February 12, 2016

Volume IX, Issue 20

3 Adar, 5776

VTT Calendar

Dates to Remember

Light Shabbat candles at

5:09 p.m.;
Shabbat ends at 6:17 p.m.

Seussical Rehearsal

Sunday, Feb 14, 10-3

Grade 2C Tefilah Breakfast

Tuesday, Feb 16, 8:30 a.m.

Grade 2B Tefilah Breakfast

Wednesday, Feb 17, 8:45 a.m.

Caribou Math Contest

Wednesday, Feb 17 at lunch

Grade 2A Tefilah Breakfast

Thursday, Feb 18, 8:45 a.m.

Grade 5 Parent Meeting

Thursday, Feb 18, 7 p.m.
RSVP to [email protected]

Grade 4 Toy Fair to support The Walking School Bus

Friday, Feb 19, before school and during lunch

Deadline to submit Scholastics Order (online ordering option available)

Tuesday, Feb 22

Pink Shirt Day/Anti-Bullying Day

Wednesday, Feb 24

Yachad Assembly led by Grade 5 students

Wednesday, Feb 24, 10:30am

Parent-Teacher Conferences

Thursday, Feb 25, 4:30-7:30pm

Parent-Teacher Conferences--No Sessions

Friday, Feb 26, 8:30-noon

Grade 4-7 parents: Don't forget to register your child for the Public Speaking Contest at the JCC on March 15 at 7 p.m.

Community Calendar

UBC Vaccine Study
Looking to interview parents with children ages 6-12

Camp Solomon Schechter Open House
Sunday, Feb 14, 1:30 p.m.
at home of Lisa Romalis & Dan Levitt

The Power of Resilience: An Evening with Dr. Sam Goldstein
Sunday, Feb 28, 7 p.m.
JCC
Advanced ticket purchase required

Israel Law Seminar with Rabbi Jonathan Infeld & Israeli Legal Experts
Info session on
Thursday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m.

Call it Democracy: An Evening with Mira Oreck and Sharon Abraham-Weiss
Monday, March 14, 7:30 p.m.
Temple Sholom
FREE

If you are aged 9-19 and love to sing, dance, act and perform, Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance is auditioning for its summer program (July & Aug)
Deadline to apply: April 1
Details here

An Evening of Jazz & Soul to benefit the resettlement of two Syrian refugee families (with VTT alum, Benjamin Millman)
Saturday, April 9, 8 p.m.
Temple Sholom
Ticket info here

Come hear Hootsuite CEO & Founder, Ryan Holmes at the JFSA Innovators Lunch
Wednesday, May 4
Hyatt Regency Hotel

We have a new Facebook group.

Click this link to join!

Support VTT through purchasing on Amazon.

Visit talmudtorah.com/amazon

GENTS DINNER 2016:

RAISING FUNDS FOR STEM EDUCATION & PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT

By supporting our Gents Dinner, you will be supporting two important initiatives:

- The purchase of iPads, LEGO (for robotics) and procurement of professional development for faculty to better incorporate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Education into the curriculum;

- Addition of a dedicated preschool playground and an indoor climbing wall in the new campus's gymnasium

Purchase tickets here

PURIM IS COMING! GET YOUR HAMANTASCHEN THROUGH THE PAC!

The VTT PAC is pleased to sell Oznei Haman (hamantaschen) for Purim. Kosher & delicious, they are handmade by Linda Hertzman of Classic Impressions.

Choose from prune, poppy or chocolate.

6 for $12

12 for $18

Must be the same flavour for each 6 or 12 order

Order by Tuesday, March 15th.
Pick up on Monday, March 21st.

Visit talmudtorah.com/purim to order

TOY FAIR TO SUPPORT THE WALKING SCHOOL BUS

Grade 4 students have been unable to contain their enthusiasm to purchase a school bus for an interfaith school (Jewish, Christian, Muslim) for the Abayudaya community in Uganda. To that end, they are collecting unused toys and books from home in a further effort to raise funds for the initiative.

The Toy Fair will occur in two shifts: Friday, Feb. 19th from 8:00-8:20 and during lunch from 11:00-12:00. Please send small change to school with your children next Friday to support the fundraiser.

GRADE 7 CHESED CLUB REQUEST

Morah Lisa's Grade 7 Chesed Club is collecting items for the Inland Refugee Society. One item of great need is size 5 diapers. Contact Morah Lisa if you can donate.

Join Our Mailing List!

GRADE 5 "FLIP DAY"

On Wednesday, Grade 5 students had the opportunity to get a "taste" of Grade 6 in anticipation of their transition to the senior intermediate grades (and the rotary model style of learning) in September. By spending a day with Grade 6 teachers, students discovered that the senior intermediate grades aren't "as scary" as anticipated and many even expressed anticipation at the move. Teachers reported that their participation in all the classes was thoughtful, meaningful and engaging.

Students spent the day learning the following subjects:

Humanities/Language Arts with Mrs. Fisher
Math & Science with Moreh Rafah
Hebrew & Jewish Life with Morah Shoshi
Jewish History with Dalia Bressler
Tikkun Olam with Mrs. Davey & Jenn Shecter-Balin

TRIPLE SCOOPS ALL THE WAY!

Grade Two students are creating "triple scoop words," a technique to improve their writing and better engage their readers. Rather than using simple words (such as "scared"), they are encouraged to choose more interesting words (such as "afraid," "terrified" and "frightened") that convey ideas more effectively. (Click on the photo below to enlarge it and better read the students' ingenious synonyms.)

Tornadoes girls basketball team had a hard fought game on Wednesday against Southpointe Academy in Tsawassen. The girls worked hard, but came up short and lost 28-18. They won their first game the week before.

Tornadoes boys basketball team beat Maple Grove Elementary School yesterday 80-49 to stay undefeated in league play.

PRO-D IN ACTION

Faculty Professional Development in action . . .

Our teachers were inspired by our visit from literacy consultant and expert, Adrienne Gear, and as a result, students across the grades have been busy developing and improving their writing skills.

In the photo above, Grade One students used their "Memory Pockets" to plan and write a story about a special memory with a friend.

WEEKLY TORAH PORTION/ PARASHAT HA'SHAVUA

Last Saturday, seventh grader, Emma Greensite, celebrated her Bat Mitzvah at Temple Sholom. We wish her parents, Natasha and Joel Greensite, mazal tov on this special milestone. Read Emma's interpretation below of what it's like to be a stranger in a strange land from parashat mishpatim.

"You shall not wrong nor oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt". This is one of the many laws taught in this week's parasha, Mishpatim. But, this law is a very, very important one, for three main reasons. Firstly, it is mentioned twice during this Parsha, which is a big deal! Secondly, the idea of not oppressing strangers is written thirty-six times in the Torah. And finally, we can see this law is very important because it is written both as mitzvah aseh (a positive rule) and mitzvah lo taaseh (a negative rule). From all of these reasons, the Torah is almost screaming that properly treating strangers is very important.

But why is it so important? Why do we need to be conscience about how we are treating strangers? It is for a few reasons, but I think there is one main meaningful idea. First of all, there really is no such thing as strangers. God made people, all of them b'tzelem elohim - in the image of God. It was the people who decided that some were different. The people chose to make each other feel like they don't belong, feel like they are strangers. So if we think about it, strangers don't actually exist, they are almost a human invention. If this is really is true, then it must be very important not to oppress strangers, because strangers are actually just people. Strangers are all the same people, they are all human beings and there isn't any difference between one "stranger" and another.