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Mrs. Bram's 5th grade students are experiencing what it was like to live under colonial rule in pre-revolutionary war America. For the last few weeks they've been taking part in a fascinating classroom experiment, where the students are the colonists who need to respond to the actions of the British Government. Mrs. Bram pays the students once a week, but also collects "taxes" around the classroom that stand in for the various Taxes and Acts passed by the British Parliament at the time. Students have to pay a "stamp tax" for every hand-out Mrs. Bram gives out or they need to rent pencils to simulate the effects of the Tea Act. Over the last few weeks the taxes and the frustration to these taxes has been ramping up. This week the students (led by Mrs. Bram) had their own version of the First Continental Congress to discuss the effects of the Intolerable Acts. As the pressure keeps building, the students experience and understand in a very personal way, the factors and emotions that led to the American Revolution.

Morah Bracha's first graders are reaching the end of the rainbow! Since they beginning of the year, they've been working on learning 50 of the most commonly used words in Hebrew. Each group of word is color coded in order of the rainbow and once they've mastered one group, Morah Sharon adds the next. Many students have already completed their "Keshes" (Rainbow) Words and received their certificates with three more students reaching their goal this week. Congratulations on your accomplishments and keep on learning!

In STEAM class this past week, the second graders learned all about different species of birds and how they developed different features to help them get food based on their environment. The boys then built bird feeders to attract the kinds of birds they wanted to see, adding features that made it easier for their chosen bird to use the bird feeder. Every design was unique and creative and we're sure the birds will love to stop by and have a snack!

Teacher Appreciation week has been in full-swing all week at TDSA! After the wonderful coffee pick me up on Monday morning, the PTA continued with an amazing week by showing appreciation in a number of exciting ways. They gifted the staff beautiful and sturdy TDSA Staff umbrellas (perfect for this week's rainy weather). On Wednesday, they treated the teachers to a delicious catered lunch, and on Thursday they provided a delicious and very appreciated brunch! On Friday, the ushered in shabbos with beautiful bouquets of flowers and cookies for the teachers. They even went above and beyond creating adorable signs and slogans for each day to show their appreciation. One of the most appreciated things PTA has done this week? Send out a an adorable thank you video featuring our adorable students! Thank you so much to TDSA's staff and administrators for everything you do for our children! And thank you to the PTA for going above and beyond to show our teachers how much appreciate what they do!

Beth Jacob is hosting Level Up Your Happiness: Five Paradigm Shifts to Improve Your Family’s Joy Trajectory - a talk especially geared for parents and grandparents, with Mrs. Beth Perkel at 10am on Sunday morning, May 17 in the Conference Room. Mrs. Perkel is the honors director at Touro University’s Sarah Hartman Women’s College in Chicago, beloved podcast host and and author of her recent book, Light at the Beginning of the Tunnel: Wiring Our Children for Happiness.

This week Torah Day School was very excited to welcome our new Limudei Kodesh Principal, Rabbi Chaim Siff. In preparation for assuming the role as Limudei Kodesh Principal for the 2026-2027 school year, Rabbi Siff spent two days meeting with staff members and observing classes in action so that he can get to know our staff members and students better! On Wednesday night he also enjoyed a beautiful dinner hosted by Rabbi Meir and Mrs. Daliah Cohen, to welcome him to the staff and then hopped over to the house of Amir and Shira Shuster where many of the school's parents were waiting to welcome him to the TDSA community!

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!