News Archive

Last week, the entire elementary school joined in on the largest learning event in history: The Hour of Code, during Computer Science Education Week (December 4-10). Every TK through 5th grade student participated in an Hour of Code activity during their science class, joining tens of millions of students in 180+ countries.

Carly Malatskey, Stanford sophomore soccer forward, helped her team win the NCAA women’s soccer championship Sunday, beating UCLA, 3-2. Carly, a 2016 TVT graduate, finished the regular season with 11 appearances, including one start.

Thursday evening, Dec. 7, was Awards night at the Orange County Department of Education where recipients were given special awards and certificates for participating in the prestigious Festival of the Arts Show last summer. TVT had six students in the show! They were Arabel G, Selena Y, Lucca L, and Kiran G. Not shown are Hili K and Owen G.
Congratulations to all of these students!

Savannah Levin, a 2013 graduate of TVT, helped USC win the NCAA soccer championship in 2016. Prior to that, she appeared in 18 games in 2013 and made six starts, appeared in 21 games in 2014 and started in 18 games in 2015.

Camille Levin, Savannah’s older sister, is a professional soccer defender with the Houston Dash. She helped Stanford win the NCAA College Cup in 2011.

On Tuesday, November 28th at 6:30 pm, a good number of parents enjoyed a special parenting presentation led by Dr. Jerry Weichman of The Weichman Clinic at Hoag Neurosciences Institute.

Last Friday, the third graders learned about Veterans Day in many ways, but the biggest surprise and learning moment came from our very own, third grade associate and veteran, Miss Paddy! While the kids knew that there was going to be a guest speaker who used to serve in the Air Force, they had no idea that that speaker had been there all along. Through her presentation and personal story, the students learned so much! As a thank you to our very own veteran, the third graders put together an American flag, each with a strip, thanking Miss Paddy and letting her know what they learned from her. After putting all of the pieces together to show our unity, the third graders surprised Miss Paddy with this special gift to show their appreciation to her for her service. It was a very special Veterans Day for third grade this year! 

Registry # 18486
 
After many logged hours of milkweed and monarch data from our lower school garden areas, TVT has been honored with certification as an official Monarch Waystation through MonarchWatch.org!

"The Walk Through the American Revolution” is an interactive learning experience designed to allow students to actively participate in a lively retelling of our nation’s beginnings.  Students explored the famous events, historical figures, and relevant vocabulary of this pivotal point in America’s history.

Rabbi Lopatin, President of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, offered a riveting God Talk presentation last Monday.  He spoke about God's journey with us through our ups and downs as well as God's deliberate contraction (tzimtzoom in Hebrew) in order to push us to find solutions to the gravest problems that effect our world today.  God Talks occur 4-5 times each year.  TVT brings in national and local scholars and thinkers to answer the most perplexing questions about how God acts in the world.  When our students are asked to articulate their own theology, they often refer to the inspirational words of these speakers as the foundation of their thoughts.

On November 22nd, over 60 TVT alumni gathered at the Marina Park Community Center in Newport Beach for an evening of laughter, food, and fun. Alumni going back all the way to 2003 attended the event. Our alumni had fun taking photos in the photo booth, reminiscing with old friends, and grooving to the DJ's great tunes. Thank you to everyone who attended and made this event such a fun success. 

On Monday, November 20th, TVT students drove down to Imperial Beach, CA to donate 250 Thanksgiving meals to families in need. These meals were generously donated to the school so that our students could directly see how impactful it is to give to others. 

Mrs. Nirit Bracha recently led a TVT delegation of five students who participated in a unique workshop held by The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Shani G., Melanie K., Avi K. , Dory V. and Tova Z., along with Mrs. Bracha as an advisor, participated in this unique workshop in the capital of the United States.

Erin McNellis, TVT teacher and chair of the English Department, was featured in a UCI alumni interview. Dr. McNellis always knew she’d be a teacher, imagining that she would share her love of learning with students, helping them to think critically and write well.

The 7th grade STEM-based trip to San Francisco and Monterey, CA was a huge success! The three days were filled with laughter and smiles all around.

TVT alumna, Danya Sher, was featured on the cover of Parenting OC Magazine. The Mission Viejo resident and mother of two has created a yoga studio called MOhM – MOM + OHM, where she can merge the best of both worlds, yoga and parenting.

The first grade class is learning to read and write Hebrew with the Tal Am program. They are very excited to read with Ariot. They also enjoy reading to the class and each other. The first graders are proud of their Hebrew reading skills.

From October 15th through October 18th, five TVT students and two faculty chaperones joined forces with Friends & Family Community Connection (FFCC), the folks who coordinate our February food packing event, to provide flood relief in Alvin, Texas, about 30 miles south of Houston. During TVT's time in Alvin, our students and faculty helped a handful of families identified as most in need of our assistance. 

On Thursday, November 2, the third graders were so excited to go on their first field trip of the year! They visited the Shipley Nature Center in Huntington Beach and experienced the Gabrielino Walk.

If one could measure the level of excitement and energy in the art room, it would be by the intense colors on the walls! Across the grade levels, students are placing great emphasis on the element of color in their art work.

More than 400 students, faculty, parents, grandparents and friends swarmed in one spot and moved with the music as TVT Community Day School held a Red Ribbon Week Flash Mob on its Irvine campus.

