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We took a trip to Italy this week. The kids were full of questions! I can tell they are developing their research and questioning skills, since they are asking really relevant questions. We talked about pasta, gelato, getting around on gondolas, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and we learned how to say "ciao" and "grazie". We also talked a little about the artists of the Italian Renaissance- Leonardo, Michelangelo, Rafael, and Donatello! It is always so fun to teach kids that the Ninja Turtles were named after famous artists! What I wanted students to understand about Italy is that it is a very old country with lots of history. (We discussed this with our study of Egypt, too.) I wanted students to be familiar with modern-day Italy, but also to understand where their traditions come from. We learned that before Italy was a country, it was a civilization called Rome, and that life was very, very different back then! Our art experience this week was to create Ancient Roman Wax Tablets. In Roman times, paper hadn't been invented yet, so if someone wanted to write, they would use a wooden frame filled with hard wax, and they could carve letters into the wax. When finished, they could soften the wax and smooth it back out to use again. Some of these tablets have been discovered as ancient artifacts, and you can see them in museums. Students were fascinated to learn that the metal stick Romans used to carve the wax was called a stylus. They easily made the connection between the ancient tablets and our modern-day version, the iPad, and were excited to know where the word for the modern stylus originated! To make their own wax tablets, students folded a piece of thick cardstock in half. They drew a wood grain texture on the front, and filled the inside with rectangles of thick, dark crayon. Next students used a plastic carving tool to scratch in whatever design they chose. Many students chose to write the letters of their names using ancient Latin letters and writing in reverse, as they did in ancient times. This is Aidan's name written using the Latin alphabet, and written from right to left!
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