Reflection on Renaissance Fair

We spent a great deal of time in most classes working on things for the Renaissance Fair. In performing art, we played the recorder and played three songs that are from the Renaissance time period. One song we memorized and played together with 8B, while we played two other songs in our own class. In Language A, we did Shakespeare's play called "A Midsummer Night's Dream". We divided the play into certain scenes that we all performed in pairs. We also memorized our lines and learned how to perform the scenes. In D.T. we focused on Leonardo da Vinci's inventions and were divided into pairs. David and I chose to do two inventions that are related, the airplane and parachute. We designed and built the two that he sketched out of paper and cardboard, and the final result looked similar to what he designed. For visual art we focused on Leonardo da Vinci and his artwork. In the beginning we took famous artwork and continued painting around them. We also took color in paintings from the Renaissance and colored them in for the Renaissance Fair. And finally we made sculptures like the one from Michaelangelo and also displayed them at the Fair. We also learned and performed three Renaissance dances at the Fair. They were all different since in one we would go on our toes, while in the other we stomped our feet, and they were fun to learn and perform. What really made the event come to life were the costumes, and we had the whole 8th grade, and some teachers dressed up. I was one of the merchants, that was a lower rank then a knight or royalty, but higher than a farmer or bard.

Overall, I really enjoyed doing the Renaissance Fair, and it was better than I expected. It was fun dressing up, dancing, and being in the whole Renaissance mood. The opinions of the parents were also good, and I saw that they also enjoyed the night. I think it was a success and that it should be done next year as well.