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Mrs. Castle's fifth grade students are hard at work preparing for their long-awaited trip to Lake Lanier. They're currently working on understanding acids and bases and how to test if the water has the correct pH to support marine life. In class, they used test strips to test the pH of different cups of water and see how acidic or basic they are. When they visit Lake Lanier next week they'll be able to use these skills to test the pH of the water on Lake Lanier.

In Mrs. Lewis's art class, the eighth grade students have been learning about famous artists and their diverse artistic styles. Working in pairs, the students studied all they could about the artist of their choice, down to the tiniest detail. How tiny? They made tiny rooms dedicated to the artist they researched and their art. The rooms are complete with workstations, art supplies and recreations of the artists' most famous pieces in miniature. Over the last few weeks, the students planned, designed and created their miniature models and iIf you walk the halls of TDSA you'll be able to find their miniature rooms dedicated to Jackson Pollack, Edvard Munch, Alma Woodsay Thomas, Bob Ross, and more.

As a culmination of weeks of learning about the Seder and Pesach, our kindergarten, first, and second grades had a fun mock seder, where they went through the arbah kosos (4 cups of wine), Matzah, Maror and parts of Magid! Everyone is more than ready for the Seder night next Wednesday! Chag Sameach!

Our fourth grade boys had a fantastic time getting in touch with nature on Stone Mountain this week. After learning about the geology of Stone Mountain in class, the boys earned a trip to Stone Mountain through in-class teamwork. This same teamwork was on display as they hiked up the mountain. The hike itself was a great activity for teambuilding, resilience and geology. Everyone had a fantastic time!

Our very own Final Four took place last night. Mishna Madness culminated with a playoff event at the Atlanta Scholars Kollel and the energy in the air was palpable. All of TDSA's Middle School Boys worked incredibly hard and learned an absolutely astronomical 65,076 Mishnayos altogether! With good food and a lot of good cheer; parents, peers, and community members came to support our final four contestants. The finalists were tested on their knowledge of Mishnayos by Rabbi Pransky, Rosh Kollel, and wowed everyone with their knowledge and understanding. More than anything, what stood out was the camaraderie among the boys as they encouraged each other and spurred each other on to greater heights of learning, and their enthusiasm and love of Torah!

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!