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This week, as the culmination of a number of different units in Science, Mrs. Castle's fifth grade classes took a trip to Lake Lanier. The students enjoyed a beautiful boat ride in the gorgeous weather and collected samples of the lake's water to test for pH.
They tested different methods of water filtration on the lake water. They also used microscopes to see the tiny microorganisms in Lake Lanier. The students also explored other aspects of the lake ecosystem by searching for birds local to the area. Thank you so much to Mrs. Castle, our wonderful chaperones, and the guides on Lake Lanier for making this amazing trip possible.

This week in Library Class, Mrs. Rabinowitz introduced the students to the classic book The Empty Pot by Demi. The Empty Pot follows a chinese emperor who tests the honesty of his heirs. The students used the book as a springboard for fascinating discussions about being honest, owning up to mistakes, and what they would do in a difficult situation like the Emperor in the story creates for his potential heirs. To cap off this week's unit the students made empty pots of their own, as well as completed worksheets and brain puzzles about ancient China and made beautiful Chinese lanterns out of paper.

The day before Yom Ha'Atzmaut marks the solemn occasion of Yom Hazikaron, where we remember those who have given their lives in defense of the state of Israel. In honor of the occasion, the seventh grade girls set up a beautiful display of a magen-david formed out of Yahrtzeit candles, which our eighth graders lit together with our Ivrit teachers. The students then observed a moment of silence and said a perek of Tehillim Le'Illuy Nishmas those who have passed.

The Lower School Playground is about to get some beautiful flowers and yummy vegetables as the fourth grade girls’ enrichment group brings their months-long passion project to life. Over the winter the girls have been planning their garden. Together with Mrs. Bendicoff, they researched which plants would be most successful for our climate.The girls designed a fence to protect their garden from scavenging animals and worked out how to haul the soil. This Friday, they took a trip to Pike's Nursery, collected their plants and planted them. Over the coming weeks, they'll nurture their plants and help them to thrive! We can’t wait to see what they produce!

Get ready for an exciting new PTA program at TDSA! Friday Pizza Days will be starting on April 21st! Stay tuned for more information coming soon!

Mrs. Castle's fifth grade students are hard at work preparing for their long-awaited trip to Lake Lanier. They're currently working on understanding acids and bases and how to test if the water has the correct pH to support marine life. In class, they used test strips to test the pH of different cups of water and see how acidic or basic they are. When they visit Lake Lanier next week they'll be able to use these skills to test the pH of the water on Lake Lanier.

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!