Twenty or so years from now, when our current grade 6 students look back on their primary school years, without a doubt they will remember today. They will remember their pride, their excitement, even some tears, as the President of… Read More
If you spend your days in a Jewish elementary school, you cannot help but know that Pesach is coming. The halls resonate with the sounds of the children singing the familiar melodies and chanting the oft-repeated words of the Haggadah. … Read More
An interesting confluence of activities this week: the anti-bullying program and basketball game with the Montreal Alouettes, and the advent of Purim that begins Wednesday night. They seem like very disparate events – one very secular, very “Montreal”, the other,… Read More
There have been lots of tears around The Akiva School these days, and it’s the parents and grandparents who are crying. They are the very lucky ones who are witness to the myriad of Chagigot, celebrations of Jewish learning, that… Read More
They arrived in school one by one – and before long an incredible array of hand-made, original Chanukiot were on display. Inspired by their teacher Carmela, the grade 5 students each created a unique, kosher Chanukiah, using whatever materials they… Read More
This has been a special week at Akiva, a week of new learning and new opportunities for the children, the parents and the staff, because this was the week of Parents’ Day and the staff retreat. Despite the apparent differences… Read More
I walked into the staff room this morning…and it had been transformed into a clinic! There was Dr. Earl, with “nurse” Ellen beside him, equipment lined up on the table, giving flu shots to any member of the staff who… Read More
Earlier this week, one of our youngest students fell on the stairs as he was waiting with his mother for his brother to be dismissed. It was clear he was hurt, and we quickly took him to the office to… Read More
We usually live our lives without a sense of the significance of the moment. History is for history books and t.v. documentaries, we think. But sometimes we get to BE in history, to live it and savor it, to allow… Read More
Yom Kippur, the culmination of ten days of repentance and reflection, is the most well-known and most widely observed of the Jewish holidays. Even the most sparsely attended synagogue is full of worshippers both Kol Nidrei night and the next… Read More
