DAY FIVE: CATCHING UP AND LANGUAGE

Due to the observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday and Tuesday's hard freeze, we began our week on a chilly Wednesday morning! We were given the morning to work on our different Italian Renaissance assignments. A few students worked on their portraits of an artist, a creative response assignment. Others worked on researching women of the Renaissance to create a presentation to teach back to the class for more context and understanding of the time period. For instance, Jaycie worked on her research of Katherine of Aragon, who married Henry VIII. 

While we did our assignments, Mr. Wadzeck played a show called “Cunk on Earth: The Renaissance will not be televised.” The comedic episode we watched featured the host, Cunk, who explores the city of Florence and interviews historians about the Italian Renaissance.  

Students work on individual and group assignments at a table. 

On this continuation of a chilly day,  the class resumed with time to focus on our projects and paintings. One student, Camila, began a flower painting inspired by Clara Peeters, a famous female Italian Renaissance artist. 

After painting and doing our projects, we were grateful to have Ms. Michela come in and give us an introduction to the Italian language. We learned basic conversation, such as how to introduce ourselves and say where we’re from. We were also taught some beginner words, including the numbers 1–20 and the days of the week. 

This language sheet helped students see the Italian words they were practicing.

After a lovely visit from our guest, we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon of continuing our painting projects! 

A student works on her painting of everyday objects, including candles, glasses, and a Stanley cup.