Schools
Renaissance to Come to Life at White Hill
Seventh graders at the middle school in Fairfax will show off their hands-on understanding of the Renaissance at school on Wednesday.
Step back to a time without the Internet, cell phones, electricity, or internal combustion engines. It's the seventh annual Renaissance Day at , the culmination of an extended project-based learning and community building experience.
All seventh graders at the school, facilitated by their teachers, have studied and researched the European Renaissance (1300-1600 A.D.) for the past two months. Now it's time for them to demonstrate their understanding of the period through authentic presentations of “the latest” in science, politics, arts, culture, and commerce, with featured theatrical and musical performances.
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But unless you have a student at White Hill, or are one yourself, you'll have to remember your own Renaissance Faires of yore. It's a school-only event, to be held during the regular school day on Wednesday, May 16 from 9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Katie Frank, along with teachers Jeff Krause and Joe Dines, has developed and overseen the program. “We’re living four hundred years ago, in the Renaissance," she said. "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.”
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“Renaissance Day expands learning beyond the classroom walls,” said teacher Joe Dines. “It brings the Renaissance to life.”
Students will dress in period costumes and perform what they have learned in one of several activities: Drama, including a full production of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar"; Daily Life Galleries as students re-enact scenes from daily Renaissance period life; and Renaissance VIPs, student portrayals of kings and queens, explorers and artists of the day.
The school grounds will be transformed into Fair Booths, a marketplace where costumed students in character such as bakers, blacksmiths, alchemists, butchers and more will present their wares. A highlight will be the archery booth with archery trainer Lynda Mondot supervising the children learning this antique skill.
Even though we can't join them, the school provided some images from last year's Renaissance Day, in the image gallery.
