Wednesday's Weekly Window

Weekly Window

Yom Hazikaron at TDSA

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.

On the agenda

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!

Can You Escape East Berlin?

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!

Room for a Purpose

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

5th Grade Literature Discussions

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!

Amazing Arctic Animals

"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!

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See Some Past Weekly Windows:

FEBRUARY 8, 2023

I had the honor of calling out food items for today's Brachos Bee. K-5 students cheered on the 3rd through 5th-grade classroom winners as they showed their knowledge of Hilchos Brachos. Judges sat at a side table checking answers as contestants walked up to the center-stage mic to name the "before" and "after" brachos. There were certainly tense moments during the silent thinking. But, overall, it was an incredible experience for both the observers, the participants, the judges, and me. Congratulations to this year's winners: Rivka Graiser and Naftali Schwarzmer!

JANUARY 25, 2023

Walking through the main floor by this time in the year is like stepping into a Children's Art Museum, as our students' masterpieces brighten up the hallway. Strolling through today something different caught my eye: the misspelled word in the picture above - SELebration. Intrigued, I took a step closer to read the strips. These beautiful messages written during 3G Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) class ("say bye or good afternoon when you leave your classroom"; "when you disagree with someone say, 'I have a different answer'") show how much thought our students put into caring for each person in our community!

JANUARY 18, 2023

I stepped into Rabbi Oratz's 8th grade class today as he ran to observe another teacher in action. He handed me no plans, just said, "they are beginning a review of the gemarah in their chavrusas or small groups". I was blown away as they organized themselves, opened up their gemarah and notes, and began learning together. It was exciting to see their enthusiasm for what could be difficult learning. As they seemed fine working independently, I peeked into the 6th grade class across the hall, and they were doing the same thing! How exhilarating to see so much textual learning bringing the Torah alive within TDSA's walls.

JANUARY 11, 2023

A scrumptious bowl of berries is one way to describe the scene in this 2nd grade math class. Pictured here are the Striving Strawberries who are working with their teacher on how to break apart large numbers to make addition problems easier to solve. Behind the camera are the Creative Cranberries, Brilliant Blueberries, and Radiant Raspberries! Each of those groups were actively engaged in a math activity. One group worked on an I-pad to solve addition problems. One group took numbered-rollercoasters and added up each car. Another group used digital number lines and graphs to help with complex addition. Whatever the flavor, math tasted sweet to these students!

JANUARY 4, 2023

Rabbi Berenbaum has been a guest lecturer during the 8th grade, Humanities class Holocaust unit. I walked into this session while he explained the congestion of the camps by showing how their size and the size of Toco Hill is the same, yet thousands of more people were crammed into the same small area. I could feel the deep thoughts and contemplation of each of the boys as they took this all in.

DECEMBER 21, 2022

It was hard to choose just one picture this week. The Festival of Lights has been shining bright throughout the school. I smell the scents of frying latkes and donuts wafting through the hallways. I see the creative Chanukah Menorahs displayed proudly. I hear the inspirational stories, the sounds of Hallel, and the joy of song. I feel the vibrations of dancing students and booming speakers. What a week! In the end, I chose the Dreidel Drey. Older elementary students spread out on the gym floor to lead Dreidel games with the younger classmen. An activity filled with simcha and middos!

DECEMBER 14, 2022

Parent and Pathologist, Dr. Ari Leifer, explains the images of human cells 7th grade boys viewed during science today. He brought slides that had cells from the liver, stomach, small intestine, esophagus, and more! The students were fascinated with the different shapes evident in each type of cell as they rotated through the microscope stations. Thank you, Dr. Leifer!

DECEMBER 7, 2022

From Process to Product: I walked into the art room today and saw first-grade girls expressing their creativity by designing their own, unique Menorah candle. They choose their design and colors. They used their friends to help make decisions and get support. Little did I know that later in the day I would pass full Menorahs on the window. It turns out, this was a collaborative project in which each student made one candle for the 55 menorahs that will be placed around the school this year!

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Reconnecting After the Summer — I walked outside today to observe 1st and 2nd grade recess. It was great catching these girls clamoring into the TDSA Treehouse to rekindle friendships!

I walked outside today to observe 1st and 2nd grade recess. It was great catching these girls clamoring into the TDSA Treehouse to rekindle friendships!