Renaissance Day at White Hill Middle School

The community is invited to White Hill Middle School to see 7th graders participate in the sixth annual “Renaissance Day,” this coming Wednesday, May 18th, from 9:30 a.m to 1:30 p.m.
 
Renaissance Day is the culmination of a 2 month project-based learning and community building experience, which is facilitated by the school’s four 7th grade English/History teachers.  All seventh graders study, research, and demonstrate their understanding of the European Renaissance (1300-1600 A.D.)  through period authentic presentations of “the latest” in science, politics, arts, culture, and commerce. There will be featured theatrical and musical performances.
 
Step back to a time without the Internet, cell phones, electricity, or internal combustion engines.
 
According to 7th grade teacher Joe Dines, “Renaissance Day expands learning beyond the classroom walls” and “It brings the Renaissance to life...”  Katie Frank, who along with teachers, Chris Strempek, Jeff Krause, and Dines, has developed and overseen the program, said, “We’re living four hundred years ago, in the Renaissance.  The kids get to taste it, see it, hear it and truly experience it as an engaging, student centered, learning experience, and have a lot of fun at the same time...”
 
Seventh grade students will dress in period costumes and perform what they have learned in one of these five activities:
 
Drama: Students will enact scenes from Shakespeare’s, Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Romeo & Juliet, and King Lear (7 scenes total).
Music: Students will accompany the Shakespearean plays with authentic Renaissance instrumental pieces.
Renaissance VIP’S: Students will personify notable figures, such as Leonardo  (the other Leonardo before “Titanic”) da Vinci, Galileo Galilei, and William Shakespeare
Daily Life Galleries: Students will re-enact scenes from daily Renaissance period life, such as a wedding, an inn, and a witch trial.
Fair Booths: The school grounds are transformed into a marketplace where costumed students in character as bakers, herbologists, doctors, artisans, archers, and more, present their wares or demonstrate prowess and skills.
 
One former 7th grader said, “It’s a better experience than just learning in the classroom because you get a chance to feel what everyone did and how they managed in daily life.”  
 Schedule (times are approximate):
9:30-11:45 a.m. - Drama, Music, and Renaissance VIP’S
11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m. – Banquet/feast
12:30 p.m. –1:30 p.m. – Daily Life Galleries and Fair Booths  

Renaissance Day receives funding from YES, the Ross Valley Schools Foundation, which has engaged professional drama and music specialists to work with the students.