When 2nd Grader Riley M. heard about all the sad children in Houston, she knew that she wanted to help.  Together with Rabbi Light, Riley organized a "fill the backpack campaign" for the Lower School and challenged each grade to bring in 4 backpacks filled with new school supplies.  Only 4 days later, the Lower School was ready to ship 50+ backpacks to Houston.  Bnai Yeshurun Day School is going to soon have some very happy students.  Thank you Riley and the entire lower school for your great act of kindness to those in need.

The first graders were busy preparing for Rosh Hashanah last week.  The students learned that we dip an apple in honey for a sweet new year along with the blessings that accompany the sweet tradition.  We made honey pots to dip the apples in the honey at home with our families.

Over the last two weeks, many of our fabulous TVT students took a culinary journey around the world in Cooking Immersion. They started their first week off making fajitas, challah, grilled cheese sandwiches, and tomato soup. Their second week was then filled with not just culinary delights but charity giving as well. Our amazing student spent time making breakfast at the Ronald McDonald House. They made pancakes, granola, fruit, and eggs for the families. They then joined up with the Charity Begins at Home immersion to pack food boxes at the O.C. Food Bank. Students ended their culinary journey on a high note as they learned to make desserts. Overall, it was a successful and fulfilling two weeks in Cooking Immersion. 

We had a sweet time in Jewish Studies, baking apple cakes in anticipation of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year). We were so happy that Tyler and Ally from TVT's IP program were able to join us too.

Correction:

Avigdor V. was selected as one of 16,000 National Merit Scholar semifinalists. About 1.6 million juniors in more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2015 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. 

Congratulations to Michelle Glickman, Rachel Weinberg, and Daniel Gillman on being featured in an article by the OC Register.

What fun we've had this past week!  We kicked off immersion by volunteering at the OC Food Bank and came back to TVT to make granola and ricotta cheese.

To introduce our new TVT student values program, R.O.A.R.S, students gathered on September 15th for the first Town Hall of the school year.  Students learned that the acronym R.O.A.R.S. stands for Respect, Ownership, Attitude, Responsibility, and Safety, which was  followed by an excited choir of voices singing Katy Perry's "Roar" to build school spirit and unity.  After, students cheered on their TVT classmates who were honored for particularly demonstrating our first value, respect. Our next value that students and faculty will be scouting for is "ownership". We can't wait to see our next batch of TVT mensches rise to the occasion!

What makes TVT special is that it gives students the opportunity to engage in hands-on learning and develop a passion for being both thinkers and community builders. “Experiential learning helps students develop a passion that students didn’t even know they had,” explained Dave Kerber, who coordinates the immersion program. As an end to the school year, the students presented what they learned and how they felt about their individual or group immersion projects that took them into the real world outside the confines of school walls.

Despite being down 2-0 in sets to the Huskies of Fairmont Prep, our Lady Lions regrouped and knew they could win the game. As they stayed composed through the entire match our Lady Lions came back to defeat the Huskies in the fifth and final set.

In Hebrew 8, we’ve been exploring the topic of the “Lone Soldier.”  The term “Lone Soldier” refers to those soldiers in the IDF whose parents live overseas. Traditionally, lone soldiers are Jews who choose to immigrate at a young adult age, leaving behind their families who either do not share their interest in immigrating to Israel or plan to do so at a later date.

When Henry M. was preparing for his Bar Mitzvah to be held on Labor Day, he knew that other people were suffering. Hurricane Harvey was ravaging Houston, causing destruction and death. He would be celebrating with his family and friends while people were scrambling to find shelter, food and gasoline.

When independent film producer, writer and actor Andrew Hunt spoke to Michelle Glickman’s film classes at TVT last week, he wanted to motivate students as well as give them some solid information about the reality of his profession. By seeing their work as an ongoing process, not getting discouraged by setbacks and working as part of a creative team, filmmakers can get better and better, Hunt said.

The beginning of anything often brings feelings of excitement, and a touch of uncertainty. We witnessed a little of each of these feelings, not only from our incoming Kindergarteners, but from the parents and teachers as well! We all got through the first week together with flying colors! Our children are ready! Ready to learn, grow, discover and blossom in Kindergarten.

Lion Like Us profiles are back! Nicole Babaknia, class of 20011, is being featured this month. Click here for a larger view of Nicole's Lion Like Us profile.

While conversation about Israel pervade the TVT curriculum, it is less common to find a student initiative aimed at updating Upper Schoolers to the going-ons in Israel and exploring the most difficult topics of the hour.

Stephen Kaufman, family law attorney and partner at Kaufman Steinberg, LLP, in Irvine, has been named board chair at TVT Community Day School in Irvine. Kaufman, the proud father of Chana Dina Kaufman, (TVT’s Class of ’16), now attending Duke University, has served on the TVT board since 2013.

Susan was selected from hundreds of international competitors by the American Fine Arts Festival Competition to perform in the prestigious Carnegie Weill Hall in New York City on October 7th, 2017. She performed Mozart's Fantasia in d minor. 

Dr. Vidor’s Hebrew 7 class finished learning the unit about British culture. “This year our curriculum is about different traits of different nationalities.

