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TDSA's first grade girls worked together with our Kriah Specialists, Rabbi Rubin and Mrs. Cavalier to sharpen their Sheva identification skills. The whole class gathered to play the "Sheva Game" on Rabbi Rubin's smart board where the girls had to identify whether the Nekudah (vowel) Sheva in a word was a Sheva Nach (a resting Sheva) or Sheva Nah (a moving Sheva). These skills are great for increasing their understanding of Hebrew mechanics and sharpening their Hebrew reading skills!

In STEAM class, 3B has been learning all about how sound waves travel. The boys used a balloon to simulate the way sound waves move through the air to our ears. The boys sat in a row and "wobbled" to mimic how sound waves wobble through the air blobs around them until they reach a barrier-like a windshield or our ears so we can hear them!

Rosh Chodesh Shevat was this past Monday and our fifth grade girls celebrated in the most delicious way possible! Every month two girls flex their leadership skills and organize a Rosh Chodesh activity for their classmates. This month, Elisheva Levin and Avital Caspar led their classmates in making fruit lollipop arrangements in honor of Tu Be'Shvat.

Our first grade boys are expanding their artistic skills by experimenting with watercolor paints. Our wonderful art teacher, Mrs. Lewis, has been teaching the boys how to blend colors and use this delightful artistic medium to create striking paintings.

Middle School Girls had a blast at this year's Shabbaton! They kicked off the fun with a frosty trip Ice Skating! Over Shabbos, the girls enjoyed each others company, as well as wonderful meals provided by their parents, (Thank you to everyone who signed up to cook!), inspiration from their teachers and fun activities organized by our incomparable 8th graders! They finished off Shabbos with a hilarious silent dance party! Everyone had a fantastic time!!

TDSA's Middle School Basketball teams are on the road! This past week, the TDSA Thunder Girls Basketball team played against St. Benedict's Stingers. This week they played This week, TDSA Thunder played against the Cliff Valley Redhawks. The girls had a blast at both of their games! The boys had a home court advantage and won their game against St. Benedicts (hosted at TDSA). We wish our amazing teams good luck and we can't wait to hear how they do!

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!