Sunday, January 18, 2015
Printing, Gutenberg style
As we transition from studying the Middle Ages to studying the Renaissance, one of the important inventions we learned about was Gutenberg's printing press and the proliferation of books. Here, we experimented with some of Gutenberg's methods to print our names -- the hard part, we found, was putting the letters of your name backward - being a typesetter is not always so easy! We then drew some of our own printing plates, and printed those, with, (as always with this creative group of artists), rather lovely and sometimes unexpected results.
Great Friday Afternoon Event Projects
In order to let our gifted students explore specific areas of interest more deeply within our overall areas of study, the Spirits instituted Susan Winebrenner's (author of Teaching Gifted Kids in Today's Classroom) "Great Friday Afternoon Event" this fall, and so far it's been a great success.
Every Friday afternoon for the past few months, students have spent time researching, writing, creating and collaborating on projects having to do with the Middle Ages. All students started by choosing an area of interest and project, then researching three new facts about that subject to incorporate into their final presentations. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into these projects (well, no blood, but there was definitely some sweat, and there were some tears of frustration at points along the way) as the students learned about sharing ideas, overcoming obstacles, and working together. We had a group that constructed an actual castle out of cardboard, complete with working drawbridge. (The facade now forms the entry to our classroom library.) We had one student create a Powerpoint presentation about castles. Two students wrote short plays, then recruited props and actors/actresses from the other groups, and we performed the plays for our parents after the Medieval Feast. Two groups made miniature castle models/dioramas, and one group researched and recreated pieces of armor that Knights wore. The students included details such as miniature chairs around a miniature round table, torches fashioned from construction and tissue paper, and the "Garderobe," or early bathroom drawn on the inside of the cardboard castle. The plays, of course, included plenty of sword fighting!
The Castle:
Armor:
Dioramas:
Plays:
We had lots of parents come for the feast, and had a great time showing off our work and sharing all we learned about the Middle Ages. A huge thank you goes out to all the parents who came int to help with projects, and to all who came to join us for the feast and presentations. Huzzah!
Every Friday afternoon for the past few months, students have spent time researching, writing, creating and collaborating on projects having to do with the Middle Ages. All students started by choosing an area of interest and project, then researching three new facts about that subject to incorporate into their final presentations. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into these projects (well, no blood, but there was definitely some sweat, and there were some tears of frustration at points along the way) as the students learned about sharing ideas, overcoming obstacles, and working together. We had a group that constructed an actual castle out of cardboard, complete with working drawbridge. (The facade now forms the entry to our classroom library.) We had one student create a Powerpoint presentation about castles. Two students wrote short plays, then recruited props and actors/actresses from the other groups, and we performed the plays for our parents after the Medieval Feast. Two groups made miniature castle models/dioramas, and one group researched and recreated pieces of armor that Knights wore. The students included details such as miniature chairs around a miniature round table, torches fashioned from construction and tissue paper, and the "Garderobe," or early bathroom drawn on the inside of the cardboard castle. The plays, of course, included plenty of sword fighting!
The Castle:
Armor:
Dioramas:
Plays:
We had lots of parents come for the feast, and had a great time showing off our work and sharing all we learned about the Middle Ages. A huge thank you goes out to all the parents who came int to help with projects, and to all who came to join us for the feast and presentations. Huzzah!
Friday, January 16, 2015
A Merry Medieval Feast
The students were so inspired by our "Ploughman's Lunch" at Camlaan Medieval Village, that we decided to wrap up our study of the middle ages with a grand medieval-style feast. The students formed committees to decide on the menu and make decorations, and then they transformed our lunch room into a castle's great hall decorated with student-created pennants, banners and tapestries. We made paper torches, decorated fancy goblets, and our banquet table featured an eye-catching peacock centerpiece, complete with feathers (just like they served them in the Middle Ages, as we read in one of our books). Mrs. Maitlen played King Arthur and Mrs. Towne played Queen Guinevere. Together, we welcomed Queen Wollum, our head of school (or visiting dignitary -- as you prefer) who toasted to the health of the kingdom and all its subjects. The parents got in on the act with home-made pretzels, delicious "potage" (vegetable soup) and many other rustic delicacies. We started our feast King Arthur style, with an ad-lib tale of adventure created by the students, and ended with jesters performing medieval jokes. Our castle walls rang with laughter and merriment, and a good time was definitely had by all!
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