All of the clubs had great representation, posters, and spirit! Thank you to all of the club presidents for having the creativity and determination to start a club. Many students signed up for several clubs since each club represents a different interest. MS Clubs meet during Study Block or Lunch and all have a faculty advisor. It is not too late to sign up for a club! If you're interested, contact the club president or advisor for more information on club meeting days and times! Go Lions!

Kim Allen, TVT alumnus and former film student, returned last Sunday to contribute to a documentary that students are making in film class. Kim was one of the winners of last year's Southern California Annual Film Festival for her film, Are You Service Dog Aware. Kim leaves for college in Oregon later this month.

TVT film students, Ashton L. and Rachel W., are making a documentary about the musician Trevor Green (www.trevorgreenmusic.com). He performed at the Sawdust Art Festival in Laguna Beach last weekend.

First, what a great race!  All boys and girls who participated in the TVT Invitational improved their finish times by large margins (6~12 min.) from the last week.

The CIF Southern Section releases weekly polls that rank the top schools in each sport throughout the year. Our Varsity Girls Volleyball team is ranked #14 out of 65 schools in CIF Division 8. Over the last 3 seasons, our girls have moved up two CIF divisions based on their success in CIF playoffs. Click the link below to see to poll. 

Integrated, innovative tinkering ruled the night as 4 teams of 10th graders built individual sukkah structures from nothing more than 25 1x3 pieces of wood, drywall screws, painting tarps and greenery.  In the ultimate show of confidence, they then proceeded to sleep under those structures to fulfill the Torah's commandment to make remember the Israelite's 40 year long wander in the desert.

If one could measure the level of excitement and energy in the art room, it would be by the intense colors on the walls! Across the grade levels, students are placing great emphasis on the element of color in their art work. 

During the High Holy Days, TVT students engaged in age-appropriate activities and led other students in activities that offered a meaningful, hands-on experience. Rabbi Stuart Light, Director of Jewish Studies, created a number of programs.

Three Sukkot programs highlighted our holiday:

• Students traveled, with dixie cups in hand, from bread crumb filled bowl to bread crumb filled bowl.  They read a description of a different misdeed on each of the 45 bowls and removed a pinch of bread crumb if they committed that misdeed.
  
  
• With the help of two life size stuffed pygmy goats, Aaron the High Priest traveled to the present to explain how Yom Kippur looked when the Israelites were still in the desert.  
  
  
• Students in older grades compared and contrasted the Yom Kippur of old with our current day practice.
  
  
• Students understood the tashlich ritual as a semi-attempt to recreate some of the power found in Torah's Yom Kippur ritual.

In early August, Josh Neutel, class of 2016, traveled to Guatemala as a project manager to implement a water filtration system for Common Hope's Antigua campus.

Mazel tov to TVT's Jon Cassie, Director of Curriculum and Innovation whose book, "Level Up Your Classroom," published by ASCD last year, won a gold medal from Association Media and Publishing last month. Kol hakavod!

The first day of the 2017-2018 school year started off with an incredibly exciting scientific event for the students to experience on the beautiful TVT campus!

Vanessa Paddy joins our TVT family as our 3rd-5th grade associate teacher.

On Tuesday, June, 6th, the 5th Graders performed their play, "American Revolution-The Musical". This was a culmination activity for their year long study of American History.

Eighth graders had the opportunity to visit the UCI Medical School for a day of learning about medical science and health fields.  They got hands on experience with medical technology, including the robotic medical simulation lab, tissue sample microscopy, dissections, and ultrasounds.  Eve is using an ultrasound to visualize a nursing student's bladder.

Last week, our 2nd graders entertained students and parents alike with the production of Mr. Popper's Penguins. Over the year the students have grown from a "Reader's Theater" style performance (Nate the Great) in which their parts were read from a script, to performing a full play reenactment.

What better way to wrap up a week's worth of CTP4 testing than having fun on an overnight field trip! For many fourth graders, it was their first official school overnight trip, and they could not have been more excited (and a bit nervous). After getting to sleep in on Monday and arriving to school at 12:00 pm, they started their evening activities at Riley's Farm  by carrying their teachers uphill in covered wagons, a tomahawk throwing contest, line dancing, and even a bit of hail.

Why do Jews keep kosher?  Why is there a stereotype that Jews are good with money?  These questions and more were answered when 9th grade Jewish Studies students culminated their year-long study of how one "belongs" in the Jewish community by presenting different areas of study to their parents and each other last week.

Spencer G. and Tom F. were selected to Express League 1st Team All-League. In addition, Max S. and Aidan F. were awarded 2nd team all-league honors with Max Ferry named Honorable Mention. Congratulations to these student-athletes on an excellent season.

May is the month for celebrating the Arts in Orange County! Congratulations to the TVT students who currently have their artwork hanging in the Imagination Celebration, “1,000 Pieces of Art” exhibit at South Coast Plaza, Crate & Barrel Wing. Their artwork has been selected by a panel of judges and I’m so proud to announce the lower school has 40 pieces in this show!

Dear Parents, 

For the 3rd time in his 7 years at TVT, Coach Dohling has earned Coach of the Year honors within the Western Athletic Conference. The baseball team was ranked #15 out of 115 schools in Division 7.

Three years ago, the Hebrew staff listened to students and parents speak about the kind of Hebrew learning that they wanted most.  TVT Hebrew staff went to work finding a program that would best fulfill the goal of conversational Hebrew proficiency above all else.

The competition wrapped up the week celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut and Israel’s independence. QuIsrael, a trivia competition about Israel and Judaism, truly tested their knowledge based off of what they have learned over the years in their Hebrew and Jewish Studies classes. Many students excitedly showed up for the preliminary round where they took a “quiz” about Israel. On Friday, May 5, with two simultaneous competitions going on, second and third grade finalists and fourth and fifth grade finalists battled it out with their impressive knowledge. In the end, Maya E. (2nd grade) and Hili K. (5th grade) were our final winners! Kol Ha’kavod!

Middle School Students entered their tefillah space this past Tuesday and were asked to sit in small circles, as if part of an Israelite tribe circling the Mountain of Sinai.

The middle school recently held their end of the year sports awards.  The girls and boys soccer teams were recognized as well as the girls flag-football team and boys volleyball team.  Presidential, National, and Participation certificates were also handed out to the students in Coach Pezzner's PE classes.

Joel A. earned 1st Team All-League honors within the Olympic League. Ethan A. earned 2nd team recognition and competes later this week in CIF individuals. Also earning 2nd team all-league was the doubles team of Koby B. and Jay B. Congrats to our boys tennis team and these individual players for a successful season.

Our 2016-17 senior athletic awards were announced on Wednesday at the US Awards Assembly. In addition, we recognized the Athlete of the Year from 9th -11th grade and inducted a coach into the TVT Patrick Roberts Coaches Hall of Fame.

Congratulations to all of our award winners: 

August, 16th, 17th and 18th

Grades 1-4 traveled through a series of holiday related learning stations to celebrate the upcoming holiday of Shavuot.  With Rabbi Light's help, students walked the steps from Egypt to Mount Sinai, (eating mana [that tasted a lot like m&ms] along the way) slept at the foot of Mount Sinai and heard the 10 commandments.  The program ended by viewing the resulting Torah, rolled out in all of her glory.  Happy Shavuot TVT!

Students presented on their projects including a gas-sensing miner helmet, landmine detecting rover, landmine remover, tentacle backpack, and distance-sensing jacket for the blind.  The Sonic Jacket group, consisting of Mika B., Zeke L., and Julian W., won the CIJE Innovation Award.

Last week, TVT Film students had the incredible opportunity to learn with Artist in Residence Rusty Schwimmer, a film actress who has appeared in dozens of films and television programs. Click here to view her Wikipedia page. 

The third graders are busy learning how to chant verses from the book of Genesis in the Torah.

Under the coaching of Adrian Rodriguez, TVT History Teacher, the boys beat Fairmont, Heritage Anaheim Campus by a score of 25 - 21 and 25 - 16.  This is their first game of the season and their first win.  Join them in their journey as they play next Wednesday, the 17th at 3:15 in the TVT gym and then on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, May 22nd, 23rd, and 24th in the TVT gym.  

GO LIONS!

The middle school girls flag-football team coached by Tim Culbertson, TVT science teacher, will start their season next Tuesday and Wednesday, May 16th and 17th at the TVT field.

Our beloved Papa Gelman is on the cover of the March issue of JLife magazine.

Over 400 family, friends and faculty from all over the world came together to celebrate the 25th anniversary of TVT Community Day School at a festive gala held at the Irvine campus on Sunday, April 30.

Spencer G. gave Eastside Christian fits, as he bagged four hits in TVT 19-1 victory on Tuesday. He singled in the first, singled in the third, tripled in the third, and singled in the fourth.

TVT secured the victory thanks to 14 runs in the third inning. TVT's big inning was driven a double by Max S., a single by Tom F., a single by Elli G., a single by Jacob G., a single by Oren P., a triple by Spencer G., a single by Max F., and a single by Elli G.

TVT collected 18 hits. TVT tore up the base paths, as three players stole at least two bases.

"Powered by Narrative Science and GameChanger Media. Copyright 2017. All rights reserved." Any reuse or republication of this story must include the preceding attribution.

Our Varsity Boys Tennis team defeated Savanna 13-5 on Wednesday afternoon. Led by strong singles play, TVT overmatched #17 ranked Savanna throughout the match. In the 2nd round, #16 TVT travels to #1 Los Osos on Thursday to compete for a spot in the Elite 8.

From the Pita Pit to Bedouin Tent, from fishing in Elat to visiting the local Nut Shop for Sunflower seeds, students had much reason to feast and frolic in the magic of Israel.  Thank you to the over 60 parents and teacher volunteers that braved the hot Negev sun to bring the tastes and sounds of Israel to our students.  Happy Israeli Independence Day!

Since before Passover break, our 8th graders have been working hard to put together a meaningful assembly to honor our fallen Israeli soldiers.

All of their hard work came to fruition this week as they presented their assembly, first to the Lower School and later to the Middle and Upper School.  Thank you, 8th graders, for using poetry and song to help us remember the sacrifice that so many people made to make a Jewish State come into fruition.

Dr. Jennifer Simpson, mother of Jack (11th) and Ava (7th), received a standing ovation as she accepted the Individual Impact Award at the Life Without Limits fundraiser gala on April 22.

Four TVT Boys' Tennis Players, Ethan A., Joel A., Koby B., and Jay B. competed in the Olympic League Individual Tournament to earn an opportunity to compete in CIF Individuals.

Our TK friends have already been introduced to all of the capital letters in the alphabet. They met all of the alphabet puppets! Why capitals first? Developmentally, capitals are easier so we teach them first.

Inspired in part by TVT Artist-in-Residence Susan Stein, 5th graders presented their own fictitious Holocaust diaries to parents and the 4th grade class.

TVT Artist-in-Residence Susan Stein greeted students from grades 5-12 with a powerful play to commemorate Yom Hashoah.

Congratulations go out to the 5th grade co-ed soccer team.  They completed their season just before the Passover break with a 7 win and 3 loss record.  This was good enough to place 2nd in the DSL (developmental sport league).  We are looking forward to the 5th graders joining the middle school next year where they can compete in boys flag-football, girls volleyball, girls and boys basketball and girls and boys soccer. GO LIONS!

This project encompassed new ‘outdoor classroom’ and exterior space to provide teachers and students an additional 7,000 SF of programmed teaching space at a private school. Trademark constructed the cast-in-place radius, amphitheatre seating, concrete sub-slabs for flagstone and dry riverbed paving, the decorative paving for the meandering walks at the playground, two new basketball courts, a cast-in-place lunch table and a template for sandblasting new vertical surfaces.

Our Varsity Baseball team won 5 straight prior to Spring Break and is set for a clash with St. Michael's Prep (7-0) for the league title. Earning recognition as a top 10 team in Division 7, the Lions are poised to make a run at the title and into CIF.

With a 5-2 league record in their first season in the Olympic League, the boys have one league match remaining before learning their fate in CIF. The team is battling for 2nd place in league with Valley Christian Cerritos. Once CIF brackets are released, we will update the community on where they can follow our team in the 1st round.

Our Varsity Golf team finished in 6th place in the San Joaquin League. Standout golfers, Julian W. and Josh M. went on to compete in the League Finals tournament held in Long Beach. Both narrowly missed the cut to advance to the final day.

Razzle Bam Boom delivered an outstanding Earth Day performance for the lower school this week.

In all the years, this is the first boys soccer team to play in the Tri-way League Championships.

As the year continues 4th grade has been working hard focusing on studying the role of ecologists and their studies of ecosystems around the globe. We are learning how to use evidence to explain our chapter question, “How do organisms in an ecosystem get the matter and energy they need to grow and thrive?”

In correlation with our social studies curriculum, our second graders were introduced to our TVT 2nd Grade Marketplace, a project-based learning experience. As part of this endeavor, students assumed the role of entrepreneurs. 

Excitement was the order of the evening as the 12th Annual TVT High School Film Festival was held on Thursday, March 30, at the Port Theater in Newport Beach. The event, sponsored by the Hales Family, was presented by the Advanced Institute of Arts & Writing at Tarbut V’Torah Community Day School in Irvine.
 
The 1st place winner was THE EVERLASTING BALLAD OF THE BROKEN GUITAR AND THE BOY WITH BAD GRADES by William Tibballs. Second place went to THE DEAL by Ty Shao, Lavie Lee, Carolline Hong and Germaine Baltazar. The 3rd place winner was CREAM CHEESE by Brett G Kim, and the 4th place winner was ARE YOU SERVICE DOG AWARE?, a TVT Film, by Kimberlee Allen.  Runners up were SKIN by Nina Milligan, COACH by Jamie Ostmann and THROUGH ADVERSITY TO THE STARS by Claire Josey. Claire is from Woodbridge High School, and this is a film about TVT founders Rochelle and Irving Gelman.

In 1st grade, we have been busy learning about American Symbols and integrating across the curriculum using Project Based Learning (PBL).  

What is PBL?
Project Based Learning is intended to be rigorous, meaningful and effective. It requires critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and various forms of communication. PBL requires inquiry as part of the process of learning and creating something new. It also allows some degree of student voice and choice.

Three TVT high school students were honored by Chapman University and the 1939 Society this week for their entries in the 18th annual Holocaust Art and Writing Contest. Senior Rachael Araonoff submitted the beautiful digital photograph, and Juniors Ana Light and freshman Ephi Light contributed artwork and poetry. Each student received a certificate and Holocaust Chronicle for their achievements.

Good morning everyone and thank you for being here (against your will) to “listen” to my dvar. Today I will be talking about Passover, rather than our usual weekly parasha, since it’s coming up next week. It is known as a day of commemorating the liberation of the Jews from Egypt. We all know how the story goes: Jews are slaves, they are freed, let’s eat.

On Friday, March 31st, 14 TVT sophomores visited Heritage Pointe Retirement Community to meet with Holocaust survivors and to hear their stories as part of a larger unit of study of Holocaust narratives in their English 10 class.

TVT boys tennis is 2-0 in league matches. On March 16th the boys won their match against Whittier Christian 13-5 with strong singles and doubles play. Zach F., Ethan A., and Joel A. all swept their singles matches. The doubles teams of Joshua A. and Johnson Y. and Jay B. and Joshua F. both won two out their three matches. 

Last week in Mr. Epstein's classes, after only two-ish weeks of grueling preparation and rehearsals, the Class of 2017 performed Shakespeare's Hamlet in the lecture hall for free!

Our high school engineering students competed in the Orange County Science and Engineering Fair last week and two groups won prizes.  

Tom F's walk-off led TVT past Lutheran 10-9 on Tuesday. Both offenses were strong at the plate as TVT collected seven hits and Lutheran eight.

TVT scored four runs in the sixth inning to take the lead. The big inning was driven by a single by Spencer G. and a single by Aidan F..

Tom F. and Aidan F. each collected multiple hits for TVT . They each drove in three runs to lead the Lions to victory.


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Good afternoon Jill,


My name is Dustin and I am the campaign coordinator for Make-A-Wish Orange County and the Inland Empire. I am sending this email to thank you for all of your support for the Make-A-Wish club on campus at Tarbut V’Torah. As part of our Kids For Wish Kids program, this club fundraises each year, playing an integral role in our ability to grant wishes. The student board is one of the most passionate and persistent groups I have the pleasure of working with, and their advisor, Mrs. Sara Tache, is an outstanding leader who drives the club forward year after year.

Since introducing our 3rd, 4th and 5th graders to a new Hebrew program this year, we were pleased to see that our 4th graders are the very first to finish the first book of Chaverim B'Ivirt.  Along the way, these Hebrew students have enhanced their vocabulary and solidified their grammar through hands on activities.  4th grade Hebrew students are now experts at all conversations pertaining to birthdays.  They are actively at work on a presentation that shows what they have learned and can't wait to share it with their parents.

On Friday, April 24, our 2nd grade students were transported by bus to the incredible Edible Farm located in Irvine's Great Park. Upon arriving at the park, it was explained to the students that the farm's produce helps feed over 200,000 hungry Orange County residents every month.

The 5th graders visited the Nixon Library on March 15th. They were able to "walk through" the history and life of our 37th president, Richard Nixon. They were immersed in primary sources, videos and artifacts and even had the chance to sit behind the president's desk in the replicated oval office! They also had the privilege of participating in a special ceremony to honor and remember Pat Nixon by placing wreaths on hers and Richard Nixon's graves.

If you walked into the lower school MPR last Thursday, you would have seen something that looked quite a lot like a science fair.  But if you looked a bit closer, you would have noticed that instead of Science, this fair was all about mitzvot.  6th grade teams were each given a mitzvah to explore.  They researched an organization that helped to actualize that mitzvah and developed a presentation for students who traveled past their display.  Lower school students carried baggies filled with dimes through the fair and gave their dimes to the organizations that they found most intriguing.  Stay tuned for our results.  Thank you sixth graders, for helping us all fulfill the primary Purim mitzvah of giving to others.

TVT's social action group, Hevrah, introduced a new program called "The Fishbowl" to the Upper School.

Congratulations to all the students who participated in this year’s Geography Bee. A special congratulations to our Geography Bee champion, Eitan C. (Grade 5), who coincidentally won the final question. Eitan will move on to the next step of the nationwide competition, completing the written exam, which will be sent in with hopes that he will move forward and win an amazing prize, including a scholarship, a trip and some cash! As the coordinator of the Bee, Ms. Babazadeh is very proud of all the students who made a committed effort. Go Lions!

Click here to view article.

After our second grade students were read the Caldecott award winning children's story, Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, they were transported to the Segerstrom Center for the Arts to see the story performed by professional actors. The Dallas Children's Theater recreated this African folk tale of two beautiful daughters who without knowing are tested in the areas of courage, kindness, and strength of spirit to be presented to a great African king who is seeking a wife.

On Wednesday, March 1st, the first grade went to explore the Santa Ana Zoo! We arrived and were greeted by the fantastic docents who volunteer there. The students learned about three different kinds of animals; mammals, reptiles, and birds. 

This Thursday was our 3rd Quarter Art Wheel Performance and like the two before, it didn’t disappoint!  The dancers were on pointe.  The musicians struck a chord.  The artists showed their true colors.  And our public speakers broke the silence!

The 6th grade boys basketball team went undefeated in the DSL (Developmental Ssports League). Shown holding their certificates and awards in the picture are Coach Towning, Noah L., Adam P., Daniel L., David G., Noah P., Sammy W., Michael K., Henry M., Michael D.  

Awards were given to:
Dustin M., Leader on the Court; Noah P., Coaches Award; Hustle Award, Henry M.; Lions Award, David G.; Teammate Award, Sammy Wolf.

On February 27th, Leadership Council held the monthly "Cub's Roar Recognition" ceremony. They handed out certificates for students who have continued to showcase the characteristic of kindness throughout the year. Congratulations to each of our students who received this honor!

The halls were very quiet on February 27-28, as most of our high school students took part in the annual Lions' Pride Day retreat.  This fun event gave students a break in their busy schedules, time to bond, and a great opportunity to spend time outdoors. The students voted in October  to return to Big Bear for two days on the mountain. They spent time skiing, tubing and relaxing during the day, as well as holding a talent show and dance in the evening.  The trip was a huge success, due in large part to the hard work of our student leaders on ASB.  Great job TVT!

