Last week we celebrated our talented student-athletes at our annual athletic banquet. Click here to relive the event with recordings of the video montage, eighth-grade tribute and footage of Eddie the Eagle flying over the city so he could deliver the Stiefel Award!

Students who won the opportunity to be Head of School for the day alongside Mr. Weisserman at this year's annual fundraiser also got to join and co-host our most popular weekly Zoom, Bring Your Own Morning Brew. 

This year JK 103 decided to turn the small courtyard attached to the classroom into a usable space. The students planted greenery, built IKEA planters, created a reading area and added an ivy wall. They voted on different names for the courtyard and the name that received the most votes was, "The Calm Courtyard."

It remains our goal to provide our students and families with the best education and resources available. If you were unable to attend our recent series of Israel and antisemitism education events, click the links below to watch these programs in their entirety:

On the evening of Wednesday, June 2, the Bernard Zell Class of 2017 returned to campus for a very special senior send-off. Along with their family and former BZ teachers, these college-bound alumni got a chance to catch up and reconnect on a beautiful evening on the Field of Dreams.

Last night the Class of 2021 formally completed their Bernard Zell education when they walked across the bima to receive their diplomas, officially becoming alumni. Each of the 54 graduates had an opportunity to stand behind the podium and reflect on a meaningful moment in their school careers.

Last week, our eighth-grade class welcomed very special guests to campus to view their Holocaust photo exhibition entitled “Image and Memory: Yesterday and Today.” Since the beginning of the school year, students researched and conducted interviews with Survivors and their family members and the result is a stunning outdoor gallery honoring the lives of those who lived through the atrocities of the Holocaust.

One of the best things you can do for your child this summer is encourage them to read. Just as we want our children to take full advantage of being outside to use their bodies, we also want them to exercise their “reading muscles” to reinforce their progress from this school year. 

Last Wednesday, second-grade students held their third annual Poetry Slam as a cumulative event to their writing unit. Students were exposed to a variety of poems like free verse, acrostic, concrete, I Am, Cinquain and Haiku.

As we reach the end of a truly unprecedented, but amazingly rewarding school year, I wanted to co-opt this space to thank some of the people that made it possible for this school to succeed the way it has this year.

Nathan M., a student at Bernard Zell was recently featured on NBC's Nightly News with Lester Holt showcasing his impressive baseball collection in a segment celebrating 70 years of baseball card trading as a sport. 

Since 1957, the Bernard Zell Morton Reisman Operetta has provided our outgoing eighth-graders 64 years of unique production opportunities and most importantly—an opportunity to collaborate and grow together as a class. Demonstrating their creative genius on the big screen for our community to stream together while apart? That's just an added bonus!

Bernard Zell graduation represents a moment in our collective life to celebrate the maturation and development of a group of young people before they leave the confines of our community. We revel in the accomplishments of our graduates and celebrate all they have learned while students in our classrooms.

Recently, first-graders celebrated “color day." The students wrote their own books in Hebrew about their favorite color and got to share them with the class. To celebrate we played games and dressed in our favorite colors.

Ever the entrepreneurs, JK103 students opened their very own pizza restaurant and claim to have the cheesiest pizza in Chicago! Their marketing team (an awesome parent in their class) put together an amazing commercial for you to enjoy. 

By all definitions, this 2020-21 school year has been the most unpredictable time in recent memory. Considering that adults and students alike are hard wired to find uncertainty stressful, it is no small feat that we have successfully completed our year together. And we didn’t just make it though—we grew tight-knit communities, completed curricula and innovated new programming!

Last night our resilient Class of 2021 completed their Bernard Zell experience when they walked across the bima and received their diplomas. This was the first class I had seen through a full Middle School journey and their passing from students to alumni brought forward overwhelming emotion.

Click 'Read More' below to read announcements from the Chesed Committee for June 9.