Roots and Wings Reflections

By Sue Hector, Grade 7 parent

 

One of the quintessential assignments a student will accomplish at VTT is Roots and Wings in Grade 7.  To me this project defines all that is wonderful about educating children in a Jewish day school environment.

 

Years ago, when my eldest son was in Grade 1, I remember coming in to the school and seeing so many wonderful glimpses into the family histories of the Grade 7 students. I remember gazing at Sam Zlotnik's poster board, whose parents I had known for years, and seeing pictures of his grandparents and great grandparents-and I was eager for the day when my son would be old enough to take on the task of documenting our family history. 

 

As both my sons progressed through the years, our family participated in all the important VTT milestones: Kindegarten Graduation, the Grade 1 Siddur Celebration, the Grade 2 T'filah Breakfast and subsequent Torah celebration, the Grade 3 Tu B'Sh'vat Seder and model Passover Seder, the Victoria trip to the legislature and the Shabbaton trip to Seattle. So many rich experiences! Roots & Wings, a most meaningful way to begin the B'nei Mitzvah year, has been the crowing jewel. This is when our students truly come of age, and it is the process of knowing who they are and where they are from.

 

When it was my eldest son's turn to work on Roots & Wings, he chose to interview his grandparents. As a family, we went through album after album searching for the best photos to use. Looking through my husband's bar mitzvah album, my son "met" relatives from long ago.  Gradually, he completed the narrative essay, created a historical timeline and crafted a beautiful family tree.  Together, we proudly carried the project into school. My son was never prouder of a project. Then he graduated.

 

This year was my younger son's turn. I hadn't remembered it being so much work! My son decided to write about my father's (z'l) boyhood in Montreal. It encompassed three generations of my family.  My father passed away before my children were born and as much as I endeavoured to make him known to my children, nothing made my younger son appreciate or understand all my father went through growing up in the '20s, '30s and '40s than personally engaging in the material.

 

I really was quite overwhelmed seeing all of the Grade 7s parade their projects into VTT on Thursday morning. I rarely venture into school these days as my years as a VTT parent are coming to a close. But participating in the Roots and Wings experience makes one feel a part of something truly special, part of a community effort to remember the past and use that knowledge to ground one's footing going forward. To those families yet to experience this monumental assignment, enjoy the years ahead and take full advantage of what Roots and Wings has to offer your family.

   

Please stroll our hallways to see the wonderful creativity. In particular, read the remarkable narratives of personal survival and triumph. 

 

Click this link to see photos of all the projects.

WEEKLY TORAH PORTION WITH RABBI BELLAS  

 

Shabbat Parashat VaYeitzei

Finding God

 

This week's parasha/Torah portion contains story with which I have always had a deep connection. At the end of last week's Torah reading, after having stolen the blessing of the firstborn from his older twin brother Eisav, Yaakov is compelled to run away from home for fear that Eisav would kill him, as he had threatened and sworn to do. Yaakov's journey to the family's native land (Abraham, Sarah, and Rebecca's birthplace, in fact) takes place at the beginning of this week's reading. When he lays down to sleep one night, he has a famous vision, commonly known as Jacob's ladder. In the dream, Yaakov sees a ladder, which spans the distance from the earth all the way up to the heavens, with angels traveling up and down upon it. After God renews the covenant of Abraham and Isaac with him in the dream, Yaakov suddenly awakens, spiritually shaken and declares, "God is surely in this place and I didn't know it!" While we do not literally hear from God in dreams the way Yaakov does here, his experience is a reminder to us to be open to, aware of, and prepared for our own experiences of God, even in potentially surprising ways or places.   

 

Shabbat Shalom,

 

It may have taken two recesses and a lunch to munch through, but Ella P. did manage to finish her apple, which was the size of a small planet.

Morah Varda, with help from Ms. Weidman, works on a Hanukkah project using technology. Despite 30+ years at VTT, Morah Varda is always the first to acknowledge there's always more to learn.


VTT's Grade 5 students were lucky enough to meet Jeff Lieberman, documentary filmmaker of the recently released "The Jews of Nigeria." Upon seeing the community's threadbare synagogue, one student commented that "it doesn't matter what a shul looks like as long as it feels holy to that person." To see a preview of Jeff's film, click here.
Thanks to Myra Michaelson, his former BI Hebrew school teacher, for inviting Mr. Lieberman to our school.


Many thanks to the Collis family who donated a collection of National Geographic magazines, from 1994-2001. The donation is in memory of their late granddaughter, Gabrielle Isserow, z'l. One of their other granddaughters, Megan Isserow, will be a beneficiary of the collection for a Grade 6 social studies project on developing countries.

Building bridges: Debbie Appelbaum, Director of Admission at KDHS, and Russ Klein, Head of School, spend a lunch hour with our intermediate faculty to answer their questions about King David's curriculum and educational philosophy. 


Grade 6 students learn an important lesson about the intraccies commerce through a hands-on activity with Ms. Davey.


Kindergarten students are learning about people in their community. Thank you to parent Jeff Feldman for coming in to explain what he does as an engineer for Air Canada. The students were particularly appreciative of his interactive presentation.

Rabbi Pacht of Hebrew Academy takes time out of his busy schedule every year to introduce our second graders to the art of Torah, megillah and mezuzah scribing ("sofer stam").

To support their exploration of the planets, P4 students spent the morning at the aquarium.

Grade 3 students get inspired by Van Gogh.