Renaissance Festival

Today, the 7th grade held the first ever NPES Renaissance Festival.  The students worked hard to make this a very successful event.  Each student came as a character from the Renaissance.  They each performed a speech and each student had a special role to play.

 Queen Elizabeth, King Edward, Cosimo de Medici, and Pope Leo X welcome our guests.

 The parents were a great audience.

 Parents created paintings with egg tempra.  They learned about this Renaissance technique from the artists.

 The monks and the Pope taught about illuminated letters and religious art.  Albrecht Durer, Michelangelo, and Leonardo DaVinci showed the parents how to make egg tempera.

 Johan Gutenberg explained how his invention helped spread writing all over Europe.  Petrarch, Dante, Machiavelli, Erasmus, and Shakespeare told the parents about their lives and their written works.  Then, this group performed a few scenes from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

 Next, we moved into the atrium for a tour of Italy.  Medici gave Italian florins to the parents and they were free to buy goods from our merchants.  We had merchants who represented Genoa, Venice, and Florence.

 Our merchant from Genoa sold wassail to our guests.

 Our merchant from Venice sells lace and discusses her trade.

The students practiced several musical numbers to perform at the conclusion of our festival.

Students dance around the May Pole.

Students perform with hand drums.

                                          

The whole group danced the Pavane.

                                          

The students created songs to play on the recorders.

This event was a huge success.  Thank you to all who attended!

There were also several requests for the Wassail recipe. 

Make a syrup by simmering one and a half cups water, 3/4 c. sugar, 2 sticks cinnamon and 8 whole cloves.  

Simmer until it has reduced to about 1 cup.

In a large pot combine 1 bottle apple juice, 1 bottle cranberry juice, and syrup.  

Heat through and enjoy!

This event was a huge success.  Thank you to all who attended!

Students are the Teachers

This week in Social Studies, the students got to be the teachers.  In both 6th and 8th grade, groups of students researched a section from the book and then found a creative way to teach the information to the rest of the class.

In 6th grade, the students taught their classmates about Ancient Sumer, in Mesopotamia.

 Johanna narrates about Sumerian inventions as her group members act them out.  Eli is displaying how a potter's wheel works.

This group is teaching about Sumerian architecture.  Kate explains to the class about what a ziggurat is.  Ask your local 6th grader if you don't know!

This group taught the class about the arts in Sumer.  They created a commercial advertisement to sell things like jewelry and cylinder seals. 

In 8th grade, the students taught each other about cultural changes in America during the 1920s.

 This group is showing Americans celebrating Charles Lindberg's (played by Karl) first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

This group chose to teach their lesson with a Power Point presentation.  Sam is teaching his classmates about the use of the radio to communicate news and bring new entertainment to Americans. 

The leisure time in the 1920s left a lot of time for frivolous fads.  This group is teaching the class about flagpole sitting (which is exactly what it sounds like).  They also talked about crossword puzzles, Mah-jongg, and the first Miss America Pageant. 

Character Education

This year, we have partnered with other classes around the school for our Character Education Program.  The 7th grade planned, produced, and taught lessons about our first pillar, trustworthiness, for the 1st graders and 4th graders.  It was a great way for students to interact with the younger kids who look up to them.

In 1st grade, the 7th graders came up with skits about trustworthiness and performed them for the class.  Then, 1st grade students acted out the scenarios to show what they had learned.

The seventh graders act out a scenario about not keeping secrets with the first graders. 

The seventh graders act out a scene where students choose not to cheat on a test.

In fourth grade, our students came up with a game where they read and acted out scenarios and the class had to decide which choice was the most trustworthy.

 The fourth graders playing the game that the seventh graders planned for them.

 Avram is walking his group through each scenario during the game, asking the students which choice is the most trustworthy.

 The fourth graders acting out a scene about telling the truth.

Kevin and Jacob discuss which choice is best during the game.

This month, the students will focus on a new pillar.  At the end of the month, they will teach lessons about respect.

Renaissance Economics

This week in Social Studies, the 7th graders began their Renaissance unit.  They learned about how different cities in Italy traded with one another and how businesses took out loans from the bankers in each city.  Mr. Palmieri broke the students into groups to create a business as if they lived in those cities at the time.  They each came up with a business plan and proposal to ask the banker for a loan.

 Haley and Olivia K. discuss the materials that they need for their business.

 Sophie and Tessa discuss their business plan while William and David calculate their costs.  They had to calculate start-up costs, materials, and interest from their loan from the bank.

 Leo reads his group's business proposal to the banker (Mr. Palmieri) and asks for a loan.

The banker approves Jacob's proposal and lends him some money, but reminds him that he must pay the loan back with interest.

Ask a seventh grader what city they had to represent and what business they created!