunday, February 9.

The Monday, February 4, Day of Learning was generously sponsored by Herschel and Jessica Joseph in memory of Perla Pflaster, Perel bat Ha'Rav Shalom Tzvi on the occasion of her second Yartzeit. May her neshama have an aliya. (May her soul be elevated.)

Events

RSVP here.

Used Dress Shirts Needed!

The Art Room needs adult-sized button-down shirts to use for smocks. If you have any you can donate, please send them to school with your child. Thanks!

Save the Date: