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The Gettysburg Address by President Abraham Lincoln remains one of the most significant speeches given in American History. Mrs. Bram's sixth grade social studies class has been studying the Civil War and as a part of their studies were challenged to memorize the Gettysburg Address in its entirety. Several students recited the Gettysburg Address in front of the class, demonstrating their knowledge and one even dressed up as Abraham Lincoln to increase the drama and pathos of this incredible and historic speech.

In Social Studies, Mrs. Bram's fifth grade students have been learning about colonial trade and trade routes. To demonstrate what they've been learning, 5B set up a mock trading post between Native Americans seeking goods and European Settlers seeking furs. Each team had a goal of goods and amounts to acquire and they bartered items to trade.

Can you believe we're so close to the 100th day of school? Our Kindergarteners can't believe it either. This week, they made posters together, visited all the classes in the school and asked students to contribute cans and $1 bills so that they can collect 100 cans and 100 $1 bills for their 100 Mitzvos Project! Stay tuned for next week to see if the Kindergarten is able to reach their goal-and don't forget to bring in cans and money for Yad L'Yad to help them get there!

In STEAM the fourth grade girls did a deep dive into the forces of magnetism. The girls played around with magnets and gained a fuller understanding of how magnets operate and what they are used for. Using their new knowledge, the girls designed locks that open and close using magnets, bringing a real world application to their theoretical knowledge.

Kudos to our PTA for putting together a beautiful evening for TDSA's mothers! The PTA hosted a mom's night out on Motze Shabbos and the assembled mothers enjoyed socializing and learning all about how to make sourdough. A special thank you to our PTA for organizing and decorating this beautiful event and to Melissa Cavalier, Sarena Safier and Elisheva Storch for sharing your in-depth knowledge about making sourdough!

The mood was somber throughout the school as we remembered the fallen Israeli soldiers of the IDF and victims of terrorist attacks. Boys and girls in the Middle school participated in a Yom HaZikaron ceremony that explained the meaning of the day, recited prayers for the z'chus of the fallen and their families, a bracha for the current soldiers, and tehilim for all of Klal Yisroel. Mrs. Kalnitz shared stories about Capt. Dekel Swissa, a valiant young man from Bar Giora who served as a Captain in the Golani Brigade,13th Battalion, and was killed at the Paga outpost on October 7 while saving his platoon. Dekel was TDSA's Shinshin in 2018 and lived with the Kalnitz family during his stay in Atlanta.
The lower school visited a display in the lobby depicting a timeline of the wars since the State of Israel's inception. Tomorrow, the mood swings as we celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut as a TDSA community.

How do you know the agenda for the day? You read it, of course! I walked into this Kindergarten class as they were learning the day's plan through a reading activity. This boy was asked to find a blended sound of "ST" within the letter about their major activity. Can you find it? He did!

Escape rooms involve critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration; all excellent skills to build in an academic experience. 8th grade Humanities is learning about the Cold War. Throughout the hallway and the classroom, small groups of girls were intensely focused on escaping from the communist, East side of the Berlin Wall to the West side of Germany during this escape-room-style learning activity. In this picture, the group is using Google Translate to understand German documents to help them on their journey. It was amazing to see these girls engaged in such a creative and valuable way while learning!

8G invited me to view their Ivrit presentations today. Working in pairs, they thought of rooms that served a useful purpose. Then they wrote about these rooms in Hebrew and put it on a slide show or poster. Each group presented their project entirely in Hebrew! It was amazing to see their pride, creativity, and skill

These 5th grade boys didn't even notice me walk into the classroom - they were so intensely engaged in this group discussion. Mrs. Bendicoff split the class into sections, some worked independently while this group shared their thoughts in a literature circle format on the the historical fiction book: "If I lived at the Time of the Signing of the Constitution". They came up with some insightful ideas!

"Which two arctic animals will never meet?" This is the question a kindergarten girl asked me as I observed them making polar bears, arctic hares, walruses, snow foxes, and the like. Each table featured a slew of arts and crafts supplies for the excited girls to create their cold-climate animals they learned all about during science. The answer - which I was proud to get correct - is penguins and Polar Bears. Each is native to a different pole of the globe (North and South). Ask a Kindergartener which lives where!