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Did you know that it is Elul and Rosh Hashana is on the way? Our Kitah K students do! They even already learned about and can identify the different sounds the Shofar makes. The students were treated to a special demonstration by Rabbi Siff and some students even got to try to blow the shofar as well!

Our teachers and staff were delighted to welcome back our students after a long summer away! It was wonderful to see all of their smiling faces and we can't wait to get started on a year of growth, learning and inspiration!

On Wednesday, MSB Activities kicked off in a big way! Our new MSB activities coordinators arranged for a hilarious game of Getting To Know You Bingo and team building activities. While half the boys had 5 minutes to find out play a game of human bingo, the other half of the middle school competed in teambuilding activities. The prompts for Bingo were both serious and silly ranging from where other students were born to whether they'd ever driven in a Waymo. To increase the challenge five of the answers on every boy's bingo card needed to be from boys who were not in their grade! What a great way to start the year off with fun, excitement and achdus!

An infectious spirit was in the air as TDSA's building once again filled up with students. It was such a pleasure to watch our middle school students greet friends, classmates and teachers after a summer apart! The students took the day to orient themselves to their new classes and teachers and are ready to jump into another exciting year of ruach, growth, and learning!

On Friday, the Seventh Grade girls had a special visit with Rabbi David Silverman, Dean of the Atlanta Scholars Kollel. The girls had the opportunity to ask Rabbi Silverman many of their burning questions including questions about the Holocaust, the nature and limits of Bechira (free will) and Moshiach. The girls were inspired by Rabbi Silverman's insightful answers and were incredibly grateful for the visit.

The boys in Kitah K are obsessed with puzzles! Since the beginning of the school year they've worked on their middos, as a team to complete puzzle after puzzle after puzzle. Now that the year is winding down, the Kindergarten has many puzzles in their gallery. Last Friday, the class held an auction to see who would take the completed puzzles home so they can display their hard work in their homes!

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!