Sixth grade students created videos of their English class book chats. They are available to watch through QR codes in the library next to a display of the books.

The fourth graders at TVT have been doing a fantastic job in Physical Education learning about key components to an effective exercise program and staying FITT.  The FITT principle relates to these key components of exercise:
Frequency, Intensity, Time and Type

This year, our faculty have been emphasizing the value of failure as part of the learning process.   Because many of us equate failure with something highly negative, educators have to work against a strong current to shift students thinking about failing.  We have asked teachers to create incentives for students so that they stop playing it safe in the classroom.  One idea that teachers have tried is to give students an extra point on a test every time they try a new way to solve a problem. We want our students to internalize the idea that failure is simply a byproduct of the learning process.

First grade always loves when Dr. Davis comes to visit, especially when he gets down and dirty!  On Monday, he joined the  students at recess. Here he is being traced with chalk.

TVT upper school students recently welcomed Mr. Joel Chasnoff, who shared his insights about Israeli politics, anti-Zionist sentiment on college campuses, and his experience as an American in the Israeli army.  Mr. Chasnoff role-played four types of attitudes towards Israel that students might encounter in their future.  The characters were open to questions, creating an atmosphere of back and forth discussion, leaving students with food for thought.  Mr. Chasnoff is the author of The 188th Crybaby Brigade, a humorous account of his time in the Israeli Army.

We had a very busy two weeks celebrating Tu B'Shevat the birthday of the trees! Singing the etz song called Mi Roeh? (Who sees?). This song is about the parts of the tree. The children absolutely love this song and it is very highly requested. In order to honor the tradition of planting flowers and trees to give a new life, the children decorated their own pots and planted flowers in them.

Congratulations to Mrs. Wolf's 7th graders who studied The Lorax and Jewish texts related to the environment, pollution, treatment of animals and repentance, and then prepared informative, well researched, and interesting presentations for their parents. They worked hard at convincing their parents of the Once-ler's innocence or guilt. Mrs. Wolf was proud of the seriousness with which the students conducted themselves, and the distinguishing touches each group incorporated into the presentations.  

Enjoy the pictures here or view the posters on the bulletin board outside of the Upper School MPR.

Click here to read article.

"On Tuesday, February 7th, the Fourth grade traveled up to San Pedro to visit the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. The aquarium sits right up onto Cabrillo Beach Coastal Park, where they have easy access to the tide pools along the beach. The students began the day with a quick presentation, introducing them to some animals and plants that they would soon get to meet up-close. The aquarium has an incredible hands-on learning lab where students were able to not only use microscopes to check out some living sea-life, but also touch (yes touch!) all sorts of animals, such as sea stars, anemones, and hermit crabs.  The students got a kick out of this truly interactive experience.

The Middle School was lucky to have a visit from Dr. Devorah Heitner this week.  Dr. Heitner is the author of Screenwise: Helping Kids Survive (and Thrive) in Their Digital World, and her website, www.raisingdigitalnatives.com, is full of pertinent information for anyone who regularly interacts with children and young adults.  Dr. Heitner spoke with our Lower and Middle school parent body, our faculty and our students.  She gave some great advice, and being at all three gatherings, I was witness to a plethora of “ah-ha” moments.  It’s good to know that we have someone like Dr. Heitner in our corner.

On Tuesday evening, over 80 parents attended an informative and very helpful presentation by Dr. Devorah Heitner on how to be a "Screenwise" parent and navigate their child through the digital age.

Prior to the 55-29 victory over St. Michael's Prep, our seniors Kim A. (Cheer), Kat F. (Cheer), Rachael A. (Girls Basketball), Gabrielle M. (Girls Basketball), Ben S. (Boys Basketball) and Aaron A. (Boys Basketball) were recognized for their commitment and successes as student-athletes at TVT. During the game, the well balances attack offensively was too much for St. Michael's to handle. The boys moved to 11-9 overall on the season.

TVT students and  faculty were joined by the community on Sunday, February 5th for the 3rd annual TVT Cares food packing event.  Over 400 volunteers worked to sort grain, seal bags and load pallets, providing 60,000  nutritious meals for poverty relief in Haiti.  Working alongside Friends and Family Community Connection, the upper school parking lot filled with people eager to roll up their sleeves and get to work.  TVT's dedication to tikkun olam was on full display.  In fact, so many people wanted to take part that we had to divide shifts from two hours to one in order to accommodate more people.

Brittany Glass
Class of 2007 | TVT
Class of 2011 | Chapman University | Psychology
Occupational Therapy | Graduate Program at USC

In 4th Grade Accelerated Math, the students haven taken on the arduous task of mastering long division. The students love keeping their work organized on the gridded whiteboards which are perfect for aligning numbers by place value. We closed the unit by working in small groups to write and solve long division word problems on a collaborative Google doc. Some students even chose to write  "star" and "double star" problems that resemble the most challenging problems available in the Beast Academy curriculum.

The 2nd Grade Shabbaton was not just a highlight for elementary school students. It also provided a unique opportunity for 7 eighth graders to serve as shabbat team leads while building bonds with lower school students. Our 8th grade representatives, Talia, Ari, Fiona, Alexa, Zimo, Jacob and Sara acted in plays, lead scavenger hunts, scooped lots of ice cream and may just have learned a bit about Shabbat as well. Thank you 8th graders, for using your enthusiasm and charisma to create a shabbat experience that our 2nd graders will never forget.

