Awesome History: Conquistadors to Renaissance

 This was a super fun class, which was great because it turned out to be our last class of the year!

We did chapters 64-66, covering the Conquistadors, West Africa and the beginning of the Renaissance.

I have to admit that when reading the Renaissance chapter, the kids noticed a certain connection between Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael, and, I am embarrassed to admit that I remembered that the fourth turtle was Donatello.

Actual mask

But the actual class was fantastic!  Shelli, who happens to be part Aztec as well as a professional artist, set up this cool Aztec death mask craft!

She had drawn a basic mask and had cut up lots of paper squares to make the mosaic (we also used glue sticks).  The kids got really into it, and ended up with some masks that were quite realistic as well as some that were fantastically creative!

For our active activity, we played a Renaissance children's game called "All Hid."  Which is actually Hide and Seek, so: easy + fun + no set up required = perfect year end activity!

For our snack I made chocolate (from the New World) pudding from scratch and added just a touch of cinnamon...mmmmm!

Well, we had planned on a few more classes, but they got cancelled due to illness, travel, and dentists, so we decided to leave well enough alone.  The Renaissance is a fine place to finish up the Middle Ages, and I think it leaves us enough chapters to do a third set of Awesome History next semester!

This was chapters 64-66 of A Child's History of the World.