Torah Day School of Atlanta Home

Every year TDSA's students go all out for our annual Menorah Contest. Their creations always demonstrate amazing creativity, ingenuity and out-of-the-box thinking. This year's building materials range from napkin rings, to empty yogurt containers and water bottles. The submissions this year are truly impressive!

One of the many ways that TDSA helps their students grow is through offering opportunities for leadership. Our 6th grade boys took on the responsibility of planning and executing a packed Chanukah Carnival for the boys in grades K-4. At the carnival, the boys showed their Chanukah spirit by making menorahs out of Twizzlers and playing dreidel themed carnival games. They raced to see who could build a Menorah out of PVC piping the fastest, as well as played more traditional carnival games like Coke vs. Pepsi and, everyone's favorite, guessing how many chocolate chips are hidden in the marshmallow fluff. The sixth grade boys were able to flex their creativity, planning and organizational skills, while the younger boys had a fantastic time!

It's been a busy and productive chess session for the boys in our Chess Chevra! On Wednesday they put all the skills they learned to the test and competed against each other in a fun final tournament! Congratulations to our winners, Reuven Marcus, Yosef Rabin, Rafi Gris, and Yitzchok Krohn. In the end, though, all the boys are winners for the skills and chess mastery they gained over this enjoyable fall session of Chess Chevrah. We can't wait to see you back for the Winter Session after break!

The second grade girls wowed their parents, grandparents and guests with a beautiful performance demonstrating their understanding of the role Torah plays in our daily lives and their readiness to begin learning in earnest. This was the lead in to receiving their very own Chumashim, presented to them by Rabbi Meir Cohen. Mazal Tov to our Second Grade girls on this amazing milestone achievement!

Rabbi Gold's 9th grade class at Yeshiva Ohr Yisrael took a trip down memory lane this week and visited TDSA's Kindergarten Boys. The ninth graders shared their love for Torah and learning with the younger students. They danced and sang together in honor of Chanukah! The older boys then learned "BeChavrusah" (In partners) with the younger boys and helped them review their alef-bais and kriah skills. What a beautiful way to pass on the legacy of pride in themselves and their Jewish faith that the ninth grade boys gained at TDSA!

Morah Mindy's kindergarten class has been doing a deep dive into fire safety over the last couple of weeks. They completed fire safety booklets, checked on their smoke detectors at home and learned how to "Stop! Drop! Protect! and Roll!" which they practiced in their classroom. The students also learned some very useful fire safety techniques including ways to prevent fires and respond in case of a fire or another emergency. In order to practice these rules, the students worked in groups to make informative signs which are now hanging on display in the hallway!

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!