Last Friday, January 27th, the lower school Leadership Council hosted the first monthly Town Hall "Cub's Roar Recognition" ceremony. This special Town Hall takes place the last Friday of each month and is dedicated to highlighting and celebrating the achievements of our lower school students. Each student that was recognized showed effort & determination for the month of January. Congratulations to all of our students!

TVT celebrates a very special birthday of our beloved founder, Irving "Papa" Gelman who turned 93 on Tuesday.  Students, parents and faculty sent heartfelt wishes from our Kabbalat Shabbat services. Happy Birthday, Papa Gelman.  We love you!

On Monday, with much excitement and anticipation, our 4th graders walked over to the kindergarten village to meet their kindergarten buddies!

The buddy pairs engaged in a very special and meaningful way, completing an activity together.  The buddies will enjoy various joint activities throughout the remainder of the school year.

The students need to be able to read English, but speak Hebrew- as if they are sitting in a restaurant in Israel!

Can they do it?? They sure can!

We took the idea one step further and actually brought the concept to life by frying and baking and actually making Falafal :-)

Enjoy?? We surely did!!
 
Click here to view video.

The fourth grade group has been working on an integrated project which combined Social Studies, Language Arts, Jewish Studies and Music.  Students conducted research on immigration to California during the Gold Rush, but more specifically, Jewish immigration to California during that time period.

Congratulations to Todd Corman on his induction into the College of Idaho Hall of Fame. In 2001, he coached his basketball team to the finals of the 2001 NAIA National Championships. He was called this week by school administration that his 2001 team and coaching staff would be inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer.

I came across this quote while looking into early British colonialism, which is another story entirely, but it got me to thinking.  We, in the Middle School, start out spoon-feeding our students.  We need to.  We work with them on succeeding at the basics so that they have what is needed to become self-reliant High School students.  But as time passes and your 6th grader is now a second semester 7th grader, or your 7th grader is staring HS in the face as an 8th grader, the spoon feeding comes to an end.

The 5th graders had the pleasure of visiting the International Printing Museum on January 10th.  At the museum, they got to see one of the largest collections of printing presses in the world. They also experienced a "live" history reenactment of the life of Benjamin Franklin: learning about his life as an inventor, scientist, printer, diplomat and author.

Transitional Kindergarten prepares children for Readiness and Writing. Young children often draw pictures of themselves or of other people. The children have been introduced to Mat Man to teach drawing, building and singing. The children love building their own Matman, piece by piece.

In recognition of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, second grade students engaged in a variety of activities surrounding MLK, which included investigating the words and meaning behind our US Constitution and Bill of Rights.

This week is a big one for 6th and 7th grade Science: students are building out the results of months of work into their Science Fair display boards.  Students worked hard at generating hypotheses in October, writing research papers defining and expanding on their variables and experimental units in November, collected their data in December, and together we graphed data and wrote results and conclusions early this month.  Everyone is very excited about their final product; 7th graders are busy this week telling 6th graders what to expect from judges and how to go about delivering a good presentation.  We are looking forward to the Science Fair, next week, January 26th and 27th.

In science class, 3rd graders are learning all about a variety of biomes that can be found on Earth. Each biome differs in climate, landscapes, plants, and animals! What we are focusing is how the animals in each biome adapt to survive there. What traits do they have that would allow them to grow and thrive depending on that biome? A lot of animals we are learning about used camouflage and other kinds of protective adaptations to keep them safe from predators. Others have specific body parts like padded feet or suction cups to allow them to move around. Overall, we are focusing on 5 biomes, with 6 different animals in each. Then comes the exciting part!

On Tuesday, January 10th Ms. Lau's 5th grade class, learned to serve their community better by conserving water, caring for their surrounding animals and insects, and recycling materials to reuse in our everyday lives. In fact, the Ecology Center showed them how to believe in a "zero waste" policy, where everything can be reused for something else. Whether it was water, food, building materials, and even coffee beans, the world around us can be made better by improving the standards of sustainability.

CURRENT PARENTS	Dec 2016	June 2016	Dec 2015
LIKELIHOOD TO RECOMMEND TVT	+46	+42	+31
JEWISH DEVELOPMENT TVT supports each family’s desired Jewish development for their children	+40	+25	+8
ACADEMIC PREPAREDNESS TVT students are academically and socially prepared for the next grade level	+50	+46	+35

Do you have your passport ready to take a trip with us in third grade? With our exciting “Voyage Around the World” theme, we have already had an exciting start to the year taking “trips” to different countries and learning about their cultures.

Ms. Kraut's upper school science students visited Ms. Saad's lower school science classes to do some fun experiments.  The Anatomy class visited the 3rd and 4th grade classes to teach them about the heart and show them how to measure their heart rate.  The AP Psychology classes visited K and TK classes to find out how well students understood the law of conservation of number, volume, and mass.

Undefeated thus far, our boys soccer team is ranked #3 in CIF D7. This is the highest ranking the team has received in the past five seasons. The boys prepare for a highly competitive league schedule next week.