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As our middle school students jump back into Science Class, it's important for them to practice their skills in conducting and interpreting results in science experiments. To practice these skills, Mrs. Castle had the students break into groups and conduct mini-experiments together. Furthermore, in order to spread some JOY she had the students ask each other questions about their summer, interests, and hobbies as they conducted experiments together.

In the lead up to Rosh Hashana, Rabbi Alterman's fourth grade students are learning all about the pattern of "kolos" (sounds) that we hear when we listen to the shofar. After examining the kolos the students realized that they always create a sandwich of a Shevarim and Shevarim Teruah between a Tekiah. To illustrate the lesson, the boys made delicious "Sofar Sound Sandwiches" using tea biscuits and different colors of frosting to symbolize the different sounds. Isn't learning sweet?

Ms. Jenn and Morah Ruth's second grade students read the classic picture book, "Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse" by Kevin Henkes together in class last Friday. The students were absorbed by the story. After reading Ms. Jenn asked the students to explore what Lilly felt at different parts of the story and why. The discussed dealing with disappointment and healthy ways of managing our frustrations. The students finished off this fun activity by describing an item that they would bring in to school to share with their classmates-just like Lilly did in the book.

Kindergarten is on the hunt for the Letter B. Morah Mindy used her lesson on the letter B to teach more than just letter recognition. The students worked in pairs to take pictures of items around the room that start with the letter "B" on the classroom tablets. They practiced asking to be each others partners and learned a new way to utilize technology in their learning. They also had a blast zipping around the classroom locating items like "bags, the color "blue" and other creative classroom items that begin with the letter "B"!

Rabbi Hiller's second grade boys are learning all about the simanim that we use on Rosh Hashana. They used colored pencils to decorate the page in their Rosh Hashana booklet and did a phenomenal job!

We all want a sweet new year! Kitah K is almost there with their sweeter-than-honey challahs they made together with their parents on Sunday Morning. As part of a special program with our Kitah K Morah's the students learned why we have the custom to make round, sweet Challahs for Rosh Hashana and then made their own and topped it with sprinkles, chocolate chips and other yummy things! Delicious!

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!