Spotlight

A new year means new Shinshinim. We're excited to get to know this year's new group and welcomed them to TDSA with an inviting breakfast! Over bagels, coffee, and cookies the Shinshinim shared about themselves, what they hope to accomplish here and what drew them to the Shinshinim program! We can't wait to connect over this coming year! Thank you so much to the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta for making this amazing program possible!

This Tuesday night, TDSA's halls were bustling. Not with students, with parents. Middle School parents spent the evening walking in their children's shoes. They traversed the campus to hear from their children's Limudei Kodesh and General Studies teachers. Thanks to all the parents who joined us for Back-To-School Night! It was a lot of information to take in, but now our parents are prepared to support their children for this coming school year!

In STEAM this week, the third grade students experimented with gravity. The students tested the way gravity interacts with objects of different weights and if the objects fall from different heights. They were also asked to consider how the lack of gravity in space would impact their experiments. All in all, the students had a "ball"

Every year, our Kitah K students watch a fascinating transformation take place. Rabbi Rubin takes a block of wood and before our students' very eyes transforms it into a honey dipper. Just like bees take pollen and transform it into sweet honey. The students will now have a deeper appreciation of the process of creating something that seems so simple-like a honey dipper.

Mrs. Bolnick's third graders had a blast learning how to play the classroom favorite game, SCOOT! Using a special set of practice task cards, students learned the “do’s and don’ts” of moving quickly and silently from card to card. The activity helped them practice transitions, review concepts, and build excitement for the many SCOOT games they’ll play throughout the year. With laughter, focus, and plenty of movement, the class is now ready to SCOOT their way into learning!

Why are the fourth grade girls yelling "I got it!"? They were practicing using Prefixes in Hebrew. Mrs. Alterman would call out a word combination and the girls needed to form the word out of their prefix and shoresh (root word) cards as quickly as possible! The energy in the room was infectious and the girls gained a deeper understanding of how one letter can completely change the meaning of a word in Hebrew.

Mrs. Bram's 8th grade students laid the foundations for the rest of the year in Social Studies Class by learning all about the different types of government systems. These systems form the basis for understanding world history and they will be able to apply this knowledge in multiple ways over the coming months.

Our Kitah K students spent the week learning all about the special mitzvah of Shiluach Ha-Kan! Did you know that doing this mitzvah can give you a long life? The students made their own birds in a nest so they could practice doing the mitzvah themselves.

Tuesday marked the first meeting of the Chess Chevra for this year! After last year's successful Winter and Spring sessions, Chess Chevra has returned! Old and new faces could be seen learning and reviewing the basics of chess. The boys then faced off for their first chess matches against each other.

Guess who's reached an incredible milestone? Our second grade girls had their first Chumash lesson this week. Morah Cohen really works on uplifting her students (and that's not just because they're standing on their chairs) and building their skills. The girls were so excited and proud to begin learning Chumash!