Torah Day School of Atlanta Home

How do you make star readers? By practice, practice, practice. TDSA's first graders are practicing their reading skills in Hebrew and in English. Whether in small Kriah and Reading Groups, or together as a class, the students are hard at work gaining the fluency and confidence they need to jumpstart their reading skills!

Once again, TDSA's students are demonstrating their incredible creativity as they make unique, one of a kind creations for TDSA's Annual Sukkah Contest. Submissions are already coming in and students are hard at work to create miniature Sukkos out of every medium imaginable! We can't wait to see the beautiful Sukkos line our hallways!

Every year, in the lead-up to Sukkos, Mrs. Pelishev challenges her STEAM students to create the longest paper chain possible out of a single piece of paper. The students explore different options for cutting and stringing the chain together to see which will produce a longer chain. The students have a few weeks to experiment before creating their final chain. Once everyone is done Mrs. Pelishev measures the chains to see who's is the longest!

Mrs. Kaplans 8th grade students are testing their reading comprehension in a really fun way! After learning about and discussing different types of text structures like sequencing, cause and effect, chronology, comparing and contrasting, descriptions and problem-solution statements, the students paired up for a rousing game of Bingo to test their skills!

In the leadup to the Yomim Noraim, Middle School's fabulous activities team, in conjunction with Rabbi Siff are hard at work ensuring that our Middle School Students enter the chaggim inspired and prepared. Rabbi Koshkerman came to TDSA this past Thursday to address the Middle School Boys, followed by an inspiring kumzits with Rabbi Gavant. Rabbi Koshkerman then spoke to the Middle School Girls and motivated them to use the Yomim Noraim as a time for spiritual growth. Our lower school students also had the opportunity to meet with Rabbi Koshkerman and wish him a Shana Tova!

Fridays sure are fun at TDSA, especially in Ms. Leader's class. Last Thursday (because we weren't in school on Friday) Ms. Leader made the day extra fun by dressing up as everyone's favorite kookie science teacher: Miss Frizzle! The students immersed themselves in the amazing Magic School Bus books and got to spend the day with their very own "Miss Frizzle!"

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!